Mountain Project: Climbing Central Arizona

Pinnacle Peak is the crown jewel of the Phoenix granite crags. Nearly lost because of development, the area was closed in 1994. Eight years later, local climbers were finally able to leverage the park out of the developer through a loophole in the land deal. It reopened as a Scottsdale City Park in 2002. The area features fun gear and bolted climbing on desert granite spread among the array of formations within the park.

More information: www.scottsdaleaz.gov/parks/pinnacle/

Note: Please do not attempt to climb on the Lower East Wall! Access to this area is closed!

Getting There

Pinnacle Peak Park is located in northeast Scottsdale near the intersection of Alma School Road and Dynamite Rd. Park in the lot near the visitor's center and hike up the golf cart path of a trail to reach various climber's trails that lead to the routes.

The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Pinnacle Peak:

South Crack 5.3 Trad, 2 pitches, 150 feet Pinnacle Peak

Varicose 5.6 PG13 Trad, 1 pitch, 70 feet AMC Boulder

Brown Out 5.6 A2 Trad, Aid, 1 pitch, 90 feet Pinnacle Peak

Birthday Party 5.7 Trad, 1 pitch, 55 feet Pinnacle Peak

Chutes and Ladders 5.7+ Trad, 1 pitch, 110 feet Pinnacle Peak

Chug A Lug 5.8 Trad, 1 pitch, 100 feet Pinnacle Peak

Silhouette 5.8 Sport Pinnacle Peak

Mickey Mantle 5.8+ Trad, 1 pitch, 70 feet AMC Boulder

Naked Edge 5.9 Trad, 1 pitch, 45 feet The Wedge

Two Cams and a Jam 5.9 Trad, 50 feet Cactus Flower East

28th Day 5.9 R Trad, 1 pitch, 90 feet Pinnacle Peak

Y Crack 5.9 Trad, TR, 1 pitch, 65 feet Y-Crack Boulder

Loafer's Choice 5.10a Sport, 1 pitch Loafer's Choice Slab

Rhythm and Blues 5.10- Trad, 1 pitch, 55 feet Windy Walks : North summit area

Death Watch 5.10c Trad, 1 pitch, 60 feet Pinnacle Peak

Powder Puff 5.10+ Trad, Sport, 1 pitch, 100 feet Pinnacle Peak

Never Never Land 5.10+ Trad, Sport, 1 pitch, 100 feet Pinnacle Peak

Sidewinder 5.11a/b Trad, 2 pitches, Grade II Pinnacle Peak

Lesson in Discipline 5.11b/c Trad, Sport, 1 pitch, 100 feet Pinnacle Peak

Shalaylay Direct 5.11c Trad, 1 pitch, 100 feet Pinnacle Peak

Comments on Pinnacle Peak

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By Ken Isaacson
Apr 20, 2009

Pinnacle Peak is a fantastic climbing area for visitors. It overlooks some of the most luxurious homes in Arizona(bring your binoculars) and there are views of Troon and the Lower East Wall which were once open to climbers.

By Ryan Myers
From: Tempe, Arizona
Jan 7, 2010

11 routes...1000ft at pinnacle peak

started at 11 climbed til 6 (yes we got locked in)

ticklist

Varicose TR
Reunion TR
Mickey Mantle TR
Dead Meat TR
Birthday Party Lead
Pecker Party TR
South Crack Lead
Chutes and Ladders Lead
Hiliter Lead
Turtles Piss Lead
Jam on Jam TR

lemme know if you can top this

Ryan Myers
Brad Montgomery

By Ryan Myers
From: Tempe, Arizona
Jan 10, 2010

We started at varicose and in order to top rope those routes we bouldered up the backside of amc boulder near the start of delayed flight..pretty easy two moves to get to the top..after the first four routes we agreed our approx distance climbed was 300 ft.. varicose(70ft),reunion(70ft),mickey mantle(70ft) and dead meat(90ft), from there we went to lead birthday crack(90ft) and setup toprope for pecker party(90ft)after rapping pecker party we climbed back up to sundeck boulder to retrieve our gear and finish south crack(220ft) then rapped down and headed to chutes and ladders (90ft), in need of lunch but still wanting to summit the wedge we lead hiliter(50ft) and headed down for a quick lunch and off to Y crack boulder, we lead turtles piss(60ft) and top roped jam on jam(60ft) to finish and then run back to the car just a little too late. After adding it up it looks like we did 960 ft of fifth class climbing..throw in a few feet of scrambling and it sure felt like a 1000 ft day.. either way it is what it is and it was a hell of a lot of fun. i challenge others to get out and give it a shot(maybe get to the park a lil earlier) and let me know if you got any other interesting link ups to try.

-ryan

By Ryan Myers
From: Tempe, Arizona
Jan 10, 2010

yeah it was a good day...before we started our plan was to do finish at cactus flower wall with some short easy climbs there for a total of around 15 routes but ran out of time. i do like the other climbs you mentioned definately would have like to added them if we had time, chug a lug is strangely a lot harder than it looks and y crack is a beast in itself..

where would the best spot in az be to do a 2000 ft day?

-ryan

By David Shiembob
From: slc, ut
Dec 13, 2011

Didn't there used to be a route called "Fear of Flying" here?

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Pinnacle Peak

Description

Getting There

The Classics