Climbing Reports

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

Mount Turnbull, Arizona, April 2016

April 5, 2016 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

On April 2 several friends and I climbed Mount Turnbull, the highpoint of the Santa Teresa Mountains of Southeast Arizona. Mount Turnbull has 8282 feet of elevation and 3562 feet of prominence, the 15th most prominent peak in Arizona.

Mount Turnbull from US 70 north of Peridot, Arizona

That morning I met Eric Kassan, Richard Hensley, Kay Komuro, Maymay Au, and Fan in Peridot. Here we purchased San Carlos Apache Tribal Recreation Permits for our visit.

This was the fourth weekend I had joined Eric in his explorations of Arizona prominence peaks. This was an unexpected and fortuitous opportunity this winter season. This day’s adventure included long drives on primitive roads, climbing across and up steep, brushy, and rocky slopes, and climbing exposed rock slabs to reach a very scenic summit.

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Mae West Peaks, Arizona, March 2016

March 23, 2016 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

After climbing Swisshelm mountain on March 19, Eric Kassan, Rich Hensley, and I drove north late that afternoon to find our campsite for the evening and night. We hoped to get close to Mae West Peaks in the Little Dragoon Mountains, our goal for Sunday.

Eric wanted to explore an access option he had researched via Google Earth that would put us close to the east side of the peaks. We succeeded in getting near where we wanted to be, but we were unsure whether we were trespassing or not. We decided to camp out of view of any homes and take our chances that we would not be rounded up by landowners.

Mae West Peaks from near our campsite at sunrise

It was a very pleasant evening and night and we were ready to leave our cars by 6:45am Sunday. It was going to be much more pleasant to get an earlier start hiking this day than the previous day.

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Swisshelm Mountain, Arizona, March 2016

March 23, 2016 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

Early in the morning of March 19 I met Eric Kassan and Rich Hensley in Wilcox, AZ. They had driven down from Las Vegas the previous evening and we hoped to get an early start this day climbing Dos Cabezas Peaks, a double peak with over 3000 feet of prominence.

We drove to nearby Dos Cabezas and tried to get access to Dos Cabezas Peaks via the Mascot Mine Road. Eric had repeatedly called the landowner to request permission to use the road, but he did not get any callback from the owner. We hoped that perhaps the gate was open but we found it was locked with the same phone numbers posted that Eric had repeatedly called. We attempted another, longer, access road but found it also gated and locked. So we switched our attention to Swisshelm Mountain further south.

Swisshelm Mountain from the west near Elfrida

Swisshelm Mountain has 2025 feet of prominence, the 69th most prominent peak in Arizona. We first attempted to get access to it from the east which would have provided us an easier ascent. We spoke to the landowner near the start of his private road, but he refused us entry. So we drove to the west side of the mountain near Elfrida and successfully gained access to the western slopes of Swisshelm Mountain.

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Mount Ajo, Arizona, February 2016

February 28, 2016 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On February 23 Linda dropped me off at the Bull Pasture Trail below Mount Ajo in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. From there, I hiked and scrambled up Mount Ajo, the high point of the Ajo Range. The Ajo Range is volcanic with many cliffs and rock outcrops. Hiking high on the route reminded me of Misery Ridge at Smith Rock, Oregon. Mount Ajo is an Arizona peak with at least 2000 feet of prominence. I spotted several other Arizona prominence peaks and Mexican peaks from the summit.

Organ Pipe Cactus and Mount Ajo from the Bull Pasture Trail

I followed the Bull Pasture Trail for the first 1.5 miles. From Bull Pasture I followed a well-worn climbers trail the rest of the way to the summit. The hiking elevations were only 2400 – 4800 feet and the sunny sky was clear. But it was a cooler day than recent ones. There was a breeze on the ridges which helped make the day quite pleasant for hiking.

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