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Elevation: 9,243 ft
GPS: 35.24037, -111.59756
Google Map · Climbing Area Map
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Shared By: Will Cobb on Apr 20, 2006
Admins: Greg Opland, Brian Boyd, JJ Schlick, Kemper Brightman, Luke Bertelsen

Description Suggest change

Sitting just north of Flagstaff, Mt. Elden is marked by radio towers and a fire watch tower on top and by the large burn scar on it's southeastern and eastern slopes. Composed of Dacite, Mt. Elden has great bouldering, fun cragging, and even a few multiple pitch climbs of good quality. The rock tends to be sharp and rough providing great friction and the perfect Joshua Tree training ground.

Mt. Elden dominates many of the views from town, and as such the daydreams of many local climbers. Home to well established oldschool areas such as West Elden and Secret Canyon, it has in the last decade also brought to town a very unique style of sport climbing. The newer crags like Solitude Canyon, Oakland’s, the Red Dragon, Upper Middle Elden Canyon, and the One Wall boast some truly excellent pitches on priceless formations where a climber can expect to find every sort of hold imaginable.

The areas themselves are spread out across the southern flanks of the mountain with considerable distance in between them. The actual cliff aspects cover every range, so there can be quite a bit of sun/shade searching throughout the seasons and in light winters, climbable all year round. The approaches vary from mild for West Elden to arduous for the higher elevation crags.

Mt. Elden was formed about 50,000 years ago in the course of several months and is technically a lava dome formed of Dacitic lava flows. There was never an explosion, rather an out pouring of flows along lateral vents. Which simply means that the crags we climb on today were once huge flows of lava slowly oozing from the mound. Evidence of these flows can be seen on top of many of crags and elsewhere on the mountain in very cool waves and fins of once flowing lava frozen in time.



Getting There Suggest change

Mt. Elden is located just north of Flagstaff. Highways 180 and 89A are used to access the climbing areas. Approaches vary from several minutes to 45 minutes.

271 Total Climbs

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Location: Mt. Elden Crags Change
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Classic Climbing Routes at Mt. Elden Crags

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
5.10- 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a
 115
Man on the Moon
Sport 4 pitches
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b
 17
La Diosa
Trad
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b
 48
Thunderbird Arête
Sport
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b
 16
Thunder Moon
Sport
5.11- 6c 22 VIII- 22 E3 5c PG13
 11
Twilight Zone
Trad
5.11a/b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c
 40
Mechanical Persistence
Sport 4 pitches
5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
 71
Solitaire
Sport
5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
 11
Killer Queen
Sport
5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
 7
Hive Mind
Sport
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b
 4
Friend of the Devil
Sport
5.12+ 7c 28 IX 27 E6 6b
 12
Continental Drift
Sport
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b
 9
Crown Jewel
Sport
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c
 23
Black Solitaire
Sport
5.13b 8a 29 IX+ 30 E7 6c
 11
The Hermit
Sport
5.13+ 8b 30 X- 31 E7 7a
 4
Lost Solitude
Sport
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
Man on the Moon Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 115
5.10- 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a Sport 4 pitches
La Diosa W Elden > Downtown
 17
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b Trad
Thunderbird Arête Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 48
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b Sport
Thunder Moon Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 16
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b Sport
Twilight Zone W Elden > Downtown
 11
5.11- 6c 22 VIII- 22 E3 5c PG13 Trad
Mechanical Persistence Elysian Buttress > Left Buttress
 40
5.11a/b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c Sport 4 pitches
Solitaire Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 71
5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport
Killer Queen Middle Elden Ca… > Upper Middle El… > Hive
 11
5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport
Hive Mind Middle Elden Ca… > Upper Middle El… > Hive
 7
5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport
Friend of the Devil Devil’s Head
 4
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b Sport
Continental Drift Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 12
5.12+ 7c 28 IX 27 E6 6b Sport
Crown Jewel Devil’s Head
 9
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b Sport
Black Solitaire Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 23
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c Sport
The Hermit Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 11
5.13b 8a 29 IX+ 30 E7 6c Sport
Lost Solitude Solitude Canyon > Higher Solitude > Main Wall
 4
5.13+ 8b 30 X- 31 E7 7a Sport
More Classic Climbs in Mt. Elden Crags »

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