East Face Rock Climbing

In Steiger's guide, regarding the bizarre East Face, he writes "The rock tends to be overhanging and, in places, tremendously rotten. Though the color would drive a chameleon crazy."

Easily visible from the trail and in no way a secret, this wall truly is its own world. It is the only other area around Tucson with swaths of high-quality granite similar to that of the Reef of Rocks or The Rockfellows in Cochise. It is equal parts intimidating, inspiring, and aesthetically pleasing. It is also obviously very seldom traveled.

One original aid route went up the central East Face seam at 5.8 A4 in 1973 by Paul Hagan & Gary Hervert. Many of their bashies, beaks, & copperheads remain along the route and its sharp shallow corners. A wildly overhung museum to the modern climber. A decade of silence & wind until 1984; when visionary British climber Ed Drummond put up a wild & logical yet wandering route at 5.12- A0. He claimed 'the crux pitch to be among his finest & vowed to eat 15 bran muffins on the spot if the A0 move off the last bolt is ever freed,' as written in Steiger's guide. Drummond passed away in 2019, 5 years before the move would be freed. In the same 1984 season, Steve Grossman, of course, established the other imposing old-school free climbs. Like many of his routes, they are R-rated and likely went several decades without a repeat just like the others on the wall. In the mid-90s, Dave DesChamps would establish an aid route up the smooth and overhanging upper left section of the wall, just left of the East Face route. Another unrepeated line except for when he repeated it himself via a short variation, avoiding the hardest part. 

Since then, it appears this wall has been ignored for the better part of 40 years. However, that might make sense as it isn't sport cragging and requires ample forethought due to the logistically challenging nature of the terrain.