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| Hike & Climb | 9.40 Miles |
4,500 AEG |
| | Hike & Climb | 9.40 Miles | | | |
| 4,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Second III • 5.6 • 6 Pitches | | |
| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | baboquivari has been on my bucket list for a few years, really ever since i started climbing with johnr1
fletch and mike proposed climbing the southeast arete, which is a classic route
left town friday afternoon and decided to go in from the west at the last minute
camped at the reservation campground
up early saturday morning and set out around 6:40
fletch wasn't feeling well but she thought she would try it
started hiking up with us, but had to turn back after about a mile
mike and i redistributed gear and continued
nice cool morning for a good amount of elevation gain
there is an established trail in excellent condition from the campground up to the base of the peak
the peak doesn't come into view until about halfway up
beautiful country on the west side, and the entire mountain range provided great scenery along the way
arrived at the intersection of the great ramp and the lion's ledge
took a few minutes to drop packs, bringing only the essentials for the climb
still had to bushwhack along the lion's ledge to the start of the southeast arete
might have been nice to have long pants on this part
a little tricky to find the climb
mike led all pitches; i followed and cleaned
the first one was relatively short
the second and third provided challenging climbing and some exposure
the fourth was another short one
next came a couple hundred yards of scrambling up to a notch
mike gave me a hip belay down the notch, but it wasn't necessary
one more short technical pitch, then a longer scramble to the summit
i may not have these in the correct order
topping out was quite a thrill 
good sized summit area with the tribute to i'itoi, two ammo boxes and metal remnants of a fire tower base
views were incredible!
kitt peak, santa catalinas, santa ritas and other mountain ranges i'm not familiar with
we read through the summit logs, snacked and took photos for awhile
descended the forbes route, downclimbing, then rappelling the ladder pitch
the only struggle i had all day was coming down the great ramp; i was just very slow
sometimes a bit of a struggle is part of backcountry climbing 
hit the trail, packed up and hiked down
arrived at camp around 5:30
a great day and an awesome climb
camped another night, intending to hit mt. lemmon sunday, but with fletch under the weather, headed home sunday
it rained much of the night, and we were grateful for such good weather saturday
random thoughts:
climbed in a long sleeve tech shirt and shorts, which worked out well - still hard for me to know what to wear/bring sometimes
had to bring our hiking shoes for the long scrambles
if you want to summit the peak, the forbes route from the west side seems like the quickest way to do it
mike has a very good knowledge of this complex mountain, and as always was generous in sharing it
there is a nice little campsite about 3/4 way up the trail
we saw a good-sized party there, planning to summit the next day
heard them in the parking lot at 6:00 a.m. after getting rained out - that would have been a miserable night
heard two girls coming down at 8:00 friday night, saw their names in the summit log, a long day
felt fortunate to finish well before dark, as i've read many triplogs and heard stories about long days and late nights on the mountain
lots of blooming ocotillos on the west side - simply beautiful
mike and i took pictures with his camera, so it will be a few days before i can post them
stats are from neurolizer's gps route: [ gps route ]
this experience ranks in the top four of my arizona adventures so far
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Route Editor
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