First pitch:  Left chimney 4th class scramble to belay bolts just below the sundeck boulder.  It's easier than it might look at first sight.  Second pitch:  Go around a triangluar boulder and up another boulder to access a large crack.  Follow wide crack to small chimney with a bolt on left face with which you can pass a sort of bulge and climb up to a large ledge/tunnell area with two belay bolts.  If you stop here then this can be done in three pitches, or you can continue up the chimney area with plenty of protection placements to another ledge area, move left and up a sort of ramp to the summit.  Here you will find three huge rappell anchors as well as 4 or 5 bolts and hangars.

South Crack

Unknown, left of Palo Verde

Beer Route

Shalaylay Direct

Chug A Lug

Voluptuous Ham(ster)

Never Never Land

Peg Route

Just Standing Around

Dungeons and Dragons (AKA Burnt Toast)

BeeGee

Spiral Staircase

Fear of Crying

Lesson in Discipline

Hades

Death Watch

Fear of Flying

Chutes and Ladders

Sidewinder

Luna

Angels On My Mind

Birthday Party

Garber's Chimney

Rossetti Rose

Silhouette

Flight 5.11 Direct

Baby Woolsey

Name It

Flight 5.11

Dried Oatmeal

Deep Throat

Deliverance

Beezlebub

Walk Up

Ezy Rider

Give Me an Idea

Vanishing Point

Parallax View

Tongue of Time

Brown Out

28th Day

Pecker Party

Powder Puff

Lost Nuts

Easy start with heady finish!  Stem, Off-width, and Chimney your way to the top!  Guaranteed to get your attention with smooth walls that make you think you might just slip out at any moment--and gear placement is a bit tricky, in close quarters.  Otherwise, a piece of cake. ;-)

Shares the first bolt with Angels On My Mind.  Continue straight up past second bolt to top.

Probably the easiest route to the summit, but not as easy to protect as South Crack. 

  Pitch 1: From the gully right of Chug-a-lug, climb up the wide flaring section towards the large boulder at the top of P1 of Chug-a-lug and Deep Throat. Keep traversing left up the easy broken terrain.  Build a gear belay on the ledge (many options, .5-3). 4th class 

  Pitch 2: Head straight up the broken chimney and get on top of the last pointy block. From here move left onto the face using solid flakes to the east summit. No options for gear after moving onto the face, but the climbing is really easy. 5.4

The climb to the left of Fear of Flying. This is a demanding route with tedious footwork and very thin face moves. The start of this climb is 11a and moves up on a small arete. From there climb past 3 bolts and then work your way right to a crack where you can then put in a gray camalot. Climb up past more bolts on the thin face to the top.  Rock near the finish at the crux in a little crumbly.

One of the best handcrack trainers in Phoenix (albeit a short one).   Start is a splitter that leans slightly right and varies from tight hands to big hands (but often pinches down or changes size quickly - so hand size does not really affect the rating). 40'   Can continue for a 'second' pitch by stepping right from the gully on top to another nice vertical crack. 50'

The crux is getting past chossy stone and firmly engaging the chimney above an overhanging roof to the North of the chimney.  After that, it is all about keeping a cool head as you make your way up the exposed, steep rock toward the top of the chimney, where an easy, protected (bolt) step across takes one to the North summit.

Traverse west from Sun Deck Boulder to then climb South Gully (5.6) from until possible to traverse left on thin crack to ledge & bolt (5.7ish). Climb up and past bolts (crux) on thinner granite face moves to summit.

From the notch between the summit blocks, scramble up easy terrain to a ledge.  Pass a wide broken crack using thin face and finger jams. 1 glue in bolt on the right protects the awkward crux, then easy terrain to the summit.  Rap off of huge eye bolts back to notch.

Fun knob pulling past 3 bolts to 2 bolt anchor

Start on great crimps that funnel you up to the first roof. Then, get established on two great opposing holds slightly above the lip. High feet will enable you to rock over and precariously stand up, but it's not over yet. Clip a bomber glue-in and traverse a series of radical underclings, and set up for semi-dynamic throw to a jug flake. Finally, you can cruise through easier terrain.

BeeGee is characterized by a burly roof crack with an interesting knee mantle move to pull the lip. It can be started from Dried Oatmeal's beginning or the original start up a 5.10 fist crack section to a great ledge. As the name suggests there has been bees nested in the crack before, but are currently not there (1/2016). Make sure to check for said bees before committing to the climb.

From notch, climb thin crack on W summit past a bolt to a ledge. Follow ledge around right and take path of least resistance to the 2 eyebolts at the top. Jump across to E summit.

Same start as Shalayly Direct. From second bolt traverse right past glue in to horizontal crack. From crack continue right and up to the Arête(Fear of Flying)past 4 bolts and gear to top.Belay off Eyebolt and glueins. The start of the climb is 5.11a. If you pull off the first bolt it is 5.10b.

Door jamb edges up a gently overhanging face until finally a rest is encountered. Climb starts same as Powder Puff, then branches off right and up face. Excellent TR if not ready for the lead (I spent many a shady late summer afternoons messing around on this)

Below Fear of Flying/Powder puff is a 6-7" right leaning ow (up a wide band and 30' long). The route climbs up and through the wide section then wanders to the traverse under the Fear of Flying roof. 

  Left side in is more reclined but has less face relief. I've tried both and it may be a bit easier left side in. Much harder than Y crack and pure ow.

This is an awesome lead, It's a right leaning crack that has cool pockets and liebacking, and some awkward moves.  There is a one finger pocket up there, some may be able to fit 2 in.  Also when you get close to the top you might just feel like grabbing the owl %@&*.  A must do for the trad climber.  One of my favorites. 

  Awesome climb.

One of the best routes at PP. Start by jamming and underclinging a roof crack that traverses to the left to gain an arête. Climb the arête on thin and balancy edges past 4 bolts and a horizontal crack to reach the summit.

Thin crack along right side (north side) of rappel gully. Follow the crack straight up to a steep section (crux) and then trend left and follow a wider crack to the top of the North summit.   Good pro - but feels greasy and fingery for a 5.7.   May have a small bush in the crack...   (If you are gripped - you can step off left onto the ledge at the rap anchors just before the layback crux).

Begin on the east face on wide cracks (8ish) to a belay ledge with a single modern anchor bolt.  Pitch 2 traverses right on hands to the corner where it goes up to overhung rattly fingers then eases up; finish on 2 bolts or stay in chimney.

This route shares the first bolt with Unknown, then trends up and right past two more bolts.

Birthday Party is a nice mixed face and crack line that will challenge the 5.7 leader nicely. While the route had been climbed literally hundreds of times without incident prior to 1994, two bolts were added to the starting moves before Pinnacle Peak Park opened to protect modern gym climbers. 

  Start in a shallow right-facing corner at the end of the wall. Some thin face moves lead up past the two low bolts to better holds. Continue up, placing nuts to reach the obvious roof crack above. Jam the overhanging roof crack to easier vertical ground and continue to the top. Belay is set by downclimbing off the back and using cracks in the ledge behind.

An excellent, steep route that climbs differently than most of the vertical to less than vertical granite at Pinnacle Peak. 

  Start by stemming and laybacking up a sweet dihedral with small gear for about 40'.  When the crack peters out, move right onto the face past a bolt to a rest stance.  From here, it's full value.  Layback up the overhanging seam past 2 bolts to a thank-God lip.  Bust the final mantle and cruise around the right to finish up at the west summit anchors.

Great slab route to the summit of Pinnacle Peak.  The start comes off the second pitch of South Crack.  I recommend starting as for the second pitch of South Crack.  When you reach the toe of the slab, stem left onto the slab and pad your way to the top.  When you reach a horizontal crack, move right and then continue up.  Easily done as one pitch.  Note.  After clipping the last bolt, if you go straight up, seems like a hard 5.9 move.  The further right you go, the easier it gets.

Better bring your stiffest shoes and A-game footwork for this one.  Just getting off the starting block is super hard.  The 1st bolt nicely protects this. A nice break at the horizontal allows your toes a chance to come back to life.  Some more super fun movement passing the only real holds of the route through the old leeper bolts.  Very sustained for the last section past the last glue in bolt.

start up P1 of Vanishing Point and step onto the flaky slab at a bolt. There is a bolt ~15 feet to the right, but instead go up the clean finger crack to a ledge and another bolt. You can move left on this ledge to join Vanishing Point or continue up past 2 more bolts to the top.

Start in a right leaning ramp that quickly opens up to a thin hands crack at about 15'.  Make a few faces moves straight up at the wide crack above.  A large cam(#4-#5ish) protects this section, although there's not really any mandatory OW moves, lots of face relief.  I found a #5 on a long sling helpful at the horizontal section where you'll want to traverse left to meet up with the upper easy section of Hades.  Continue moving towards the tree where an anchor bolt finishes the route.  If you are continuing up to the headwall routes (Fear of Flying, etc.) go straight up and you can belay with a variety of medium to large cams.

Work up the face past a low bolt that protects the initial moves to the horizontal. Traverse right place a cam or two at along the break.  Make some really hard moves, passing 2 old leeper bolts and 1 new good bolt to a tree ledge with 1 glue in bolt for an anchor, which can be backed up with a #1 or #2 camalot.

Thin, bolted face climbing, sandwiched in between two short crack sections.

Chimney/double crack system; Pretty good beginning lead.    Weird start, but once established has good back-and-foot chimney & stem moves with decent pro. Continue up gully (avoid bird nest and droppings) to ledge near the Notch. ~100'

Solid gently overhung 8-10" protected by bolts (sure hope these are upgraded!). It thins out as the top and finishes via Sidewinder. (it is possible to walk off here via 4th class). Jaybro lead this 3x while in Phx. Dr. Andy Embick thought it was 5.12, but others have since down rated it.

Exiled to the shadows of the northwest side of Pinnacle Peak, guarded by a Cerebrus of bees, Beelzebub sits alone atop a crumbly scramble. The next step after you have been to Hades (10b/c), when I first found this climb I was puzzled by its relative obscurity, as it is easily one of the most aesthetic lines in the city often catching the eye and amazement of many hikers who dwell at the terminus of the Pinnacle trail.

 Upon the first attempt, I quickly realized why it is not more popular; sharp, crumbly flakes line the inside of the offwidth, inflicting severe discomfort to all but the most masochistic ascentionists. I'm not sure who, if anyone, did the FA of this one (maybe JA or JW?), but it had certainly been a while since an attempt, as I knocked off at least several hundreds pounds of loose and progress-impeding rock during initial attempts and subsequent cleanings.

 As it stands, most of the loose bits have been exfoliated off, and the climb goes clean on a modest rack. The old bolt near the crux, while worthless as protection, may assist you in keeping the rope out of the crack during a technical switch. It would be best to remove it and place a new anchor at the base of the climb for the belayer to clip into.

 The moves surmounting the roof are quite memorable, and unless the rock continues to deteriorate, this should be one of the top 5 climbs in the Phoenix area.

Climb a broken handcrack up past a chockstone to a sub summit area.  Continue scrambling for about 20'.  Then as the exposure increases, a bolt appears on the left wall in a perfect position to protect the easy slab moves to the summit.

From the notch, climb right leaning flared crack past creaky flakes then up hand crack to the top. Much much easier if you stem to the back wall. 

  Descend from 2 eyebolts back to notch, or jump across to east summit

Similar start as for "Just Standing Around", but around to the right of the arete. First bolt is fine to get to and then the moves get dicey and desperate past the next couple bolts. Marty's foldout guide lists this as 10a, but it sure felt harder than the other 10's here. Maybe it was just cold and grey.

(P1) up gully and short fist crack through bushes (not much fun). Belay at base of obvious wide hands crack 

  (P2) lieback and jam up 40' crack that narrows from fists to hands

The crux is getting past the 'roof' formed by a leftward lean of the crack as it narrows from body size to about 4 inches.  This forces one into a very insecure stance on very small features to the left of the crack.

This route is always in the shade and other than its looseness is unique in many ways.

Start up a triangular block go right into a left facing offwidth lie back or off the block go left up an easy crack. They both take you to the same body squeeze chimney clip a glue-in then mount the ledge and head right on a ledge. Make thin face moves to a right facing flake to a ledge, plug .5 or 1bd in downward crack. Climb a cruxy arete making a few committing face move past a bolt then run it out to a ledge. Plug in a #2 bd in a horizontal climb nubs on a steep face past 2 bolts to an R finish. Ancles have been broken on this route. Serious cliimb w/ bad falls :)

climb the corner until possible to step left to first bolt. Thin face moves past the remaining bolts leads straight to east sub summit area (tie off boulder, nuts in cracks, or now bolts??). Ratings have varied from 5.10-5.11a. If comfy on JT granite face (or Phx granite) it falls in the 10+ arena.

Lost Nuts climbs the distinct flaring crack just to the left of Death Watch.  From the ground it doesn't look so bad...until you try to do the first moves!  Hard flaring jams, plus the leaning nature of the crack make this thing a beast!  After getting established, move up a bit and clip a bolt a few feet before the flare pinches down to a seam.  After that it's still in your face with tiny gear, strenuous stances, and not much rest.  Fortunately, there's a 'Thank God' jug near about 80% of the way up...

Pinnacle Peak proper is the home of some of the best granite routes in the Phenix area. Some of the face routes up on the Peak stand as a testament to the mindblowing footwork of the hard dudes of early Phoenix climbing. 

  The Peak area contains great variation in climbing among the many routes, from the cracks of Birthday Party and Bee Gee to the demandingly thin, footwork-intense nothingness of Shalayly Direct. Whatever kind of climbing you like, you can probably find it here! 

  ACCESS NOTE: Please follow the rules of the park, including the opening and closing times. We have a good relationship with the Park and the City of Scottsdale and don't want them to get the idea that climbers are trouble!

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Pinnacle Peak