The Grand Canyon is Arizona's inverted mountain range. There are plenty of peaks down on the canyon that can be climbed by non-technical means, but there are also a lot of technical routes up the various temples, mostly featuring soft sandstone and lots of excitement. Note that any sort of exploring you do in the depths of the Big Ditch should be considered an adventure. Take plenty of water and be prepared to self-rescue!
Getting There
Big long ditchlike hole across northern Arizona. Can't miss it.
Among the temples in the Grand Canyon, Zoroaster is undoubtably the king of the technical rock climbs. This is probably mostly due to the 32 miles of round trip hiking or the 20,000 feet of elevation gain and loss from the rim that it takes to reach the top of Zoro. Whatever the reason, a wide variety of climbers have traveled to the Big Ditch to have a go at Zoro.Approach and Route description:Phantom Ranch to Redwall Notch:From Phantom R...[more]
I was once stung by a scorpion in the hand while sleeping in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I don't know for sure it was a scorpion as I never saw it, but I don't think anything else can make your whole hand go completely numb for 3 weeks. Plus there was no evidence of a puncture as with a spider bite. I found out later that my symptoms matched perfectly the sting of a "lethal scorpion", which is almost never lethal unless you weigh less than 30 lbs (kids under 3).
Anyway, be careful and never sleep out on the sand without a ground tarp.
Is it possible to get a guidebook for climbs in the GC? It appears that there once was a book called Grand Canyon Summits Select or something like that but I can only find one mention of it on the internet and no mention of if or how it might be available.
Grand Canyon
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