Sport climbing in AZ early Dec

Hi all,

I am visiting Phoenix first weekend in December and hoping to sport climb. We like climbing 5.11/5.12. I know the Homestead is a good option but we will likely have a rental car. How’s the approach drive these days?  Are there other nice options? We don’t mind driving 2 hours or so from Phoenix. Bonus: we’re birders! Anyone who has a good stop for both climbing and Pyrrhuloxia we’d love to hear from you (and buy you a beer!).

Thanks!

sam 

Tucson is great for birding and sport climbing. La milagrosa canyon has a ton of 11s and so does mt lemmon which is still nice at low elevations in December. 

Thanks Alexandre. What low elevation Mt. Lemmon crags do you recommend?

The Atlantis area is great for both and about half way between phoenix and Tucson. 

I don't climb 5.11/5.12 lol so what I climb on lemon is not what you'll climb.

I’d check out the Colosseum and/or Prison Camp. Those two areas have a large concentration of 5.11/12 routes in the low mountain section of Lemmon. 

There are SO MANY 11/12 in so. Az. 

Use the route-finder function to get a list of candidates. Mid mountain and above will prob be cold. Include milagrosa and tool shed in your search. Come back with a list of routes and we can be more helpful. How long ? What style ? So much depends on sun/shade. P camp will be 5-10 degrees cooler than town. Windy point about 20 degrees. Raycreation and palisade are 25-30 degrees cooler.

Dry canyon might serve but it is very sunny in Dec.

If you're okay with a potential small amount of snow, the Prescott area is great! We have a lot of great sport climbing and a ton of birds. Lots of nice 11s and 12s.

Hi guys I appreciated your recommendations. We ended up climbing for two days the Homestead and one afternoon at Atlantis on the way back to town. All the locals we met were really cool. It was bittersweet to see how cool Oak Flat is. Excited for a mt Lemmon trip in the future