Climbing Reports

Travel using both feet and hands, whether scrambling unroped or technical climbing using rope and anchors.

Picketpost Mountain, Arizona, March 2019

March 13, 2019 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

On Wednesday, March 6, I joined the Southern Arizona Hiking Club (SAHC) for a climb of Picketpost Mountain, a peak rising to the west above Superior, Arizona. Picketpost Mountain has only 4375 feet of elevation but 1455 feet of topographic prominence, making it the 160th most prominent peak in Arizona.

Picketpost Mountain from the Arizona Trail

From US Highway 60 the mountain appears surrounded by high cliffs and steep, narrow gullies. I have wanted to visit it since Linda and I visited the nearby Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park a few years ago.

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Mesquite Benchmark, Arizona, March 2019

March 12, 2019 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Saturday, March 2, I joined Matthias Stender, Scott Peavy, and Michael Vincent on a climb of Mesquite Benchmark, the highpoint of the Mesquite Mountains of Pima County southwest of Sells, Arizona. Mesquite Benchmark has 3789 feet of elevation and 1769 feet of topographic prominence, tying it as the 98th most prominent peak in Arizona.

Saguaro cactus are joined by organ pipe cactus as we enter the canyon below Mesquite Benchmark.

I met the others where Indian Road 21 heads south off AZ 86 Saturday morning. From there we drove south through the village of Pisinimo and by a few isolated residences. We encountered very little traffic south of Pisinimo except for several Border Patrol vehicles heading in both directions. The paved road deteriorated quickly.

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Harcuvar Peak, Arizona, February 2019

February 14, 2019 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

In early February Linda and I and our dogs camped in the open desert near Vicksburg, Arizona, east of Quartzsite. We were boondocking, which meant we had no hookups but did have a lot of room for ourselves and dark nights. We spent three nights there. Linda spent February 6 and 7 hiking and mountain biking from our campsite. On the morning of February 7 I left camp to climb Harcuvar Peak.

Harcuvar Peak from the road hike. My climbing route ascended the steep rib just left of where the road curves out of view.

From camp I drove to Salome on US 60. Here I left US 60 and followed roads northwest to near the base of Harcuvar Peak. Harcuvar Peak lies in the Harcuvar Mountains, but is not the highpoint of the range. The highpoint of the Harcuvar Mountains is Smith Peak further north, which I hiked last November. Harcuvar Peak does, however, have 2048 feet of prominence making it the 66th most prominent peak in Arizona.

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Early Glacier Climbing with Linda

February 3, 2019 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

Linda and I met in the Spring of 1990 through the Chemeketans, a climbing club based in Salem, Oregon. That summer we started climbing together on rock, snow, and ice. Here I describe some of the mixed climbs we shared while getting to know each other. These were club climbs and I have fond memories of our experiences and those we shared them with.

Mount Jefferson, Oregon Cascades

In June of 1990 Linda and I joined Betsy, Nancy, Bill, Darcy, Debra, Leah, Roy, George, and Tom on a Chemeketan climb of Mount Jefferson, the second-highest peak in Oregon.

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