In the jagged basalt-lined valley of Paradise Forks, there’s an orange tower that has split off the wall, leaning at just an angle to create the ultimate training climb. At the bottom, the space between the wall and the block is only a sliver to squeeze fingers into, but over 70 feet it gradually widens…
Tag: climbing
Paradise Found
This is how much I love Paradise Forks, a climbing area at the upper reaches of Sycamore Canyon about an hour outside Flagstaff: when friends and I were driving the four hours from Tucson to get there, we didn’t even turn on the radio; we just bounced up and down on the car seats yelling,…
Baboquivari, The Golden Years
Baboquivari Peak is a desert peak about 45 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona. You can actually see it from many parts of Tucson. If you were to look to the southwest (left of the Tucson Mountains), you will see a low mountain range in the far distance. At the north end (right side of range),…
Climbing Mount Rainier – Part One
From March through June, climbing Mount Rainier was all I could think about. Njow, a few weeks after my guided trip up the Emmons route, that amazing experience is still all I can think about. But this is the part where I’m relieved. For three months, I obsessed constantly. All my worries could be summed…