THE HELMET

As long as I've been a climber, I've drooled and stared at pictures of big roofs and steep, steep overhangs. There is something daunting, and almost forbidden, about hanging upside down and climbing using only your fingertips, toes and heels. I've been fortunate to climb lots of incredible roofs while bouldering, but still dreamed about the BIG roofs you see pictures of in magazines and videos. Suspended upside down forty feet above the earth, move after move of completely horizontal climbing. About two months ago I got my first taste of one of Tucson's BIG roofs, at a crag called The Helmet.

The Helmet is a small dome of granite emerging from the hillside just a few miles up the highway from Windy Point. On its west side, a huge notch has been eroded away, creating a 25 foot roof, and leaving the dome looking a bit like a motorcycle helmet. There are 6 routes on this part of the crag (plus a bolted open project), plus about 10 others on the non-steep side. A small crag for sure, but a unique little jewel for Tucson sport climbers. An added bonus has been that it stays completely shaded until about 2 o'clock during the summer, so you can get a good session with good temps before the sun starts creeping up on you. And by 2 o'clock, I'm usually exhausted from climbing here, so it works out well.

I've been to the Helmet four times now, and each time I've worked on some jaw-dropping routes. On the right hand side of the wall is Demolition Derby (12a), which overhangs about 20 feet in only 45 feet of climbing. All of the holds on DemoDerby are good (minus the crux sidepull/undercling), but this route is action-packed and so much fun. To the left of this is The Crossing (12b), which starts with 25 feet of easy slab leading into 25 feet of dead-horizontal roof climbing, finishing in an oh-so-tricky headwall. Next is the open project, then Dwarf Toss (12+), which I haven't tried yet. The next climb left is El Torito, another tough 12a. Not as quality as Demoliton Derby, but it has some fantastic moves up high, including a balancy and commiting move where you rock over and pretty much just fall into a huge jug. The best part of El Torito is that it leads you to the "Chain Gang" extension.

The "Chain Gang" extension is an upside-down traverse of the lip of the Helmets roof that you can access from either El Torito or Dwarf Toss. Both visually striking and very intimidating, the climbing on the "Chain Gang" is some of the best and hardest climbing I've ever done. From the moment you start the Chain Gang until you slap over the lip and pull the final headwall, your body is completely horizontal for about 30 feet. The holds are pretty good until the last crux section, and the movement is incredible. There are three big cross-throughs, with the final one being so far it seems such an improbable move. If someone set a move like this in a gym, I would scoff that it's a "gym-move", because obviously there are no horizontal cross-throughs that huge anywhere outside. But there they are, daring you try. This one will be on the Project List for a while, but is an inspiring route I will definitely keep coming back and working.

I have yet to get a picture that captures the place well, so I have stolen a picture from the website of John Baker, one of the leading developers of his area and many others on the mountain. Here is his topo of the climbs (the "Chain Gang" is the light blue/green line cutting across the lip):

And my photo of the "Chain Gang".The draws you see way under the roof are for Dwarf Toss. You can see the faint line of chain draws hanging from the lip of the cave:

Last but not least, here is a video of Clayton's noble effort on Demolition Derby. He's been on the route a few times now, and is getting better and better each time. It will go for him soon, hopefully we'll be able to get photos or video of the send. But for now, here is CLAYTON ON DEMOLITION DERBY.