Squeezing One Last Lemmon

There's always room for dessert. And it's hard not to make time to squeeze in one more climbing day, so Thursday Tyler and I headed back up the mountain for more gneiss goodness. It was already HOT when we met up and started driving towards Catalina Highway, so we figured we better get some serious altitude and shade. We decided to check out The Druid, a large rock formation adjacent to a Boy Scout camp at about 7500 feet. After a surprisingly easy approach, we were staring up at long, sparsely bolted slabs, and a few cool roofs and bulges. The Druid also has a few old school 'R' rated trad routes, which looked desperate and very scary. Needless to say we avoided those.

We roped up and started climbing on the right side of the wall, where there were a few good looking routes right next to each other, Admiral Throckmorton (5.8) and Corporal Punishment (5.9). They climbed the exact same way - 5.7ish slab to VERY runout easy slab to a crux bulge, then mantle out and finish. They were good warm-ups, but a little bit scary, as there was definite ground fall potential through the easier sections - Corporal Punishment had only 4 bolts for a 60 foot route, although the crux bulge was well protected.

The next route left was another 5.8 slab, In Lightning, starting close to the others but then moving left away from the bulge. This route was long, sustained and incredible. Probably the best 5.8 I've done in Tucson (except for maybe Valentine's Day Arete at Milagrosa, but that's probably really a 5.9). 120 feet of great climbing leads to the anchor, and from there you have a few different options for a second pitch. I belayed Tyler up using my Reverso, and we opted to try the short but cool looking 10+ roof pitch. Basically a bolted boulder problem, nice jugs, deep incut seams and even an amazing sloper got you over the bulge and at the chains. This was so a short pitch we felt like it wasn't enough, so I lowered down, Tyler nailed it, then we opted for the right exit. This was an easier variation with a few good sections, but a better reading of the guidebook would have been a good idea. 30 feet above the last bolt I realized that you are supposed to walk off the top of this route, and not wanting to do that, I just downclimbed the route back to the anchors with Tyler.

We made the rappel back down to terra firma only to make an astounding realization - it's freakin COLD! We were at a decent elevation, but we were also climbing a south-facing cliff, so we were in direct, full-on sun. But an arctic wind was blowing up the canyon, chilling us to the bone. I put my raincoat on to warm up a little, but Tyler had no other layers, sucker. Next up we climbed Grips of Wrath, a 10- face that has generated a little controversy in past. Grips of Wrath is a bolted line that goes straight up an old, zig-zagging R rated trad climb. Surprisingly it hasn't been chopped, but lucky for us, as it was another fun, technical climb.

We followed this with Jack The Slipper, a short 5.9 slab that moves up into anchors under a roof, from which you can lower off or continue through the 5.11 roof. The climbing was pretty good, with a classic committing mantle to reach the anchors. I decided to go ahead and keep climbing through the roof, only to be completely shut down as soon as I moved past the chains. Deciphering the sequence was tricky, but the 12 foot traverse under the roof was very cool climbing, although protected by a sketchy, rusted old bolt sticking an inch out of the rock. Pulling the roof was awkward and thrutchy, which was unfortunate after such an elegant sequence getting to it. After the roof, 30 more feet of vertical jug hauling led to the anchors. I lowered off, cleaning the draws after the the first anchor, as Tyler only wanted to climb the first section. He crushed it on TR, despite being a popsicle at this point.

Cold and wind-burned, we decided to head out and finish the day off at the one and only Hitchcock Pinnacle. Tyler hadn't climb the pinnacle before, so it was the perfect way to send him off to Colorado. The climbing on the pinnacle is OK at best, but the experience is unbeatable - a 40 foot finger of rock high above Windy Point, with breathtaking views of the mountains in every direction and Tucson far below. The top of the pinnacle is flat and about 12'x12', so perfect for giving each other high-fives on a great day, standing on top and taking it all in, and hamming it up for tourists down below.