Mt. Lemmon

[willstrickland]

If you've ever wondered about the winter cragging around Tucson...it's definitely worth sampling. Recently I spent about a week down there with some friends from AZ and UT, MisterE was along for the first half.

 

MisterE on "Valentine's Day Arete", a very fun warm up in La Milagrosa Canyon, a separate area a few minutes from Mt. Lemmon proper, photo by Medium Sue:

 

 

Lemmon is granite and gneiss, pretty grainy, large crystal structure with polished rock lower on the mtn and rougher, sharper rock higher up. Lots of bright green lichen on golden to brown, often striped rock. Lots of edges, pinches, and bottoming short cracks.

 

With about 5000 ft of elevation difference between the valley floor and the summit, and many towers and aspects, you can almost surely find something that is getting the temps and/or sun/shade you desire. It also means a few distinct bio-zones with enormous saguaro cactus forests low transitioning into open scrubby oak forest. There was alot of fire damage a few years ago, which makes some of the approaches and descents a little loose. The approaches are generally short, I think the farthest we walked was about 20min into the Ruins.

 

Not alot of continuous crack systems here...it's more like mixed bolt & gear face climbing and full-on sport routes, but there are some lines that go completely bolt-free. Guidebook uses a +/- system and seems pretty fair, maybe on the stiff side if anything.

 

Easily the best pitch I got to climb was a thing called Lizard Marmalade Direct on the Punch and Judy Towers. It's one very long crack pitch with some very cool stemming and liebacking over bulges, and a memorable tree downclimb to get off the tower. They call it "The Tucson classic" and it lived up to the hype. OTOH, Mean Mistreater...another so-called super classic two pitch face route was somewhat disappointing given the hype.

 

Huge road bike scene in Tucson and especially on Lemmon. Great cheap mexican food too, as you would expect. So if you've done twenty trips to Red Rocks or Josh (or live here, in my case), and want some variety in your winter cragging...check out Lemmon. It's good stuff.

 

[montypiton]

One of the best kept secrets of the southwest... spent a couple of weeks there in 1977, also hit Granite Mountain, Oak Creek Canyon, and Baboquivari on that trip. Mt. Lemmon is unique, though, for the amount of belay-from-the bumper cragging on its south side. And grade V lines on the north side that I never got to. Would certainly second Will's recommendation - a much less hectic scene than Josh or Red Rocks, w/ free desert camping, and Tucson has GREAT FOOD!

[lancegranite]

I climbed Hitchcock's with Fred a couple years ago, he likes it down there.

[EWolfe]

 

Top of my game, Bisshes! 5.8+

[shapp]

The upper pitches on Bender Axon and/or The regular route on Rappel Rock have the largest and most prolific Chicken Heads I have ever seen, grabbed, slung, or placed nuts between (no-pun intended)!

[Bug]

Went there in 82. Good climbing all over. The gniess of the Bitterroots prepared me well for the Lemmon gniess. Tricams are very useful. Slopers, stems, and friction jams abound.

Nice walking under the moonlight in the white sands.