Cochise Stronghold, Saguaro National Park and Picacho Peak

Cochise Stronghold, Saguaro NP and Picacho Peak
June 15-20, 2020

Approach, Day 1

Laura is almost 6 months pregnant now and the doctors keep reminding her to stay active! She has been getting a little stir crazy hanging around the house more than usual so she booked us a trip to Arizona for a few days of fun in the sun while it was snowing at home in Colorado. We had several excellent powder weekends skiing already this year, but the climbing has been a bit limited. Good thing Laura can't climb anything too difficult right now. I'm not sure I could keep up! Arriving in Phoenix, we rented a car and headed south to Tucson. The following morning we woke up and made the 1.5 hour drive east to Cochise Stronghold. We thought we should try out the route several of our friends had told us about called What's My Line?. I loaded up the pack with gear, water and rope and Laura carried a water bottle. It was clear that I'd be getting my exercise on this trip. Oh well, pregnant lady still wants to climb so I'm happy! Laura struggled on the approach to the climb so it took us far longer than we had planned - about 2 hours to get there.

Justin on "What's My Ling?"

After approaching thru chimneys and up slabs of smooth rock, we finally made it to the base of the climb. As we started the route, I lowered off the traverse and climbed over and up the easy terrain. Laura followed with a rappel and swing and made her way to me. One more pitch of climbing chickenheads and using them for protection and then a traversing pitch with a short chimney lead us to the summit of the dome. The climb was less than I had expected but the views and the company made up for it. I was looking forward to the next climbs and hoping they'd be better than the so called classic of Cochise. We rappelled off the summit and made our way back to our pack and began our hike out.

Justin climbing "What's My Line?"

Justin in the Inner Passage

Rockfellow with climbers on Endgame

On the way, we decided to check out the 5.6 route Inner Passage. This is mostly a scramble but with several tight chimneys leading thru a rock formation in the Rockfellow Group. I lead the way and when it got too narrow for Laura's pregnant belly to fit, she turned back as I continued on to solo the route and then headed back out the way I came. It was 5 pm and we had not seen anyone climbing near us all day but for one group across the rocks from us. We thought this place was popular and expected there to be others on the climbs we chose, but I suppose we were wrong!

The Wasteland

We hiked out and headed back to Tucson as the light faded into a beautiful sunset. Mexican for dinner and then bed before doing the drive east again the following morning. It's our second day in Arizona and we would climb in the same area but on a different rock formation. Today we chose to climb the 5 pitch, 5.8 route The Wasteland. The approach was better today as it was a bit cooler. We made our way up a wash and eventually found a good trail to the base of the route. It looked excellent after yesterdays climb, I now had a little confidence slinging chickenheads for protection. The route wandered up and across the face of the rock and took the path of least resistance for 5 pitches. Laura enjoyed this route and I found it far superior to yesterdays What's My Line? route. I enjoyed the cracks and balancy moves of The Wasteland and the chimney was a fun addition to the route. We hiked out earlier today and made our way back west to Tucson. The next day is National Park day and a rest day for us.

We woke early and drove over to Saguaro National Park. We spent a few minutes in the visitors center before heading out on several hikes to explore the park. The Saguaro's are really cool and both Laura and I were impressed by the park and the cacti. The desert really is a beautiful landscape. We walked up to some ancient markings on the rock from Indians hundreds of years ago and then went to the desert museum and zoo for the remainder of the day.

1st Pitch of Moby Dick

4th Pitch of Moby Dick

Rested and feeling great, we set off for the west side of the Stronghold early the following morning. The drive was an adventure as Laura came up with directions that lead us off-road for 10 miles before coming to a closed private property gate. We turned back and found a different way to access our climb. 15 more miles on dirt roads landed us at our parking area as we started our approach sometime around 10 am! Today we climbed on Whale Dome; a 6 pitch route named Moby Dick. The approach was pretty smooth as we tried hard to stay on the faint trail as much as possible. At the base of the climb I geared up and we started climbing on what would be the best first three pitches of our climbing in AZ. They followed a left leaning corner and were varied between chimney moves, layback, slab and crack climbing. After the first half of the climb, the angle eased as did the climbing. We cruised the remainder of the route without issue and made the exciting free hanging rappel off the summit. Down climbing the gulley back to our packs was as challenging as the climb but we eventually made it. We gathered our gear and hiked out to the car. The views of the Rockfellow group where we climbed several days ago were great as we made our way back to the car earlier than any day before. Interestingly today, even with our late start, we finished earlier than any other day we had climbed!

Summit of Whale Dome, climbed via the Moby Dick route

Start of the trail up Picacho Peak

Justin on the via ferrata portion

Our flight leaves at 4 pm today so we knew we had time to do something fun before going to the airport. We agreed on the 1500', 3.2 mile hike to the summit of Picacho Peak. They claim that it is a via ferrata but it really is a hike on a good trail to some interesting and exposed terrain where cable railings are installed. At the visitor center, Laura asked if the hike was hard and the lady informed us that it was indeed difficult. We later heard her telling her coworker that they would probably end up rescuing us later in the day. For a minute I thought about gearing up with the rope, harness and climbing gear and then going in and telling them we were here for the via ferrata, but thought better of it and continued on to the trail head. Laura and I made the hike in a leisurely 2.5 hours and then grabbed lunch to top off an excellent Arizona adventure. I think we will be back as we both enjoyed the scenery and especially the rocks of Cochise Stronghold.

Justin after a fun day climbing