Summer Climbing in Phoenix

I just learned I’m going to be in the phoenix area for the summer and am wondering what outdoor summer climbing looks like for those in phoenix.

Obviously not expecting much in the valley but how  is going down to Tucson/up to flagstaff? How easy to find partners, especially for multis?

You're going to want to head north to higher elevation areas such as Flagstaff. Some of the shady canyons in Sedona are climbable in the summer. The Winslow Wall is worth a look, if you're up for it (very limited under 5.11)

You'll probably have to drive at least a couple hours . . .

Also mt lemmon at high altitude if you want to drive a couple of hours in the other direction.

Also as far as multipitch goes you will have more luck on Mt Lemmon than in Flag as sedona stays pretty hot in summer too.  A few MP in Isolation canyon but gonna be a fair bit shorter in general across the state for summer routes there may be an outlier or two but that's fairly general.   There's also fun deep water soloing in winslow it's a favorite summer climbing style for me personally.

you be driving a couple hours generally. And chasing shade. Paradise forks can go in the summer. Lots of stuff in the flag area. Winslow is slept on (both Winslow wall and East clear creek which is DWS). You might eke out some days in the gila range on cooler days.

come to terms with the fact that you won’t be climbing many* 3p+ multi pitch in the summer. Mt Lemmon, Mt. Graham are pretty much your options for that.

Be mindful that the “dry heat” everyone mentions vis a vis AZ doesn’t exist in the summer. You’ll be here during monsoon season, so expect hot, humid, and short climbing days that end in the early afternoon with you getting soaked. Be wary of flash flooding when climbing or hiking in canyons. 

I remember climbing at the pond at queen creek int the summer from sunrise to like 10 am. Not great, but also, not as far away as other options. Isolation canyon is <2 hr drive... there are multipitch routes.

drewp wrote:

I remember climbing at the pond at queen creek int the summer from sunrise to like 10 am. Not great, but also, not as far away as other options. Isolation canyon is <2 hr drive... there are multipitch routes.

Isolation is south facing full sun

My group climbs at greevers needle roughly every Thursday night from about 6pm to about 9:30 

Jared E wrote:

come to terms with the fact that you won’t be climbing any 3p+ multi pitch in the summer. That is, unless you’re willing to hit some back country stuff like on Mt. Graham.

Actually, there's a number of really good three to five pitch routes in generally reasonable temps at the top of Mt Lemmon. It's about a three hour drive from Phoenix, so a bit long for a day trip, but a great weekend getaway.

Charles Vernon wrote:

Actually, there's a number of really good three to five pitch routes in generally reasonable temps at the top of Mt Lemmon. It's about a three hour drive from Phoenix, so a bit long for a day trip, but a great weekend getaway.

Ah I forgot about those, the sunny ones will still be uncomfortably hot on a typical summer day but yes they’ll go too.

Jared E wrote:

Isolation is south facing full sun

Actually main wall is mostly east facing and gets afternoon sun shortly after noon ish.  And plenty of nooks and dihedrals to find shade in most of the day if you walk the main wall ledge a bit. 

Jeremy Bultman wrote:

Actually main wall is mostly east facing and gets afternoon sun shortly after noon ish.  And plenty of nooks and dihedrals to find shade in most of the day if you walk the main wall ledge a bit. 

I’m just saying It would be fairly far down my list for a summer crag especially considering the fully exposed approach. I climbed on main-north last summer and there was a lot of downtime waiting for our desired routes to go into shade. Further complicated by monsoon season.

Could have sworn it was full south facing… maybe it just felt that way because we started early morning and dealt with a full morning of sun followed by a storm just when shade conditions were improving

Also, I'd recommend joining the Tucson Rock Climbers Facebook group if you're looking for partners in that area.

You can climb locally in phoenix in several places if you’re willing to get up early.  Mcdowells, atlantis are two examples.   Christopher creek is only 90 min from phoenix and is climbable all summer.

Lots of shade at christopher creek gorge. About two hours from phoenix.