Mount Lemmon
- Cam
- Apr 21, 2019
- 3 min read
Last weekend we spent a few days climbing on Mount Lemmon, Arizona. We rented an Airbnb with a group of about 12 at the top of the mountain in the little town of Summerhaven. None of us had ever been before, and hadn't really even heard of people that had been so I did not really know what to expect. We had a great trip, with some of the climbing highlights being:
Weather - Described more below, conditions were great.
Minimal Crowds - Two out of three days we were the only parties climbing at our crag, and Spring is supposedly peak season.
Rock - The rock (granite I think?) was very solid and felt different from anything I'd climbed on previously, so it was fun getting the feel for it.Below is some key info we learned while there which would be helpful to anyone considering a trip to Mount Lemmon - and also the start of a guide for the area.
Weather
One of the best qualities about Mount Lemmon as a climbing area is the way that there can be a 20+ degree difference in temperature between the base and top of the mountain. On any given day, you can drive higher or lower on the mountain to find ideal temperatures. The first day we were there it was literally snowing at our Airbnb, but in the Lower Highway areas it was t-shirt weather in the sun.
One downside - It may be difficult to find dry areas in the rain. We did not see many overhanging protected cliffs that would stay dry.
Where to stay
There appear to be 3 main lodging options:
Rent a place at the top of the mountain in the town of Summerhaven (this is what we did). It is a really cool spot to stay, but it is quite remote. There are no gas stations or grocery stores, and limited food options. It takes about an hour to get into Tucson. If you are eyeing the "Upper Highway" or "Summit Crags" areas, this is definitely the place to stay.
Camp at one of the many campsites on the mountain. These seemed like great places to camp and depending on where you are climbing, they might be closest to the climbing areas. A number of the cliff approaches start at these campgrounds. Be aware of the elevation, as campgrounds at the lower end of the mountain are probably 10-20 degrees warmer than the top.
Stay in Tucson. I'm sure there are plenty of options, and for areas lower on the mountain it may only take about 20 minutes to drive from the city.
Guidebook
The main guidebook for the area is "Squeezing the Lemmon", the latest edition being from 2015. While it is a sizable book covering a ton of areas, we found this book a bit tough to use. I'd say that normally our sense of direction and ability to find trails to crags is pretty good, but we consistently had trouble following approach directions in the book. We ended up resorting to trying to find spots via GPS and Mountain Project a couple of times. From talking to locals, it sounded like there have been fires there that wiped out previous approach trails, so maybe that explains some of the inaccuracies.
The book does have indicators of which routes are sport and which are trad, but many of the routes would be considered "mixed" and that was not always clear/accurate in the book. Definitely cross reference Mountain Project to get a better sense of the number of bolts or gear requirements.
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