Sedona's Scenic Cruise
5.9,
Trad, 700 ft (212 m), 5 pitches, Grade III,
Avg: 3.6 from 229
votes
FA: John Burcham and James Q Martin, 2001
Arizona
> Northern Arizona
> Sedona Area
> Sedona
> Gibraltar Rock…
> Gibraltar Rock
Description
Sedona Scenic Cruise is a pretty cool moderate outing that has been gaining popularity over the last few years. The crux is often figuring out where the route is located. If you look east from highway 179 between Bell Rock and the Church Spires, there is a jagged high ridge of rock running roughly North-South. SSC goes up the leftmost formation on this ridge. At first glance, the rock looks way too shattered to be a good place for a climbing route, but surprisingly, it's pretty good.
P1) 120' Climb up corner to a big flake sticking out to the left. The crux of the pitch is skirting this flake out to the left. (tiny cam or Lowe Ball useful here). Above the flake, continue to a two-bolt anchor (no chains). From here, you can look out to the right (climber's right) and see RAPPEL ANCHOR for the last rappel.
P2) 160' Scramble around to the left and up onto the ledge with large tree. Set pro for anchor. Second pitch starts behind the tree, up face past several bolts and a two bolt anchor at the top, continue climbing, veer right across a slab and one bolt, then up a short corner to a bolted belay on a ledge.
P3) ~175' all the way to the blocky ledges. Traverse straight left, clip bolt, continue left and up (bolt), then into a corner system. Climb this to a nice looking vertical crack, then step up and jam your way up the steep hands to big hands crack (pretty good face holds as well). A short chimney bit will put you left of a sloping ledge with the bolted anchor w/chains (note this as a RAPPEL ANCHOR for the way back down). You can continue up to the left up a short face with a single bolt and combine this pitch with the next one. There are two bolts with no chains at the end of this.
P4) 100' Face climb up and right along the right side of buttress past 10 bolts to belay on ledge. Very nice pitch. You can see a long chain on the ledge just north from here that is the RAPPEL ANCHOR on the way down.
P5) 100' Climb around corner to the right across "spicy" traverse to gain chimney with chockstone. Climb up and over chockstone and continue up crack to belay on ledge. There is a small canister with a summit register here and RAPPEL ANCHOR.
You can scramble (4th cl) to the top from here. Highly recommend belaying this portion!
Descent:
R1) Rappel from the last anchor back down to the top of the fourth pitch (85'). If you have a 60m rope, it's probably easier to leave your second rope here rather than hauling it to the top.
R2) Airy rappel (TWO ROPES!) from the long chains back down to the sloping ledge with chains noted in P3 description above. Watch the rope pull on this as the blocky ledge above tends to eat the ropes.
R3) Rappel (TWO ROPES) off the sloping ledge down to a two bolt anchor with slings and a rap ring at the top of the vertical section of the second pitch. You're headed for a bolted anchor with chains down a slot just below the buttress where the second pitch starts.
R4) Rappel (TWO ROPES) back down to the ground, just South and around the corner from the first pitch.
Protection
Standard desert rack, doubles up to #3 Camalot plus one #4 Camalot, two ropes, helmet.
Location
From Hwy 89A in Sedona, drive 3.6 miles south on Hwy 179 and turn left into a parking for the Bell Rock trail. From the east side of the parking area follow the Bell Rock trail SE for 0.3 miles. At the intersection turn left and take the Little Horse trail for 0.6 miles to the intersection with the Llama trail. Turn right on the Llama trail and at around 0.5 miles you will cross a wash that is typically marked with a cairn. GPS coordinates for the wash: 34.8207780, -111.7613940
Turn left and follow this wash uphill towards the start of the route. Generally stay in the wash and look for additional cairns which will help navigate you around obstacles when needed. GPS Coordinates for the start of the route: 34.8198940, -111.7542570
[Hide Photo] View from the top of the first pitch
[Hide Photo] Alex P and I on the third pitch of SSC. Bolt locations are approximate
[Hide Photo] NEW APPROACH INFO NOV 2016 The approach for this climb should follow the green (0.3mi), blue(1.1mi) and yellow indicated trails. The red route was the previous approach and is only 0.1 miles shor…
[Hide Photo] At the crux of the first pitch.
Scottsdale, AZ
Sedona, Arizona
12 S 0430027
3852461
Coordinates for the start of the route are:
12 S 0431085
3853130
NOTE: Make sure your GPS is set on the Datum of NAD27 or your GPS will be off.
Don't forget your head lamp. Jan 5, 2007
Flagstaff, AZ
Phoenix, AZ
Route wise; these directions are straight on, however, if you should happen to get a photo copied sheet or got to RC.com, be aware that you can run pitch 2 and 3 together, just use a xtra long sling on the last bolt of the "second pitch" before you traverse out across to the singular bolt and up the short dihedral. Also try to link up the fourth pitch to the short fifth pitch 40 ft chimney. As you take off on the "fifth" short 40 ft pitch, put an extra long sling on the bolt to the left of the anchor, to ensure a nice easy traveling rope. Mar 26, 2007
Los Alamos, NM
denver, co
Also on the second to last pitch...going up and left to the ledge instead of putting a belay on the obvious ledge at the base of the crack system that makes up the final pitch..thus forcing you to do the "spicy traverse". Other than that the climbing was pretty fun.
Also I went up via the approach described here...then descended via the Llama trail. They both have their good and bad...I'd call them about equal. Oct 12, 2007
Prescott
New Castle, CO
IGNORE THE BOLT ABOVE THE BELAY ON PITCH 5! Jan 27, 2008
Portland, OR
Los Alamos, NM
When John and I established the Sedona Scenic Cruise we did it originally all trad and that line can still be repeated if one chooses. We took a lot of time to consider the best possible way with one goal in in mind a fun and safe moderate route that we all can enjoy... the 5.7 choss chimney can be climbed to right of the bolts on the 2nd pitch. It is not that fun I climbed it maybe 5 or 6 times establishing the route along with some other crumbly cracks up high.
We did not add the bolt above the last pitch, this was done by someone else, do not go this way it is not correct and could result in injury!
Regarding the approach please, please do not follow the mis-informed guide book and stick to the original description above. John and I spent a lot of time on the trial with another goal in mind, minimum impact to the environment and ONE path that has the least erosion, please follow that well worn path to the base and element's further damage and social trails.
Cheers! Jul 2, 2008
Pasadena, CA
Flagstaff, AZ
mountainproject.com/v/arizo… Nov 17, 2009
Flagstaff, AZ
Overall the route was pretty fun. I felt like it kept getting better and better. Oct 30, 2010
Phoenix & Prescott, AZ
Tyler's comment is true as well, though it's an easy scramble to the final rap anchors (for the non-faint of heart foolish ones) and then an easy belay over (for the sensible ones). Aug 2, 2011
Flagstaff, AZ
Still quite a bit of loose rock on the rappels. Be careful tugging on stuck ropes!! Feb 18, 2012
Phoenix & Prescott, AZ
n az
Flagstaff, AZ
Flagstaff, AZ
- #4 Camelot is totally optional, although two #3s is sure nice.
- the final 50yds of the trail seems like it's gotten much worse over the past year or so.. Anybody else notice this?
- for the full value experience, instead of rapping you can top the climb out all the way to committee tank/schnebly hill road -- quite an adventure! It took us 45 min for the approach, 2.5 hours for the climb, and 7 more hours to get to schnebly hill...
Apr 23, 2013Phoenix & Prescott, AZ
Regarding the damage on the top of the trail -- basically from the upper saddle to the base of the climb: par for the course for these fragile soils given all the use. Tread as lightly and carefully as possible and stick on the trail rather than creating new ones. A bummer, but it's not going to heal until we stop using it, which isn't likely to happen.
On another note: I couldn't help noticing all the other potential routes up this buttress, most especially the crack to offwidth variation of p. 3. Has there really been no new development here? Apr 29, 2013
Scottsdale, AZ
Cottonwood, Arizona
After you drop off the stone bridge into the wash, and you come to meet with the LAMA trail, go left. Remember this juncture because there isnt a lot to remind you about it on the way back. After turning left onto the bike trail, keep an eye out for the next trail uphill. Stay left of the large, lower schnebly formation and on the slabs you will find cairns.
Keep an eye out for all rap stations!
When you're rapping down.... After you're first double rope rappell, from the top of the fourth pitch, the next rap station can be tricky to find. Account for all stages of the rappell AS YOUR CLIMBING UP
Enjoy, this is 5.9 Sedona at its best =) Apr 1, 2014
SLC
Anyway, climbed up to P4, had to turn back because it was getting late and didn't want to rap in the dark. Great route, winds can make it really exciting, both on the way up and down. Makes it hard to hear your belayer. I had a ton of rope drag on P3, I'm sure it was mostly due to my gear placement but still, it's a long pitch. Overall great climb.
We almost got our ropes stuck in the rappel because of the winds, make sure you are clearing them as you go down, or simply coil them on you and feed out as you descend.
Definitely recommend it. But get there early! Oct 14, 2014
Prescott, AZ
I saw a red Wild Country cam stuck near the crux of the first pitch - Looks like it walked itself in pretty far. I didn't notice any BD Positrons that were left anywhere on the route.
Careful on the second rappel - 60-meter rope barely made it, even with the stretch. Nov 5, 2014
Tempe, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona
Rope stuck on the second-to-last rap on SSC. Email me at msteele2@scholar.yc.edu with the color of the cord and we'll get that back to ya! Jan 19, 2015
Someone doing a repeat on the route should double check this to make sure the cairn marking the correct wash at the single track trail is still there. Sep 14, 2015
P1 hands down the crux. This is my first climb in Sedona, so I don't have a lot of area context, but the crux moves felt 9+ or more to me. The rest of the pitch is 5.9 or less, but three or four moves through the crux section were pretty burly.
P2 hands down the easiest pitch (nice rest after P1), we placed a couple of small pieces between bolts.
P3 money pitch if you prefer crack climbing, P4 is the money pitch if you prefer face/sport.
P5 was the second hardest in my opinion. Maybe I was just tired, but I thought it was a lot of work, and so did the other two in my party. I'm surprised there wasn't more discussion/info on this pitch. Getting on top of the chockstone's not bad; working through the roof/lip above the chockstone was more difficult. There is a fairly easy section right after this, but I didn't find a lot of inspiring placements. Then you end up in this tunnel crack thing. For some reason I was expecting a hand crack or something like P3 with exposure, but it was more like a tunnel that spits you out at the anchors. Placements are back in the crack so make sure you've got enough runners or alpine draws. Lots of face holds, stemming and body tensions got me up this pitch.
I noticed some previous comments that P4 was second hardest, but I didn't think so. I didn't lead it though so maybe I'm just biased bc of my top rope experience. It is very well bolted and little chance of injury if you were to fall.
On the rack, I agree #4 is not critical, but I definitely used it at least twice. If I repeat this I will bring #4 again, but if your a minimalist when it comes to placements who is very confident at the grade then you will be okay. We also had a 3.5, but I left it with my followers on P3 where I could have used it. I also loved placing 3's and 2's. I wouldn't have minded having triples of #3's. I definitely went through a lot of gear on my leads (P1, P3, P5). Sep 14, 2015
Göttingen
SLC
We rapped with two 60m ropes tied for the third rappel and they got us down to the ledge with the tree (start of p2) but not quite down to the notch of the next rappel station. We had to build a gear anchor to rappel the extra 10ft or so and last person then downclimbs (on belay) to the notch.
What you can do (and what we should've done) is tie a 60m and a 70m together for the third rap, keep the knot centered on the anchor as you start going down, and when you can stand on the ledge with the tree, pull the 60m rope down about 5m to even out the ends so you can continue down to the notch while on rappel. Next person starting the third rap pulls the knot back to the center and repeats the process
On a separate note, we did a variation on the first pitch where you traverse left a little after the first section of p1 and go up a thin crack with some sketchy looking chockstones sticking halfway out. I brought up a #4 C4 and never used it the entire route, but I think it was because of this variation. I've heard it is needed for the first pitch if you do the normal route Nov 10, 2015
Nevada
Portland, OR
Please try to use existing trails as much as possible to minimize impact.
Other than that, it was a fantastic route with lots of variation and the best views. Apr 30, 2017
NorCal
Phoenix, AZ
Farmville, VA
Flagstaff, AZ
Scottsdale, AZ
Lost gear aside, this route is so quality and fun. The approach makes it a long day, I think it's a little shittier (loose at the top in the wash) than other longer approach Sedona climbs, but the rock is better quality, making up for it. The flake on P1 is so fun, and P3 is such an aesthetic crack, amazing views the whole time.... P2 is a little awkward, why not use the chimney and get some full value trad? They'd both be 5.easy anyway. This climb has everything, I would recommend it to anyone, even if it's windy and your rope gets stuck, ha. Apr 3, 2018
Bishop, CA
I'd echo above comments about the 4. We brought one and managed to place it 2 or 3 times, but it wasn't necessary. Next time I'd skip it.
Fun route! I thought pitch one was the best and five was a bit of a pile, but it was all pretty good. Sep 2, 2018
Brought a #5 for P1 but didn't use there, but ended up being helpful for P3 in the vertical crack and on P5 just after the traverse (although you could get a 3 pretty close to both placements). Dec 14, 2019
Flagstaff, AZ
We did get our ropes stuck a couple times thanks to the high winds like others have mentioned; in the future I'd take the time to saddlebag the ropes each time. Jan 28, 2020
Flagstaff, AZ
Denver, CO
Phoenix, AZ
Here are the wgs84 equivalents:
34.8207780, -111.7613940
34.8198940, -111.7542570 Mar 18, 2023
Rescue, CA
The approach wash: 12S 430360 3853436
Start of route: 12S 431041 3853338
^ Trad Man's decimal degree points match up with my UTM's:
Approach wash: 34.8207780, -111.7613940
Start of route: 34.8198940, -111.7542570
The approach trail is fairly well-worn and takes you ascender's left of the big spire below the start of the route. Apr 11, 2023
Flagstaff