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MisterE
Social climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 25, 2008 - 08:35pm PT
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The Doctor and I have been striking southward from the snowy Flagstaff winter to the sunny sandstone of Sedona. Sitting on the sun deck, sunning, snacking, sending...
(OK, that's too hard, back to regular narrative)
The Mission to Mars area, aka The Planetarium, hosts a series of powerful, steep and blocky sandstone routes, sprinkled with a few established mixed and trad lines. The cliff gets sun after 11AM, and the radiant heat of the rock warms quickly.
The M2M gets sun by noon, as seen from the sun deck:
All of the sport routes in this sector are 5.11 or harder, so bring your guns. Most of the routes are also named after the space/planet theme, including a wonderful 100-foot face/arete climb put up by our own Riotch, Space Cowboys 5.11c.
Mission to Mars is an ultra classic, ticking in at 12c with powerful open-handed moves and body tension.
Clayman Getting it done:
One of the hardest climbs in the area is Galactic Hitchhiker, a 5-star climb on immaculate rock. The 13a crux hits high:
Other great routes include The Doctor's warm up route Starship Trooper 5.11a, (Mike K again on the finishing crux):
and Lunar Lander 5.12a/b (also put up by the Doctor) Thanks Doc :-)
All this time during the winter staying strong got us looking at some new lines in the area, and last week (yet another Bloom route) found the completion of Do The Bosco 5.12b . Some of you 'Topians may recognize the name in that climb! and I'm not talking about the chocodrink, either!
The first 20 feet of this thing climbs out a cave, and requires some attentive belaying as well! Colin Cox on the second ascent:
The climbing stays hard through a steep shield above. It's a long climb:
That got me excited about a line i had been checking, so after several weekend days of work, last Saturday, I completed Sundogs, 5.11c. Though only 45 feet, it sports two seperate .11 cruxes, and the hardest move is getting on the climb! A 3-foot roof above add spiciness, as well. Colin Cox got some pictures of me on the FA, Thanks Colin!:
And when we get tired of sport climbing, on another level just above us is a stellar 5.10c thin hands crack with a 3-bolt approach, among others:
Ahhhh, love those winter days in Sedona! Thanks to all for the work to make this area awesome!
All the beta for this area can be found here:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/United_States/Arizona/Central/Sedona_Sport_Climbs/Mission_to_Mars/
Cheers! Erik
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Feb 25, 2008 - 08:59pm PT
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Very nice!
Looks like some fun climbing. Thanks for posting up.
Cheers!
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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Feb 25, 2008 - 09:37pm PT
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oo sweeeeeet mister E ;-)
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Feb 25, 2008 - 09:45pm PT
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Dude it looks like a carrot colored cave rock and why are there so many monkeys there? On another note I hope all is well with you and we built the turret on the porch step, am anxiously awaiting my next Red Tag, take care bro....
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HighGravity
climber
Here, but will be there next week
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Feb 25, 2008 - 09:48pm PT
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E, looks like you guys are having fun up there. I can't wait to get back.
The other E
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P.Kingsbury
Trad climber
Bozeman
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Feb 25, 2008 - 11:11pm PT
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Sweet!!!
that place looks like alot of fun! i wanna check it out sometime
thanks for postin up!
patrick
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KP Ariza
climber
SCC
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Feb 25, 2008 - 11:58pm PT
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Cool T.R. E, never seen the place, looks really good-
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susan peplow
climber
www.joshuatreevacationhomes.com
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Feb 26, 2008 - 12:15am PT
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Erik, I'm not sure which is more attractive. The color of Sedona Sandstone or the Doctor's legs.
Nice photo's & descriptions. Don't tell me that while we've all been getting soft over the winter you guys are stronger than ever.
~Sooze
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 26, 2008 - 01:23am PT
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thanks Erik... looks like an old duffer like me can look for a few moderate trad climbs elsewhere...
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Feb 26, 2008 - 08:24am PT
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You come on out Ed, and we'll do the wide! :-)
Spyork edit: Bring spyork with you.
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spyork
Social climber
A prison of my own creation
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Feb 26, 2008 - 12:11pm PT
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Looked nice and warm in those photos. All that stuff looked pretty dang hard tho!
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Sheila
climber
Durango
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Mar 20, 2008 - 11:05am PT
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Hey Colin! Didn't know if you'd check this thread or not. It's good to see you - if only in pictures on the internet! Looking good!! Hope all is well with you. Sheila
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L
climber
Who's Asking?
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Mar 20, 2008 - 11:56am PT
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How did I miss this thread first time around???
Awesome photos and captions, Erik! You've taken TRs to a new level...please post more.
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MZiebell
Social climber
Prescott, AZ
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Mar 27, 2008 - 03:51pm PT
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Great TR bump
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MZiebell
Social climber
Prescott, AZ
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Mar 27, 2008 - 09:41pm PT
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My pleasure...
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Mike from Phoenix
Trad climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Mar 28, 2008 - 01:35am PT
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Yet another quality TR Eric. Thanks for sharing.
On a selfish note: I want copies of those pics!
Also there is a really nice FA of a great 3 pitch tower in Sedona just waiting for us. 5.11-ish, with fun moves, (relatively) great rock, and heaps of exposure. Plus a couple other nice lines on it that will go. Now that M2M is getting way hot, call me & lets get it done.
-Mike
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MisterE
Social climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 28, 2008 - 09:42am PT
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Chew got it on both counts, Meng!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Mar 28, 2008 - 08:39pm PT
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Hey MisterE,
That's some beautiful red rock you got there. Nice pics. Thanks.
MisterZ
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MisterE
Social climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 30, 2008 - 02:01pm PT
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Bump! And update...
The Doctor and I went out to do a 4-pitch Arizona backcountry .5.11b that has only seen 2-3 ascents this Saturday.
The approach was said to be 45 minutes, so we got an early start. The Doctor got a written description of the approach, and we also had a topo off of Mountain project. We set off, the directions seeming obvious...
HA!
20 minutes into the approach, looking back on parking:
After ascending the first part of the hill, about 35 minutes into the approach, looking back again:
We cut off the main trail just after this, looking for the anchors that we would rappel for 4 pitches to get us to the base of the climb.
Looking for anchors in all the wrong places:
We finally realized we cut off too early, and continued for another 20-25 miutes until we saw an obvious North-facing wall (the climb was supposed to be in the shade all day).
Approaching the amphitheater:
the sweeping view from the top:
We were looking for a "nose" of rock - we found about a thousand.
Out on one of the "noses" looking back on the wall we were sure the climb was on:
The last pitch says 5.10 slab, but the wall didn't look slabby AT ALL!!!!
We spent a total of 4 hours looking for the elusive anchors, and an untold number of vertiginous peeks over "noses" before we gave up.
Another shot of the amazing view:
We found another trail we decided to follow back and do some sport-area recon. Sometimes the search for one thing gives you another.
We stumbled upon a series of short one-pitch walls (5-6 in all) that looked promising for our next project:
By this time we were well off the beaten path, but within 30-40 minutes of parking, so we decided to check the walls out. Dropping our packs, we hiked another 10 minutes trough minimal underbrush, and discovered steep, solid, and clean sandstone on the initial formation! Psyche!
The Doctor checking out the rock:
We decided to head over and check out the next few formations. Looking across the next approach section:
After a little more bushwacking, I heard David yell:
"Hey, Look! An arch!"
Looking up, I shot this picture:
It was more of a window, that an arch, but we realized that there was a very, very good chance we had just discovered an undocumented Sedona arch! Sweet! It is very remote, invisible from any trail, and there were zero signs anyone had been here.
We decided to call it Windowpane Arch, if it proves to be undocumented.
David with his find:
We continued on, excited by both the arch find and the potential climbing in the area. The nextwall was very steep and featured:
and another several formations lay behind this one:
I got a cool shot of a gnarled juniper and had some photoshop fun with it:
At this point, we had been back-country hiking and 'schwacking for almost 6 hours, and decided we had seen enough to warrant a return. Plus we were both getting a bit shagged, so we decided to call it. We did follow the lower trail (below the one we came in on), and I got one more shot of the amazing prow near the arch. We dubbed the area Windowpane Rock:
Following the rim back, we spotted a few good trad lines to be done. One is close to the area we explored:
Another was a 2-pitch chimney David had been eyeballing for a few years. Steep and clean, it looks like a classic! Since it is on Bear Mountain, and looks like a real bear of a climb, guess what we're going to call it? (check properties for answer):
Spring in Sedona! Indian Paintbrush:
Cheers! Erik
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Riotch
Trad climber
Kayenta, Arizona
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Mar 30, 2008 - 03:50pm PT
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Right on E!
Careful, you may set off a wave of immigration to N. AZ
Now the doctor is free, maybe you guys will come out to K-town and help me send some classic crack FAs.
I'm going out today to boulder and scope . . . stay tuned for pics.
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