On Saturday, December 12, I joined climbers from Las Vegas and Phoenix to climb the high point of the Sierra Estrella, just west of Phoenix. I mostly hike/climb solo anymore, but I was glad to be part of a competent group on this peak to help with routefinding and motivation on a long off-trail ascent over rock and through cactus. There were many opportunities to make a mistake ascending and descending a rocky ridge and dry waterfalls in a wash. It was also helpful to follow others on a primitive jeep trail to get to the start of the climb.
Sierra Estrella from the end of the Jeep trail
The Sierra Estrella high point is just beyond the rock pinnacle visible left of center on the far ridge in the photo above. We ascended the rock ridge in the center of the photo. On our descent we followed the ridge a short distance down, then descended left into the gully/wash to the right of the ridge from this view.
Looking up the ridge we ascended
Looking up from near the base of the ridge we ascended. We kept near the crest of the ridge as we climbed. This provided us good visibility of the route above us and good footing. I enjoyed the views of the slopes around us.
The ridge had mostly stable rock with many class 3 moves
The cactus added to the routefinding exercise but the rock was mostly stable and provided open paths through the vegetation. There were many short class 3 moves, sometimes with some exposure, but no cliff bands to stop us.
Eric Kassan and Peter Schubert ascending the ridge
Josef, Todd, and Kay climbed ahead of us. Eric, Peter, and I followed savoring the climb and views. Here Eric and Peter ascend the ridge just below me. Our climb starting point is visible where the canyon below us opens up, left of the wash and just right of the bottom of the ridge descending from the left.
The Sierra Estrella high point
After reaching the top of our ascent ridge we traversed behind the summit ridge and finally saw the Sierra Estrella Mountains high point. Josef is just visible to the left of the highest antenna on the summit. I saw no trail leading to the summit, so all of the equipment there must have been delivered by helicopter.
South along the crest of the Sierra Estrella
We soon rejoined the others at the summit and found partial protection from the cold wind behind a structure. We enjoyed the views. The view above is looking south along the crest of the Sierra Estrella from the Sierra Estrella high point. About this time it was raining hard with high winds in Tucson to the south, but we experienced no rain on our climb.
Climbing team on top of the Sierra Estrella
We took a team photo from our protected spot. From left to right are Kay Komuro, Peter Schubert, Todd Bielinski, me, Josef Nuernberger, and Eric Kassan. This was Eric’s 622nd summit. Peakbagging can become an obsession, but it is personally quite rewarding and leads us to explore so much of our mountain heritage.
Josef, Eric, and Peter descending the ridge
Kay and Todd left the summit before the rest of us to descend a gully/wash to the right of our ascent ridge. Josef, Eric, Peter, and I decided to start descending our ascent route on the ridge. After descending a few hundred feet we decided to drop into the gully/wash to our left and follow it down. This led to our scrambling down several short but interesting dry waterfalls. It was good to have companions in case of an accident. It would have been a long crawl out to the car with a broken leg.
Each region has its own character and I have much to learn in these Southern Arizona mountains. Almost all of my previous Arizona summits were road or trail hikes. This climb was my first extensive off-trail scrambling experience in Southern Arizona and was a confidence builder for my future summits in these mountains.
I enjoyed sharing the climb with these new companions. I expect to join them in the future on more hikes and climbs in the remote ranges of the Southwestern USA.
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