Church Spires Area 

What is the trick for the parking here & accessing the trailhead? It seems that the only parking is only for church tourists, etc... Tried going there a couple times only to be turned around. There are plenty of other crags to go to in Sedona, so no big loss, but I'm curious what tactics are used for getting to the climing here?? Thanks!

There used to be parking right outside the gate. Now adays you have to go back down Chapel road and find a pullout and walk back in. Kind of a drag, but... I have never been locked in the gate area or ticketed.

We've never had trouble since we started parking lower on Chapel Rd. And realistically it only adds a minute or two to the approach.

A simple approach is go to Chicken Point and then head up a gully toward the route. Here are GPS directions. bp2.trimbleoutdoors.com/Maps/EmbeddedMap.aspx?tripId=1515945>>> (note: we had some backtracking due to getting cliffed out)

Is this anyone else's project currently? There are no bolts on it for an anchor currently and I have started projecting it. It is to the left of Broken Arete and climbs the obvious dihedral tips crack and the tips/finger crack to the left of the dihedral. I have had a couple burns on it and I think it will go at 12+. Going this weekend to put in some anchors if it isn't someone project already, it doesn't show any signs of it though.

Upper tier Dihedral Submitted By: Erock on Feb 24, 2012

Hey Erock, That may be the old aid line? 4 or 5 pitches? Bloom and Rodman may have ventured onto it a long time ago. I'll ask Burcham if he knows.

It is definitely only one pitch, there is no way it could go any higher. At least I don't think so becuase the crack disappear about 100 feet up and turns to blank face. There is no evidence of aid either, don't think this is what you are talking about but I could be wrong.

Hey JJ,

I talked to some guys about the line today out at the wall and they said that the aid line is farther to the left of this one. I got on the climb today, put 2 bolts at the bottom for a belay because its loose and slopey with a 100 foot cliff right behind it (1/2 inch x 3 3/4 inch 5 piece powers). The crack starts at 000 then gradually widens to .4 BD for the last 50 feet, it is splitter. Needs some cleaning, I plan to go out there during the week to do some trundling while there is no one around. Its going to be a classic line for sure. There is currently no anchors at the top of the first pitch just some fixed gear for an anchor I left there to get down.

Eric

Right on, sounds burly.

There is a route that I am curious about. It is climbers left of the church wall way around the corner up high. I am sure everyone has looked at it. It is a 100 foot tall wide crack (off width) that dissects a large tan sandstone face and is unmistakeable from the hike in. Has it been climbed and if so does anyone have some info on it? If it hasn't been touched it looks like a nice Sedona off width.

Erock, I am pretty sure Mattson did lead that thing. I seem to recall 160' of oldschool #5 Camalots...

Damn that's burly, that thing looks pretty good though from far away. I only have one #5/#6. Might need to pool together some big cams for that one.

Mattson was the definition of bad ass in his hay day. He certainly had an eye for hard lines. Let us know if you make it up there!! And good luck.

There is a splitter tips to good fingers crack on the pulpit spire that is tucked to the right of the corner in the picture. I can't find any information on the crack or the corner, has it been done? From the looks of it, it looks untouched...at least the crack. Looks like it'll go at least low 13.

Crack right of corner Submitted By: Erock on Mar 23, 2012

Another photo close up of the crack.

Up Close Submitted By: Erock on Mar 23, 2012

Hey Erock,

Not sure about the line in the photos, but I wanted to let you know that there are two single pitch lines on the west side of Christianity that you can see from the Church Wall. Both routes were put up by Seth Dyer and James Q Martin. The easier one (.11-?) is called Stiff Mister. Neighborhood Threat 5.12- is the thin crack. Not listed on here yet because it's been a long time since we were last on them. Bolted anchors. Worthy pitches.

Cool, ya i saw both of those routes you are talking about. One has a bolt and desert piton at the bottom anchor on the ledge and the other has 2 bigger bolts that requires some easy but very exposed 5th class soloing above the ledge. It looks like there are a few other possible lines on the west face. Are there any other established routes on this side that you know about? There is also a really good looking fingers to big hands roof crack way far right that looks cool.

Thanks for the info,

Eric

Here is a edited photo of the area. Are these any of the lines you were talking about?

Routes on west side Submitted By: Erock on Mar 24, 2012

Hey Erock,

Minister and the Pulpit is actually the smallest little spire up there. It is in between North Tower and Christianity. The photo you added is actually Christianity Spire. I'll see if Seth can't point out the lines a little better.

Ahh, ok cool that makes more sense now. I think there is a beta photo online here that describes the spires from left to right incorrectly then. I used it to figure out which ones were which, but I may have read it wrong.