Best Climbing in Arizona?

We can probably figure this out ourselves but I figured I would ask to see if anyone has a strong opinion-what is the must climb area in Arizona?

Going to fly into Phoenix for 3 days of climbing in late feburary-yeah I know its not long enough. Any type of climbing. Limitations are we will only have a rental car so no 4wd roads, and if we are going to boulder we need to find crash pads.

On the radar are Mt. Lemmon, Queen Creek Canyon, the Sedona Area, and Cochise. Any other places we should look at?

Chochise (my favorite place in az) for mostly fun sometimes run out scary mixed multi-pitch. For sport I would go to isolation canyon Queen Creek or Jacks canyon in that order... Az has tons of great climbing!!!

I think it will depend upon what you like to climb:

Trad
Sport

Face
Cracks

Single pitch
Multi-pitch

Granite
Limestone
Sandstone

Ratings

I would guess with only three (3) days it might be better to go to one area with the characteristics you enjoy and climb there—otherwise you would waste a lot of time driving.

Have Fun!

This.... mountainproject.com/v/middl…

Thanks for the suggestions! We really enjoy all climbing, so mostly interested in what people think is the best overall in the area. For example I wouldn't go to NYC to sport climb when the gunks is right there.
Grade wise we are probably 5.11-12 sport, 5.10-11 single pitch trad, 5.9-10 multi pitch trad and V5-6 boulder.

Neil and Cassidy wrote: You are going to send him to Granite Mountain in February? Slippy, be aware of possible closures (like the falcon closure on all of Granite Mountain that starts in February).

I should probably read instead of skim, my brain disengaged at "must do". JB

I don't know if there is an undisputed "best" climbing in the state that is a kin to the Gunks in NY.

If you want to climb sport in bulk go to Jacks Canyon or Queen Creek. The general consensus I've gotten from people is that Jacks>QC, but QC will probably be better temperatures when you will be here. If you want to upgrade your rental to 4x4 then check out the homestead. The majority of the routes out there are 5.11-5.12 range which lines up with your skill level.

If you want multi-pitch adventures look at Sedona or Cochise. Sedona for sandstone, Cochise for granite. If you go to Sedona then the Overlook and the Waterfall aren't too far away (mostly single pitch on gear), but I'm not sure what the temperatures will be like. Probably okay late February.

Mt Lemmon is kind of an all in one location. Tons of climbing at different elevations and styles. Personally, I'm not super inspired by the rock there, but I love climbing there because you can get so much. I'd move to Tucson just because of the volume and year round accessibility at Mt. Lemmon.

If you do want to boulder you can rent crash pads from Focus gym. The superstitions are a hot spot for bouldering near Phoenix, but you should probably try to link up with someone to boulder out there. There's a lot of youtube footage, but not a lot of documentation on this sight. Focus gym seems to have a strong cohort that heads out there almost everyday this time of year so it might be worth linking up with them.

That being said, I agree with the previous poster. If you've only got 3 days pick 1 area and enjoy it. The drives between theses areas range from 3-5+ hours, and AZ approaches are generally long. If you tried to do Sedona and Cochise your basically going to spend your whole trip in the car, and may only climb 2 routes.

My suggestions in order are:

1) Sedona and the Overlook (within 2.5 hr of PHX but Northern AZ)

2) Cochise and/or Mt. Lemmon (within 2-3 hr of PHX 1-2 hr from Tucson proper, Southern AZ)

3) QC and Bouldering in the Superstitions (within 1.5 hr of PHX, Central AZ)

These combinations are doable. Each are very different types of rock and climbing, so it really depends on what you want to climb.

For me, it's pretty easy to say answer to the question is Cochise. Though I haven't been to Granite Mountain yet, but been most other places mentioned in this thread.

The Homestead! You can park and walk in its only 45 min

Also the waterfall in oak creek canyon for Trad

Don't go to jack's canyon. The grades are super soft and it's kind of a shit show there. Queen Creek would be a better option for sport climbing if you like pockets. I haven't done any climbing in AZ outside Queen Creek and Jack's canyon so there may be better options out there.

eli poss wrote:Don't go to jack's canyon. The grades are super soft and it's kind of a shit show there. Queen Creek would be a better option for sport climbing if you like pockets. I haven't done any climbing in AZ outside Queen Creek and Jack's canyon so there may be better options out there.

As a disclaimer to my previous post, I've personally never been to Jack's. I hear its basically like a gym outside (grid bolted, manufactured holds, etc.) which isn't super appealing to me. I know people who love it, and maybe one day I'll go, but I wouldn't spend my 3 days in AZ there either.

Phil Sakievich wrote: As a disclaimer to my previous post, I've personally never been to Jack's. I hear its basically like a gym outside (grid bolted, manufactured holds, etc.) which isn't super appealing to me. I know people who love it, and maybe one day I'll go, but I wouldn't spend my 3 days in AZ there either.

You pretty much hit right on the head the first time... its an outdoor gym, soft grades and an approach like walking across the parking lot to a gym!! cool if you you like that (not me either) Queen Creek is awesome but I have been clipping the same recalled SMC hangers,and welded shuts sense they were installed along time ago, kinda ageing hardware out thier. Check out Isolation Canyon if you get a chance!

It might be a bit on the cold side in February, but I'd go for Winslow Wall over Queen Creek. Queen creek is fun, and close to Phoenix, but there's better climbing if you head a bit further away: mountainproject.com/v/winsl…

The homestead has some of the best sport climbing in AZ, but requires a fairly long hike in if you don't have a 4WD vehicle: mountainproject.com/v/the-h…

I'll give another shout out to Cochise, as well, and not just for climbing of the run out/trad variety. Check out Peacemaker on Sheep's head dome for well-bolted multipitch sport slabbing. In general, I'd say that AZ is far better for trad or sport than it is for bouldering. There's both trad and sport climbing that ranks among the best in the country, but the bouldering is meh compared to something like Hueco or the big areas in the SE.

Also, how does Jack's have an approach like walking across a parking lot? More like walking across a parking lot, and then down the side of a canyon, and then going on a short hike if you want to climb anywhere but the Main Wall...

Phil Sakievich wrote: As a disclaimer to my previous post, I've personally never been to Jack's. I hear its basically like a gym outside (grid bolted, manufactured holds, etc.) which isn't super appealing to me. I know people who love it, and maybe one day I'll go, but I wouldn't spend my 3 days in AZ there either.

Pretty much. I didn't see any evidence of manufactured holds but given the local ethic, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there is. Also quite a few bolted cracks. I wouldn't say the approach is like a climbing gym, it's mellow on the way down and then steep uphill to the top of the canyon wall. Plus, there could be some multi-pitch sport opportunities to go all the way up to the top of the canyon wall. Guess the developers thought 1 pitch was enough, though. And yes, most of the hardware is outdated with an abundance of cold shuts for some odd reason.

Best climbing in AZ-
Homestead (5.11 and up)
The forks (5.10 and up)
The waterfall (5.11 and up)
Cochise (great adventures, all grades)

3 days isn't enough time to really enjoy Cochise

Another great place to go in Arizona is the supes lots of easy multipitch trad routes I mean there are some pretty good sport routes out there

Jackson. wrote:Best climbing in AZ- Homestead (5.11 and up) The forks (5.10 and up) The waterfall (5.11 and up) Cochise (great adventures, all grades) 3 days isn't enough time to really enjoy Cochise

How would the Forks be temperature wise in late February? Mainly asking for my PHX dwelling self. I would have put it on my list of suggestions but I thought it would be too cold.

Skeeter aka richard wrote:Another great place to go in Arizona is the supes lots of easy multipitch trad routes I mean there are some pretty good sport routes out there

I don't know if I would put the Superstitions on par with Cochise, Mt. Lemmon or Sedona. Really old hardware that shouldn't legally be replaced due to a permanent bolt ban, and lots of choss. It's a pretty area with some PHX classics, but not really a destination spot IMHO.

It may not be the best buts its worth looking into.

HOMESTEAD! Incredible setting with giant Sahuaro Cacti all around and bighorn sheep now and then. If you haven't been on euro or Thai or Mexican limestone you will have a great time. If you want to get a lot of 100 to 115 pitches in it is worth the hour walk in. All you need is a 70M rope and 18 draws. Stronghold if you want long fun sport and Trad in another beautiful setting.

A visual enticement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd31deaz9xs

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Seems like there is no consensus must do climbing in the area. Leaning towards Cochise/Lemmon so we can check out Tucson as well-but it will probably depend on weather as well. Now I can just spend my money on all of the guidebooks in the state and compare!