Top 5 crags on Mt. Lemmon Highway.

So after yet another day of sliding around on scree slopes to find yet another less than awesome crag, Chris and I devised a relatively simple plan to quantify the quality of climbing crags on Mt. Lemmon. Now this is totally subjective, and will be different for everyone seeing as climbing ability and tastes are different for everyone, but lets hear what your favorite crags are.

So here is the breakdown. Each area is rated on 6 critiera:
1. Setting
2. Rock Quality
3. Amount of Climbing (if you throw your pack down, how many routes can you climb without having to pack it again)
4. Climbing Quality (Average of all routes in an area)
5. Approach
6. Boldness

The rating scale goes from 0 lemmons(sucks) to 5 lemmons(the best ever). If you total up the numbers and divide by six you'll have the value for that crag. If there are ties, which I'm certain there will be, then you get to order them however you want. For me, here are the best 5 crags on Mt. Lemmon.

1.Trollwall = 3.5
2.Reef of Rocks = 3.5
3.South Face Rap Rock = 3.5
4.Orafice Wall = 3.3
5.Butterfly Wall = 3.3

Lets hear what your favorites are.

This is fun...

I came up with:

1. Rap Rock 4.3
2. Reef 4.0 (but only done one route here, so especially subjective)
3. Troll Wall 3.8(scored high for boldness since I have backed off several routes!)
4. Chimney Rock 3.8(extremely low for setting because of the road noise)
5. Mean Mistreater 3.3

This shows an obvious bias toward "trad" crags which is largely the result of an inability to climb anything on Orifice, Tsunami Wall, etc.

[edit] after a second trip to the Reef yesterday I think it might surpass Rap Rock....

1. Matterhorn Boulder
2. Hairpin Roof
3. Amphitheater Boulder
4. Wilderness of Rocks
5. ...

The other bouldering areas I have climbed at were not worthwhile to me.

I am bias for the higher elevation crags.
I haven't been to a lot of the crags, but for the one's I have...

1. Orifice Wall = 5
2. Butterfly Wall with Trundle Pinnacle = 3.9
3. Raycreation area = 3
4. pick and choose around Windy Point = 3
5. I've been to other areas, but still need to see a lot more.

^^I totally agree with Red ^^

1. Orifice Wall
2. Butterfly Wall
3. Muchkinland
4. Windy Point crags

There are still A TON of Lemmon crags that I haven't been too, but these are my favorite of the ones I've visited.

I find this thread useful, as I have spent a bunch of time stumbling about on scree at Mt. Lemmon, hopin' this could help me not waste a bunch of time in the future.

Rap rock
Chimney rock
(i haven't been to some of the other suggestions)...

I think for some colder weather times, and to get a bunch of climbing in, the Ruins does pretty good.... 3?

Anyway, good topic, thanks!

nice! i vote that the new version of squeezing the lemmon include a "brent score" for each area.

I'm interested to here what your top 5 are Geir?

Anyone else?
Bueller?
Bueller?

i'm not really using your rating system since these days i mostly avoid the trad climbing on lemmon but off the top of my head:

1. munchkinland
2. raycreation
3. green slabs
4. chimney rock
5. jailhouse rock

after some self-examination, i found i rated these my top 5 mostly because i find myself going to these crags more often than the rest. orifice wall doesn't make the list only because there certainly is not something for everyone there.

EDIT
since milagrosa is on the mount lemmon highway, maybe it should be on here too.

Jon Ruland wrote:i'm not really using your rating system since these days i mostly avoid the trad climbing on lemmon

Why, if you don't mind my asking?

Charles Vernon wrote: Why, if you don't mind my asking?

because i almost killed myself doing it.

Alright, here are how some of my numbers worked out:

Butterfly Wall 3.8
Rap Rock S face 3.8
Reef 3.7
Chimney Rock 3.7
Troll Wall 3.5
Orafice 3.3
Raycreation 3.3
Millagrosa 3.2

No surprise that BW is high on my list. Chimney surprised me a bit. I feel like the Reef doesn't really fit as "cragging". It's the kind of place that requires full commitment and competency. I'd like to eventually work up to level of some of the Grossman or Ringle routes. No where near that right now though.
Sure'll be nice when the temps drop a bit.

ok, my post is late but here are two of my top picks:

(trad) troll wall 4.5
(sport) raycreation area 4.0

one thing that made these two areas stand out for me was that they had climbs in a wide range of difficulties.

gotta run... i'm at work!
geir

Brent,
Just curious, why would "boldness" be a criteria for the quality of a route or an area?
Smith Rocks, Rifle, Owens, The Red, ect, ect. Just a few of the superlative areas that don't even make a blip on most climber's boldness radar.

Because . . . .

In my opinon, boldness definatly can increase the quality of a route, especially somewhere like Southern Arizona where there is/was a strong ethical background of doing things ground up on gear or with as few bolts possible. And since were talking about Mt. Lemmon, I felt it was an important criteria.

I can bore you with a list of routes that are awesome and bold, and I can also list a lot of routes that are not bold and awesome. However, I can't list many routes that sucked and were bold but I can surley list a lot of routes that were not bold and sucked.

I still think the "system" will work even if the area isn't noted for boldness as long as the other critera are good. Smith, Rifle, The Red etc. etc. would still score really high regardless of their boldness.

What would be your 5 Jimbo?

Brent Silvester wrote:Because . . . . In my opinon, boldness definatly can increase the quality of a route, especially somewhere like Southern Arizona where there is/was a strong ethical background of doing things ground up on gear or with as few bolts possible. And since were talking about Mt. Lemmon, I felt it was an important criteria. I can bore you with a list of routes that are awesome and bold, and I can also list a lot of routes that are not bold and awesome. However, I can't list many routes that sucked and were bold but I can surley list a lot of routes that were not bold and sucked. I still think the "system" will work even if the area isn't noted for boldness as long as the other critera are good. Smith, Rifle, The Red etc. etc. would still score really high regardless of their boldness. What would be your 5 Jimbo?

i will start off by admitting i'm a giant gaping pussy but i actually feel like boldness can have a negative effect on a route's quality. sometimes i do enjoy running it out on 5.7 terrain but anything harder than that i find often just scares the shit out of me and makes me wish i could plug gear every 6 feet. and i don't think i'm alone in that.

hence my 5.

I bet you can vividly remember all the time you've been scared shitless on a runout bit of climbing. But can you remember all the 5.8's that you get to plug gear in every 6 feet? You even said yourself that running it out on 5.7 ground is fun.

I'm not trying to say it's the same for everyone, nor should it be. But for me, bold is big. I guess it just depends on ability and comfort level.

I'm really just intersted in hearing what peoples favorites crags are. You can scratch the boldness critiera if it bothers you.

I'm not going to rate them the same way because in all honesty, sometimes I love the vibe of an area and sometimes I hate it, it has nothing to do with the factors you've listed. So listed in order for me:

1. Munchkinland, Scott did an amazing job here, he had all kinds of climbers in mind and bolted routes with a seemingly childlike enthusiasm so the area could be enjoyed by all. For easy access, location and shear versatility Munchkinland wins the prize hands down.

2. Boot Hill, there are plenty of issues one could have with the area but I love the approach, I love the feel of the area, I love the fact that you can jump on a 5.4 as few people seem willing to bolt climbs for new climbers and I like that it's spaced out enough that even when there's another group or two there you can still find some peace.

3. Outcroppings, it's dawning on me that location is huge for me. I don't like climbing in canyons/shade thus I'm picking areas that don't have that feel. I know all of the shortcomings to be found and had at Outcroppings but I love the slab starts to many of the climbs on Cave Wall. The rock quality is not ideal, it's grid bolted and you need a 9/16ths with you when you climb but I do like the feel of the area.

Okay, that's all for now.

My personal favorite crags:

1) Milagrosa
2) The Fortress
3) Forgotten Wall
4) Chessman
5) South Park

My favorite crag oscillates with the season, personal limits, and mood. At present I've been enjoying 5.11 sport routes and that is reflected in the above selections. I suppose the beauty of Mt Lemmon is that there is always something new to try or a project to work. These days I tend to seek out specific climbs rather than crags.

My favorite area is the area I'm climbing at that day.

Brent while I would concur that bold routes tend to be stuck in the old memory banks longer than the latest clip up, I don't think that makes them better. Being scared sears a route into the pysche. I've been really scared way out on some FA too many times. I remember the routes but I would never say they were "quality" just because I was fixin to die and didn't.

My list: (Drum Roll)

Troll Wall
Forgotten Wall
Milagrosa
Fortress
Windy Point (Der ah)

Best route on Mt. Lemmon: Lizard Marmalade Direct (Easy call)
Best sport route: Iron Butterfly (Very tough call)