The Elusive Catalina Butterfly

Another blistering hot Tucson Tuesday with only one route for escape - drive fast and high up Catalina Highway. Todays destination was the Butterfly Wall on Mount Bigelow, with a cool elevation of over 8000 feet and the ability to chase shade. Routes range from 9+ to 12+ on stellar rock that is pretty unusual by Lemmon standards.

Standard first disclaimer for people going to the Butterfly Wall - THE HIKE IS A MISERABLE, ULTRA-STEEP, THIGH BURNING, HEART EXPLODING SLOG.

Standard second disclaimer for people going to the Butterfly Wall - MAKE THE HIKE, YOU WON'T REGRET IT - THE CLIMBING IS THAT GOOD.

I first heard of the Butterfly Wall last summer from our local guidebook author/prolific FAist, who plainly stated that it might be the best wall on the mountain. High praise, indeed, so I was excited to finally get to check the place out this month.

Towers on top of Mt. Bigelow:

From the top of Mt. Bigelow, you descend the ridgeline following ever steepening switchbacks, trying to use the expansive views as a good distraction from the pain your thighs feel as you hike. While looking out at the summit of Mt. Lemmon to the east and distant ranges to the north, you pass through stands of pines that were ravaged by the 2002 forest fire.

Life is resilient, however, and wildflowers and wildlife are abundant.

Bear scat:

Besides the physical toll the approach takes on your body, there is another side effect of this hike. The trail is composed of very loose and fine grained soil which is easily kicked up into cloud of dark dust. Let's go ahead and call the end result the Butterfly Tanline:

After about 30 minutes of downhilling, you are rewarded with this sight:

The left arete is Firefly, 12c, and to the left is Iron Butterfly, 12a. You cannot tell from this picture how steep they are (especially the arete!), but they are certainly as tall as they seem. Even with a 70 m rope, it requires some trickery to reach the ground when lowering from these climbs. Both are about as good as sport climbing gets. The pinnacle poking over the trees in the bottom left of the picture is also home to some amazing and unique climbing.

The pocketed face of Trundle Pinnacle:

The leftmost line of pockets is 5.10 (and a solid contender for best 5.10 on Mt. Lemmon), a little left-of-center is 11-, in the middle is a 10+ trad route, and the pocketed face on the right is 11+. All are excellent climbs, especially considering they are the only routes with true pockets in the Catalina Mountains.

Looking up at Firefly:

This classic endurance climb starts off with some fun, tricky slab climbing up to a good rest. From there you have about 90 feet of hard climbing to clip the anchors, getting progressively harder and steeper all the way to the final bulge. This climb requires the full package of skills: power, technique, endurance, a cool head, and lots of will power to keep hanging on. If you are lacking in any of these on your attempts, you will be thwarted (this day I was lacking in most of those areas).

A peregrine falcon, who wasn't too excited about our presence:

After three 5.11's and on go on Firefly, I was beat and ready to go. I won't go on and on whining about the hike out the Butterfly. Sure, it's tough, but by then you are a solid believer in the second disclaimer - Hell yeah, the climbing is worth it!

P.S. - Big thanks to Chris P. and Brent S. for rediscovering this area and all their effort in establishing both the trail and the great climbs.

P.P.S. - Clayton - I have about 5 of your draws, and they've been used at some cool places the last week.

P.P.S. - It's Orifice season! Screw you falcons, let's go climb!