since we were mainly bouldering for the winter, our power meter was certainly high. however, our endurance meter, was definitely low. no biggie, we'll ease our way back into sport climbing with short sport routes!
Cochise
ok well, actually, our first plan was to do a 6-pitch sport climb in Cochise Stronghold. not sure what i was thinking - going from bouldering 15' walls to climbing 700' of tall wall climbing? who knows! in any case, we ended up doing the first pitch, and bailing. :) conditions were not what we wanted - cold, shady, and windy. brr! however, the climbing was pretty dang funny. S-L-A-B! like real slab with absolutely no hand holds, just super trusty frictiony feet and divits for fingers. woooo, scary! and hilarious! i felt like i essentially lying belly down and mantling on slab! we ran into people a few weeks later who said they had friends who would compete with with each other to see how many bolts they could make by RUNNING up the rock - as in, "let's see if we can get to the second bolt.. ok third bolt" etc. yes, i guess it is just that slabby that people are running up the side instead of trying to climb it ;)
prepping the gear the night before inside Nessa - lots of trad gear, itty bitty little living space.
1 hour hike in
we're planning to climb the middle peak to the top..
at the top of Pitch 1. jason's fingers are on the best "hold" on the route.. everything else was essentially friction!
classic "summit" photo, but we're only at Pitch 1 ;)
looking down off Pitch 1 - not sure its doing justice for the slab and lack of holds. it may look like a rock slide?
im on the ground looking up at jason who is about to rappel down to me. maybe you can see more of the slab??
Mount Lemmon
we spent 4 days in the Mount Lemmon area. 2 days at Melligroso, 1 day at Jailhouse, and 1 day at the Ruins. super sunny and hot weather in all locations! it was really nice. all approaches were super easy - bonus! most of the climbs were more vertical and balancy. it was fun to get on some more technical climbs. and everywhere we went.. saguaro cactus were "watching" and cheering us on! ;) they are some truly cool cactus!
happy cacti all over the canyon :)
The Homestead
this place was AWWWWWESOME! and quite an adventure. we'd been hearing about this crag for months. however, we kept thinking we'd pass on the place because we always heard that you need 4wd to get back to the parking lot. it was possible to hike the road from the highway, but it'd be at least a few miles each way. so, of course on our last day at Mount Lemmon, a guy tells us that we have to see The Homestead. then he adds, if we timed it right, we may be able to catch a ride with someone who had a car who could make it up the road. i guess trucks passing those who are hiking are usually pretty nice about it and pick them up for the rest of the road. sweeet! we were sold. we did some online research. no guidebook of course, but we did find an old .doc file online that had some of the routes. we headed to Kinko's to print a copy. and then we spent a few hours at mcdonald's reviewing mountainproject.com and filling in all the crags and climbs. yep, it took hours :) finally, we were on our way!
we also spent 4 days here, and it was STELLAR!! we never caught a ride with anyone ;) we hiked that road each day - to the crag, and back. it added to the experience ;) we found out later, the hike is about ~3 miles each way - so ~6 miles everyday. the only reason we left was due to the hiking time cutting into our climbing time. it took almost 3 hours to hike everyday. this would only give us a short climbing window because we didnt want to be hiking out in the dark.
obviously, the climbing is so worth it! sticky limestone! its such a new crag, the limestone is not yet polished. and tufas, real tufas! actually, all of the walls are different. Tufa City - tufas, duh. sweet, sweet movement and features! Rough Rider - more vertical, and really tall routes. Slate Nation - a little bit more blocky, sidepulling movement.
The Homestead is one of my favorites so far. i would want to spend more time in the area, but first, i'd like to somehow have access to 4wd ;)
1/4 of the way into the hike. we're heading for the cliff line in the middle of the photo
we're getting closer!
we're greeted by big horn sheep!
a shot of Rough Rider from across the canyon
Tufa City
more Tufa City
looking at Rough Rider on the left, and Slate Nation on the right.
jacks canyon
also super sweet! a small canyon with free camping and easy access. we spent 6 days in the area. our first days were limited. we didnt have a guidebook yet, so we were mooching off anyone we could find with a book. we did get on some fun, short, vertical climbs. the sandstone/limestone mix of rock made for really fun movement :) after we got the guidebook, we got on some of the steeper climbs. wow, bouldery! you'd think i'd perform well since i've been bouldering the past few months. so yes, i could power through the moves from bolt to bolt. however, linking them all together from the ground to the anchors at the top - a totally different story! in any case, all the climbs were super fun! i really enjoyed this area too :)
of course - no pics ;)
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