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imnotafraid
Sep 27, 2004, 4:49 PM
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Last time i was there was the weekend before the Willow fire 2 years ago. :( Is Munchkin land open? What I am looking for is some moderate 5.8-5.10 sport routes. Any suggestions? Oh yeah, also is there anywhere to camp for free backcountry around the area. Thanks for your help. :lol:
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gds
Sep 27, 2004, 4:57 PM
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Yep! ML is open as is Barnum Rock, the Druid and Ridgeline. So lots of bolted moderates. Actually everything closed for the fires is now open. Windy Point still has construction going on and it is not clear to me f they are allowing parking/climbing there or not.
You can camp almost anywhere in the Coronado NF. Just get a permit at the ranger station.
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imnotafraid
Sep 27, 2004, 5:52 PM
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thanks gds, can't imagine if the areas are nearly as shaded, cool and beautiful. but that is how nature works, right?
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gds
Sep 27, 2004, 6:14 PM
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In reply to: thanks gds, can't imagine if the areas are nearly as shaded, cool and beautiful. but that is how nature works, right?
Actually not nearly so bad as you would imagine. Still lots of trees and where the trees were hit hard there is already new green brush coming up. So it is sure sad to lose any of those old trees but it has been a tinder keg for years. Perhaps now we'll have better forest mangement.
BTW nights in Tucson are getting to be very nice and cool and the days are -perfect. So enjoy!
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me_lad
Sep 27, 2004, 6:56 PM
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Hey "imnotafraid", as he said ridgeline is a good bet for moderates. Others include milagrosa canyon i think.
But you'll get a good day out of ridgeline and dont forget to do the right most route and check out the view off to the right - very nice.
In reply to: Last time i was there was the weekend before the Willow fire 2 years ago. :( Is Munchkin land open? What I am looking for is some moderate 5.8-5.10 sport routes. Any suggestions? Oh yeah, also is there anywhere to camp for free backcountry around the area. Thanks for your help. :lol: |
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steelmonkey
Sep 27, 2004, 7:25 PM
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me_lad wrote:
In reply to: Hey "imnotafraid", as he said ridgeline is a good bet for moderates. Others include milagrosa canyon i think.
Milagrosa Canyon is also known as 5.11 Heaven. Interpret that as you will, but really, the place is not known for it's moderate (at least in my definition of moderate) route selection. You'd be way better off on that south-facing wall near Munchkin or at the Ridgeline. Or The Druid.
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gds
Sep 27, 2004, 7:57 PM
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In reply to: me_lad wrote: In reply to: Hey "imnotafraid", as he said ridgeline is a good bet for moderates. Others include milagrosa canyon i think. Milagrosa Canyon is also known as 5.11 Heaven. Interpret that as you will, but really, the place is not known for it's moderate (at least in my definition of moderate) route selection. You'd be way better off on that south-facing wall near Munchkin or at the Ridgeline. Or The Druid.
Steelmonkey is absolutely correct!! Ther are a couple of mediocre 5.9's and loads of hard 5.11 climbs. Yes it is well bolted and has some great routes but it is not the place for a moderate sport leader.
Also, a comment about Ridgeline. I happen to like the area. Easy approach, beautiful area and certainly moderate bolted climbs. But be careful. Depending on your guidebook you can be way off in terms of routes. What's 5.7 in one book is 5.9 (or 5.10?) in another.
Ridgeback is the farthest right route (not on the main wall) and is a very nice and long 5.5. But it is a bit run out on easy ground at the start. Personally I get a cam in ~10' up and feel better and I get one in further up as well. The route was first put up with all gear and later retro bolted by the FA.
Anyway the weather here is perfect, enjoy.
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climbsomething
Sep 27, 2004, 8:44 PM
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Munchkinland is open. It's *the* moderate sport heaven. Ridgeline is much smaller, and in MY opinion, the climbing isn't nearly as good. But if you do go there, use the Squeezing the Lemmon book. Munchkinland beta can be collectively culled from Squeezing the Lemmon, climbaz.com, and Tucson Select Sport Climbing (I dunno if they sell it anywhere else but here). If you do go to Munchkinland, and ONLY Munchkinland, you can skip the pay booth at MP 5, but you will still have to pay 5 bucks at the Rose Canyon entrance. No gettin' around that. They closely patrol the (mostly-picnicking) crowd. I think the Munchkinland back door, that entailed driving through the private cabin village, is a no-no now.
The weather is getting lovely higher up the highway. And the mountain is more intact than I expected it to be after all the fires.
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imnotafraid
Sep 27, 2004, 10:04 PM
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Thanks for all the beta everybody, sounds like munchkinland and ridgeline are about my speed. Mo---how was yor trip last week? Do you have the squeezing the lemon book i could borrow? Also, next topic, did you camp? and where, anyone have free backcountry camping suggestions?
Thanks again everyone!!
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wpy71
Sep 27, 2004, 10:44 PM
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Bob,
I have squeezing the Lemmon and all of the route info for munchkinland.
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gds
Sep 27, 2004, 11:17 PM
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There are a bunch of new moderate climbs at ML that are not in Squeezing the Lemmon.
They can be found at:
http://climbaz.com/climbs/munchkin.html
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me_lad
Sep 28, 2004, 3:38 PM
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The trip was good , in that i got the green ripper, but the rest was pretty shit.
Sorry about the bogus beta on milagrosa, i thought it had easier stuff.
We didnt camp, stayed at lauren's friends house. Looks like bill has a book for you too! So you're sorted. Dont know about back country camping but there are a few campgrounds. Jon and mark camped at willow canyon i believe.
-Maurice.
In reply to: Thanks for all the beta everybody, sounds like munchkinland and ridgeline are about my speed. Mo---how was yor trip last week? Do you have the squeezing the lemon book i could borrow? Also, next topic, did you camp? and where, anyone have free backcountry camping suggestions? Thanks again everyone!! |
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steelmonkey
Sep 29, 2004, 3:51 PM
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climbsomething wrote:
In reply to: Munchkinland is open. It's *the* moderate sport heaven. Ridgeline is much smaller, and in MY opinion, the climbing isn't nearly as good.
Depends on your definition of moderate. The original poster asked for stuff between 5.8 and 5.10, which usually means they're looking for more 5.8/5.9 than 5.10, but I could be wrong. If like mid-5.10 is at your limit, the Ridgeline might be more to your liking (for the OP). I have an old topo of Munchkin here and the routes list like this from left to right (there are more routes now, but harder ones): ?, 5.11, 5.9, 10d, 12/ 11c, hard, 10d, hard, hard, 10c, 11b, 10d, 9+, 10d, 10c... there's another 10a around to the right that's nice. The wall that is south-facing that Ayers developed on the other side of the ridge from Munchkin has more moderates on it, however.
Depending on when you're going, if the weather is cooperating (cooler), The Ruins might be a good place to go as well. And I mentioned the Druid is probably worth checking out. I liked the Druid way more than the Ridgeline, which was a bit of a zoo (apparently a fairly common occurance). Check it out in the book.
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crimpandgo
Sep 29, 2004, 3:56 PM
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Registered: Apr 15, 2004
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New routes have been established at munchkinland that are more moderately rated. 5.7 and above can be found now. as stated before climbaz.com has a listing of many of the new routes
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erclimb
Sep 29, 2004, 4:14 PM
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Registered: Aug 23, 2002
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"steel crazy"!!! on the fortress--one of the summit crags...3-pitch, 5.9+ (red rocks rating) hardest clip is for the 3rd bolt off the ground but you can bypass it right...a few runout sections but on very easy 5.6 rock...2nd pitch is spectacular...take at least 12 draws (not quite as many bolts as red rocks but close)
a llittle tricky to find...squeezing the lemmon sucks for approach info (don't they all?)...from the top, move down the left side and stay close to the rock...look for the left most climb shown on the topo (the summit hut will copy pages for you), which is easy to find because it's a chimney...and then move back right to find the start
walk, scramble, and short rappel back to your packs at the top
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steelmonkey
Sep 30, 2004, 2:50 AM
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crimpandgo wrote:
In reply to: New routes have been established at munchkinland that are more moderately rated. 5.7 and above can be found now. as stated before climbaz.com has a listing of many of the new routes
Doh! I totally spaced those routes on the left off. :oops:
And I've even climbed most of them...but it's been a while...
My apologies...maybe this will make up for it...
http://www.steelmonkeyaz.com/munchleft.gif
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jbak
Oct 1, 2004, 8:53 PM
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Registered: Mar 25, 2003
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In reply to: In reply to: thanks gds, can't imagine if the areas are nearly as shaded, cool and beautiful. but that is how nature works, right? Actually not nearly so bad as you would imagine. Still lots of trees and where the trees were hit hard there is already new green brush coming up. So it is sure sad to lose any of those old trees but it has been a tinder keg for years. Perhaps now we'll have better forest mangement. BTW nights in Tucson are getting to be very nice and cool and the days are -perfect. So enjoy!
I thought it WAS pretty bad (fire damage at Munchkin). It is no longer the cool dark place it used to be -- the trees are nuked.
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