Tucson, Day 3 - Milagrosa Canyon - Updated

posted by Saucisson #3
climbers: Angie, Soph, Burke, Kerry and Calvin
Day 3 found us with sore fingertips from the sharp granite and we headed to Milagrosa. Milagrosa is known for its nice, technical climbing, yet on rock that isn't nearly as sharp as the granite on Mt. Lemmon. It's on private property (you have to hop a fence), but I understand it's been hiked on for years and an easement is probably in place as a result. Who knows about the legalities, but an online topo isn't available probably for that reason (edit: actually found one online now). It was a nice change for our pads. Joe crafted us a nice topo and marked out some climbs from us to try. Link to the full web album.

Here's Burke on the warmup 5.8, Valentine's Day Arete "The hardest 5.8 in the state!" Polished POS. :)

We then tried a nice .10a - 3 star warmup called Community Service, and another .10d called Where the Buffalo Roam (edit: found this on MP.com) with cool sequential moves. I liked it, but noone else seemed to as much - plus the second part of it (after a large ledge with anchors) seemed much harder. Either I suck at climbing (more likely), or it actually was more .10+ish (edit: right on from MP.com!). This is Soph on Community Service:

Burke had his eye on a dirty, choss filled crack of doom that looked unclimbed - so he sacked up and gave it the ol' college heave. I almost heaved after seeing some of the holds he would have had to use up high. You can see how high up the nasty holds were (which he didn't know at the time) on the second pic here. Thankfully, he backed down.
Burke:


Soph, Ang and Kerry then opted to try Welcome to Milagrosa .10a/b (edit: got some names wrong the first time) - which I didn't try until later - super cool, long and pumpy. Like most of the climbing in AZ, it was cryptic as well. Ang flashed it and told me it was easy. I then proceeded to climb up right, then down, then up left, then down and finally asked Kerry where the holds were. Up right, again, and I was fine. The bolt line is usually straight, but it's not unusual to have your route meander way left or right of the bolt line. I couldn't see $H!t for holds. ha.

The highlight of the day was actually an unnamed route (edit: still unnamed on MP.com too) .10c/d, which starts on an interesting arete, tackles a mini-bulge feature, then finishes on nice moves - probably about 75-80 feet in length. I put up the draws, Burke almost flashed it, and Soph flashed it with an epic maneuver on the roof feature. :) Here's Soph and Ang:

After that, it was time to head back for another great dinner, this time courtesy of Soph - pasta, with chicken and tasty veggies. Yummy. I love her cooking. :)

The next day... RAIN!