Hanging Gardens 5.5
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| Type: | Trad, 2 pitches |
| Consensus: | 5.6 [details] |
| FA: | |
| Submitted By: | Marcy on Oct 28, 2006 |
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Evelyn beginning the first rap
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Access: MORE INFO >>>
For the moment, access to this area by climbers should be from a temporary trailhead/parking area that is located near the old Morrell's Wall Parking Lot area. From there, the new Tom's Thumb Trail leads up toward Morrells Wall, Gardeners Wall and on to Tom's Thumb. Please look for, and use designated climber access trails.
This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project.
You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.
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Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment
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Description Pitch 1: Scramble up the left-angling ramp/crack to the base of the flake. Continue diagonally up left in crack to a right angling crack. Follow this crack to a 2-bolt hanging belay. 100'
Note - this belay is also the location of the 2nd rap.
Pitch 2: Make a thin move from the belay into a crack diagonaling right. Follow this crack as it becomes slightly steeper and heads straight up. Go left on easy cracks and face to the top. Gear belay. ~130'.
Descent: Locate bolts for the 1st rap to the left (climbers left). Two double rope raps back down to your the base - watch out for other parties coming up the route!
Location Begin below the large, right-leaning flake in the middle of the wall.
Protection Small to medium cams, doubles of BD #1-3 helpful. Could use a #4 near top of P2, but climbing gets fairly easy here.
Evelyn finishing up the first pitch
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Opening moves on the Arizona classic.
April 2008
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Ashleigh cleaning the last piece on the first pitc...
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Getting into the final finger section of the 1st p...
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Beautiful Start to Hanging Gardens - Crusin and Br...
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Hanging Gardens, Gardener Wall, McDowell Mountains
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BETA PHOTO: Good Exposure right off the deck... 2nd placement
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Leading the first left angling crack at the beginn...
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BETA PHOTO: Nearing the first belay. Notice the entire route ...
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Doug leading away from the hanging belay. The di...
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Doug making short work of pitch two. The picture...
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Jon and Doug waiting for me to arrive at the belay...
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Doug starts off on Pitch 2.
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Me staring up the first pitch
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Looking up at the second pitch from the hanging be...
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BETA PHOTO: The diagonal crack that starts pitch 2 abruptly an...
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Descending on double ropes to the hanging belay
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I had a full set of hexes, nuts and 4 BD Camalots ...
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Climbers over on Hanging Garden's. Shot taken fro...
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BETA PHOTO: Top of first pitch
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| Comments on Hanging Gardens |
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By Tim Heid
From: Tempe, Az
Nov 24, 2010
rating: 5.5
| If you don't want to drag up a second rope all the way up to Gardner's Wall, you can do a 3rd class walk off the back (to the climber's left of the top rappel bolts). From there you can head up West to Tom's Thumb, or walk West to a trail and make your way back to the base of HG. |
By Cody Ferguson
From: Tempe, AZ
Jan 13, 2011
| Or, if you have a 70m rope, you can walk left (east) to the top of Renaissance Direct and make two single rope raps (about 115' each) to the base. |
By Tim Heid
From: Tempe, Az
Oct 16, 2011
rating: 5.5
| I'm pretty sure (1) 70m works for both raps. We rapped the first pitch with plenty left. And it looks like the 1st rap would be fine as well. Can anyone confirm? |
By JH.Bartell
Nov 29, 2011
rating: 5.6
| We attempted to rappel from the second anchor to the first with one 70m rope and were about 10 feet short of the first anchor. Bring two ropes or scramble around back. |
By Micah Kurtz
Dec 27, 2011
| I did this route today with a friend. I thought it was a lot of fun. The scariest move for me was the first exposed move coming into the hand crack on pitch one but its not too hard. I also lead the second pitch, for my 4th trad lead and I had a blast. It just keeps going and going. I would definitely advise bringing larger gear for the crack at the end. Its long and takes large gear, but not very hard if you do need to run it out. So fun! Two double rope raps to the bottom. |
By Nate Young
From: Phoenix
Feb 3, 2012
rating: 5.6 PG13
| I took a couple videos at the second belay, sorry for the shaky cam work. Need to invest in a go-pro :)
Ran up this climb with a friend on 1/29/2012 and it was a great trip.
The hike up was interesting b/c we took a few wrong turns hiking the wash and got lost. Make sure you turn left at the fork in the trail and start the hike up the hill towards Tom's Thumb rather than going right and hiking up the wash. About two miles up the Tom's Thumb Trail there will be a marked trail on the right past the first saddle. It will take you around this mountain and down into a gully with gigantic boulders that you need to hop around. If you go up higher into the ravine the boulder field is easier to manage.
Remember to bring enough pro unless you like a run out. I had 4 BD cams with me (#.5, #1, #2, #3) I would leave the bigger pro at home and only take up to a #3 at the most. I only used the #3 to protect a runout at the top of the second pitch, but that was because my left calf was giving out. If you can, double up on the #.5 and the #1 to work the crack a little better. The second pitch is great for a #1-2 cam placements until you get to the top. Leave your micro-stoppers at home since the crack doesn't taper down that much. I used a couple of medium hexes on the first pitch, and a few larger ones to protect the vertical hand crack. This was my frist true lead climb so I probably over protected it, but I wasn't confident in the passive pro-placements just yet.
I would leave the second rope at home and just do the 3rd class walk off from the back, there is no reason to hike up all of that weight. The rope drag on the second rope is incredible in some places and the extra drag weight definitely felt like a hinderance. Hook up with the Tom's Thumb trail on the way back to the car, or hit up another climb on Tom's thumb while your up there.
The drag is the worst on the first pitch, where the left angling 45 degree finger crack transitions into the right 45 degree. make sure you put at least a 4 foot runner on the corner pro to straighten out the angle a bit. The second belay is great. The ledge is nice to lean back on and the chains look brand new. I didn't bother building a gear belay on the top of the second pitch. If you step around left of the big boulder at the top, there are the rap anchors that you can belay from without a problem. Again, drag can be an issue here so use some runners in the vertical crack placements.
All in all, if you like finger cracks and have some trad gear, go at it. There are no bolts on this climb save one super old rusty thing half way through the second pitch. |
By Trad Nanny
Sep 21, 2012
| Can be done in one pitch with a 70m, gear belay in pod 15ft from the chains. Rapped it with one 70m too, will not reach chain anchor on route though, there's another anchor climbers right and higher on a different route that will get you to the ground in one more rap. |
By Ryan Myers
From: Tempe, Arizona
Nov 10, 2012
| Climb Hanging Gardens and Renaissance Direct for a great day in the McDowells |
By arjunmh
From: Phoenix, AZ
Apr 1, 2013
rating: 5.7
| Always love this climb as a nice warm up for the thumb! And, yes, if you're comfortable coming off your rope at the end of your rap, holding on to an end and down climbing a few feet to the anchors you can use one 70m rope. Or, send your partner down to the anchors to spot you. Have done it both ways. Just don't slip. |
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