Bee reports in Cochise Stronghold and on Mt Lemmon

Hello all,

My wife and I are planning a late December trip to AZ and NM.  We plan to climb in Mt Lemmon for five days and Cochise for three days. 

In reading the guide books and MP comments, we have seen several references to bees swarming and in cases stinging and attacking. 

Would you share reports on where climbers have encountered bee hives and swarming and concentrated bees?

Disclosures to the wise asses: yes, I know there are bees in nature; no, I don't only want to climb in the gym; yes, you are a better, stronger, tougher climber than me.

Honestly its not an issue. But if you did come across a hive just leave the area.

Yes, likely not an issue. But don’t stick around if you sense a swarm developing. A climber (Steven Johnson) and his dog were killed a few years back—somewhere around Tucson, I believe. They found him covered with bee stings. So, some concern is warranted—not a dumb question. 

Daniel Joder wrote:

Yes, likely not an issue. But don’t stick around if you sense a swarm developing. A climber (Steven Johnson) and his dog were killed a few years back—somewhere around Tucson, I believe. They found him covered with bee stings. So, some concern is warranted—not a dumb question. 

Steven Johnson was killed by bee attack, it was a ways south of Tucson in the Santa Rita's. 

There was also a bee attack in the hairpin canyon on Mt. Lemmon but was not fatal.

You have a 10,000 times or greater chance dying driving to your destination, then you do getting attacked by bees.

Ok. Thank you both.   On our two previous visits we did not encounter bees...but at places like Cochise Stronghold with long approaches and where encounters with other parties are sporadic, if possible, I hope to avoid problems known to the local community but not to me. 

We are also targeting climbs like Ewephoria and Wasteland which get a lot of traffic.  Actually a commenter noted bee stingings on Wasteland.

At Mt. Lemmon we also focus on classics.  Good to know about the past incident at the hairpin. We will probably visit that area. 

Best,

(Cochise) It's typically cold enough in Cochise that time of the year that bees shouldn't be an issue. If anything the wind and possible rain/snow might get ya so bring stuff to bail with if the weather looks suspect - either way you should be able to see the storms coming if you don't have cell service out there. Typically the winter storms are slower to surprise you than the summer monsoons. If they're on the horizon though I typically don't roll the dice and I'll bail.   

(Lemmon) Hairpin is typically real busy that time of the year. I've never ran into bees down there in the "winter". It has been uncharacteristically warm though this season....I think you'd be fine at any of the winter time areas (areas below windy point). I would check out Milagrosa Canyon one of those days. You'll catch arguably the most memorable sunset in there if you stay late enough.

Ok. Thank you. Milagrosa Caynon sounds interesting. We’ll check it out. 

Africanized bees seem somewhat unpredictable to me.

In the past, I climbed at a place in S. Arizona that has lots of them.  https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105903690/the-mustang

It seemed a fun game to try and figure out how to deal with them, since “The Mustang” has probably a mile of beautiful, untouched, (some two pitch) limestone with very, very interesting climbing.  i.e.  See comments to the Mustang area.

After my friend Steve and his dog were both killed by them, the game seemed somewhat foolish.

I do not think that the temperatures during the day will probably be low enough to make them dormant.

That said, I agree that your chances of encountering Africanized bees at Lemmon or the Stronghold  are very low.  It is not a worry that would be high on my radar.  If you see bees, do not climb there, especially if it is multi-pitch.

The rule of thumb at any Central/Southern AZ crag is just to climb after the first cold snap when the hives go inactive, which is usually late Oct - mid/late Mar. Like above posters said though, if you see bee activity it's best to probably just avoid the climb altogether and find a different route. It is usually just an issue with routes that have an actual hive somewhere along the way, so you can usually just pick a different route nearby to avoid any issues. I just climbed in Cochise a few weekends ago and did not see any bees.

Scott and Dan thank you for the useful feedback. Very sorry to read about your friend Steve and his dog.   We primarily climb in the Gunks where we frequently see wasps and hornets commuting up and down the cliff along tree trunks and branches. I really only paid attention to them at belay stations when there wasn’t much else to do.  Based on your comments, we’ll just have to do our best to scope out the scene from below.  Best, D

Np man, I'm sure you will be fine--especially this time of year. I just climbed a route in the McDowell's a few weeks ago which is probably the worst crag for Africanized bees and led a route with a hive at the base. Had no issues. There were some scouts buzzing around the area, but nothing aggressive. Anyhow, I've started carrying a small bug net in my chalk bag for this very reason so in the event I am attacked I will at least able to prevent them from crawling into my mouth, ears, nose, and eyes while I try to bail from the area. They're cheap and worth their weight.

Interesting question, sad to hear we lost someone that way.  BTW, my wife and I (and dog) will be down there this Christmas break and I’ll be looking for mutlipitch partners.  Done Ewephoria and the Wasteland but am interested in other moderates like What’s my Line and lot’s of others.  Look me up at Isle of you: white truck with Idaho plates.

-Tod

Hey all. Thank you for the pointers and good vibes. We finished our desert swing and are returning to the rat race. 

Due to rain we lost a day in Cochise and due to Mt Lemmon sandbagging we lost a bit of nerve and downgraded our agenda.  We ending up climbing Four Course Meal on Window Dome in the rain/foggy mist without incident.   (We felt hard core even though the route is only 5.7- true to grade.)  No bees.

This year we branched out a bit and climbed the Checker Board Wall in NM, also know for Africanized bees.  We encountered buzzing but did not see the bees.  

No bee related issues plenty of winter sun!

Where's CheckerBoard Wall in NM?

George,

Checkerboard wall is in the Dona Ana mountains very close to Las Cruces. 

The rock is very similar to Hueco Tanques but in an “Alpine” context: probably 1500 feet above the valley floor. 

Directions on MP are spot on. 

We climbed Cross Trainer as a mixed route. As noted the bolting is a little odd. Not really overbolted but some of the bolts don’t really protect anything.  Anchors are excellent euro style bolt over bolt connected by a chain.  

The views from the bases and cliff are amazing. 

The approach is easy to follow. We made it in 35 minutes not 30 but we started just below the true start of the approach trail. 

There are a couple other out croppings in the Dona Anas but none looked as good that I could see on approach. 

Thanks for the info. I did a search on MP, and only the Checker board wall in the Black Canyon came up. 

I heard a healthy young adult can stand 10 bee stings per lb of body weight.