PRINT: Rock Climb Winter Sun, Sedona Area

Winter Sun

5.11, Trad, 350 ft (106 m), 5 pitches,

Avg: 3.2 from 6 votes
FA: J.Burcham, Z.Harrison, J.Hereford, J.Snyder 12/19/15
Arizona > Northern Arizona > Sedona Area > Village of Oak… > Oak Creek Spire… > Winter Sun Wall

Description

'Winter Sun' aka Golden Lexus is a 3/5 route that is luckily not equal parts sand and splitter. Ultimately meaning that 3 out of the 5 pitches are quality fun and the other two might fill your bank account with sand.

As the name implies the route sees lots of Sun which makes it a great outing on the coldest days of the year.

P1. The approach pitch; Two options in the gully that will take you to the giant ledge. Left system climbs a low angle thrutch ramp into fun but sandy terrain. Some will smile others will not. JBs var. goes right and requires and #6 and possibly pruning shears but gets a bit more sun for cold mornings. Belay off Juniper. 5.8+ 70'

-Giant Ledge-

P2. Interesting ramp to outcove. Bust into wide above. 5.11-- 115' Mixed

P3. Mini-Pillar. One of the finest and shortest. 5.11. 22.5'

P4. Golden Lexus Pitch. Money fingers and thin-paws to roof. 5.11 100'

P5. Summit Pitch. Low angle Sedona fun. Recommended for the view alone. Rental Rap from summit. 5.6 Loose. 60'

Location

Large dihedral system marking the Winter Sun Wall. Look for large ledge below route. Approach pitches begin in hidden gully just East of the Wall.

Descent:
Rap from Summit to top of P4. 60'
Top of P4 to ledge. 110'
Ledge to Ledge. 110'
Rap slings on Juniper to ground. 70'

Protection

Gear:
Single Green #00 and Red #0 C3
Doubles: #.3 - #4 C4
Bonus #5 C4 on P4 optional
Runners, Draws
70M

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Winter Sun Wall, route climbs system in shade.

Mini pillar celebration

Jordan sending pitch two

Photo of the first pitch

Z.Harrison driving a Golden Lexus

J.Burcham following on the Mini-Pillar

Lux. Ledge on Winter Sun

Sun hats on the Mini-Pillar. 12/2015

J.Snyder on P2, Winter 2014

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Dean Hoffman

Approach Beta is pretty spot on! Give yerself an hour or so to pick yer way up to the base. As for the climbing itself we ran out of time, but I have to say the two first pitch variations were pretty chossy. Tried the left initially but ended up down climbing after things started disintegrating-meaning a whole slab of the wall came off as I was above it... taking my last piece with it. Had to downclimb and trundle about 20 lbs of choss. The JB variation may have been less scary if we had a #6. Regardless after pulling through the squeeze I placed a #2 camalot and again a whole chunk of the crack sheared off (just from the pressure of the #2) leaving me with with a 40lb block in my lap and trying to downclimb so as not to drop the block on rope or my partner! Then as he finally came up he pulled off another 30lb block in the chimney! I love choss but this was pretty bad. That being said pitch 2 was awesome, really wild and fairly exposed moves(probably a single set to #3 and a bunch of draws would do it here-didn't place any big gear), and I'd love to go do the rest of the line if someone else cleans up the first pitch(es). Rest of the line looked awesome! Jan 27, 2016

Jeffrey Snyder
Flagstaff, AZ--> FoCo, CO

5.11

Sorry you had a time on Sedona... Thankfully no one got block rocked! We're a little confused though because the left version, while with sand in the back of the crack, shouldn't have had any flakes or mega blocks coming off. I can actually only think of a single #2 placement and that being the first piece off the ground and is in a quality crack in the back of a flair, certainly no loose flakes with gear...

Are you sure you guys climb the correct first pitch? You should have walked up the scree and then into a corridor that faces north, not the East facing buttress. Once you walked up the 'gully' you would see a crack on a slab on the left to a 'pod'. The crack is mostly #4 but also very easy. I would agree that if you hit the pod you would think the rock disintegrates but there shouldn't have been any blocks or rocks that couldn't have been easily avoided. Im also not sure of any true 'squeeze' on P1 unless you consider the initial crack a squeeze? Jan 27, 2016

Trevor Bowman
Flagstaff, AZ

A quality sunny option with great climbing on the 3 middle pitches. Should see some more action than it seems to. Jan 23, 2020