The Mace is possibly the best-known climbing formation in Sedona and probably the most climbed as well. Back in the 1950's when California climbers Bob Kamps and Dave Rearick came to town, the Mace was one of the first formations to get their attention. The Original Route (AKA "The Mace") is the ultra-popular and classic route to do.
Getting There
Park at Back O' Beyond trailhead and follow the tourist trail marked with large cairns up to the east side and then traverse over to the Mace from there.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for The Mace:
Original Route 5.9+ Trad, 5 pitches, 400 feet, Grade III
The Mace is a classic Sedona route, and one of the "must do" lines in the area. If you're used to Moab area towers, this is a bit of a disappointment in terms of rock quality, but the adventure itself is wonderful.Approach from a small trailhead off of Back O' Beyond Road in Sedona. The hike is 15-20 minutes at a leisurely pace.P1: Climb up chimney (or the runout face to the right) to a crack through limestone band. Pull a small roof to gain a big alcove with eyebolt belay. 5.7.P2: Head up a h...[more]Browse More Classics in AZ
The Mace was a great climb. We didn't have any offwidth or chimney experience so this made our experience on the Mace even more fun. We learned technique as we went. Each pitch was a full body slog, we grunted, squeezed and chicken armed our way up the offwidths.
By JJ Schlick Administrator From: Flagstaff, AZ Jan 9, 2012
awesome climbing, great belay ledges, and sedona views to top it off. will definitely be back. since nobody has mentioned it on here i will point out that due to sandbagged ratings and the strange nature of offwidth climbing this will seem way harder than most peoples' idea of what a 5.9 is