Pitch 1 5. 10-, Follow 8 bolts up fun shouldery stemming moves to about 25 feet of crack through a limestone band. Bring gear from .4 to 1 for this section to feel safer. This leads to a 2 bolt anchor at the base of the offwitdh!  

  Pitch 2: 5.11, Awesome!!! Perfect hands leads into a a gradually widening crack to pull a bulge. Take a good rest because the business is next. Pull through a #5 roof into a #6 crack for a couple of moves into a a squeeze chimney, try not to puke, and then continue up easy climbing to an awesome belay ledge with another bomber 2 bolt anchor! I took a #2, #3, 2 old #4 bd's, #4 tech friend, 1 #5 BD, and 2 #6 BD's and laced it up big time.  

  Pitch 3: 5.10, 6 bolts and a drilled angle. Awesome and fun traverse to the base of the 4th pitch. 2 bolt anchor rigged for rapelling if you choose not to continue.  

  Pitch 4: 5.10+- pg-13, mixed gear at least 5 bolts with a wide range of gear. Weird climbing through some bulges with lots of stemming and flared cracks. This leads into a squeeze through a big diving board type flake. After this head up into a hole pull on some pockets and out onto the face for the final bit. Loose rock at the top... Wish this thing topped out courthouse butte... 3 bolt anchor rigged for rapping.  

  Descent: 2 double rope raps with 60 meter ropes. 1st rap all the way past the traverse end anchors to a sweet ledge on the face, 2nd rap all the way to the ground.  

  Really fun climb, last pitch is WILD! Worth it in retrospect, but at the time it seemed awkward and a little bit funky. This pitch is super Sedony!  

  Amazing views and exposure, great belay ledges, the offwidth pitch is hard but protects super well.  

  Great climb!

The Prosecutor

Flip Wilson Route (aka Here Comes the Judge)

Justice of the Peace

A Day in Court

Coyote Tower

Central South Rib

This is a classic old skool Sedona climb, with good physical climbing, some scary rock and gear and a grand summit. The climb starts on a sloping ledge under a left facing dihedral that is the first two pitches. P1 Bouldery start to really cool finger section then a junky mantel leads to a seam in a corner with cool moves and an easier hand crack, belay on funky limestone ledge, 5.11, 140 feet. P2 Up a fun hand crack to an awkward roof move and more fun crack to good belay ledge, 5.10, 120 feet. P3 Straight up on poor rock through flaring slabby cracks then moves right to a fun crack with better rock to a good ledge below the obvious slab, 5.10+, 130 feet. P4 Traverse up left on an easy crack to the angling thin hands crack that cuts out right over the very cool slab on good rock, mantel onto huge ledge, 5.11, 80 feet. P5 Go right across the big ledge to a block, then step left and clip a questionable drilled pin, crank up funky rock with gymnastic moves to an awkward groove and finally pass a roof as the rock turns white then belay at a pine tree on a ledge, 5.11+ R, 80 feet. Rejoice!

Flip Wilson is a great mixed trad and sport route that ascends the southwestern arete of Courthouse Butte. 

  Pitch 1 (5.7) - Climb a corner above the start ledge which starts as unprotectable 5.4 progressing to 5.6 and a #2 camalot placement.  When the corner steepens look up and right for a #3 camalot placement behind a boulder.  At this point mantle out of the corner up and right then climb easy 5.5 slabs to a two bolt belay/rap station.  (~100')  Leave your trad gear here as it is all bolted climbing from here. 

  Pitch 2a (5.10c) - Start up and left past two bolts then move right into a corner.  Climb up the corner past several additional bolts to a ramp which leads to the next belay ledge. About 8 clips total. (~100') From here a 200' rappel will take you back to the start ledge. 

  Pitch 2b - Move the belay up 15' to a belay bolt on a large ledge. 

  Pitch 3 (5.10a) - Fun face climbing past 12 bolts trending up and right to a two bolt rap station. (~120') 

  Descent - Two double rope raps down the route. 

Justice of the Peace climbs a large dihedral system out a large roof and lastly onto the beautiful headwall of the Northwestern Buttress on Courthouse Butte. Shares the same summit as the infamous A Day in Court. Originally established as an aid route, the route now goes free with surprising amounts of quality clean crack climbing, striking face climbing as well as a techy crux. Memorable pitches featuring everything from face, tips, hands and yes offwidth. Luxurious belays and a remarkable finish makes Justice of the Peace one of Sedonas overall great quality free routes.  

  Historical and FFA Info: The FA team established an A2+ route that involved sections of thin aid as well as a direct finish that involved long sections of hooking on questionable rock. After initial exploratory attempts at freeing the original and direct finish it was decided that a free variation would be necessary to reach the summit. The addition of free bolts and discovery of a balance traverse sets summiting parties below an unforgettable summit pitch. Position yourself on the summit of the stunning buttress for a well-earned view of The San Francisco Peaks. 

  P1 Traverse in from bolted belay and clip the awkward aid bolt, climb through a thin crux to hands to a bolted belay. For Free Var. extend belay below block to better protect for next pitch. 5.11- 

  P2 From extended anchor, clip fixed pin for rope direction, and mantle block next to belay. Clip a bolt and climb the boulder problem crux of the route. Plug your way up corner and into beautiful tips to wide hands splitter on large pillar. 2 bolt belay above splitter, hang out on comfy belay. 5.11+ 

  P3 Climb the always necessary gently overhung offwidth through fingers and thin hands to large roofs above. Clip second and third bolt (avoid the first to prevent rope drag), and push yourself through the man-eater roofs to thoughtful block climbing to a bolted belay below the roof. Save a #.5 in a pod for your exit. 5.10+/.11- 

  P4 Leave the belay, clip bolt below the roof and carefully mantle onto a foot ledge, be courteous of the fragile blocks to the climbers left, theyre sensitive. Put on your roof-traverse party pants and follow the tips and fingers Sedona splitter out the horizontal roof. Pull the roof, clip a bolt and climb to a 2 bolt Free Var. anchor on an arête. DO NOT climb to aid anchor above ledge. 5.10+. Classic. 

  P5 Traverse directly right of the belay into the JB Honorary Traverse and hope the wind isnt blowing too hard. Make some slow balance moves across large sloping foot ledge past some gear in a flake to a bolt below a flake, bust the short boulder problem, clip 3 more bolts, and climb to a 2 bolt belay on a cocktail ledge in the center of the headwall. Leader mentality on both end of the rope. 5.10 

  P6 Climb beautiful and high quality face climbing past 2 bolts and gear through red and white banded headwall to a right leaning tips to fingers splitter. Bust your last move and finish on hands through a short roof. Build a gear anchor. 5.11- 

  Descent:  Scramble up 3rd class terrain 100 feet to true summit. Look for the largest tree on top. Locate a two bolt rap station just below North side. Make a Double 70M rappel to a large black varnished ledge below and center of the JB Honorary Traverse. Make a second long and steep Double 70M rappel to a blocky ledge. Final rappel can be done with a Single 70M rope. The second rap is very long, with 60Ms requiring easy down climbing to the last rap anchor. 70M recommended. Watch for loose rock when pulling your rope!! 

Coyote Tower is an exceptional route with lots of good pitches. From the summit, the views are really cool as well and you'll be amazed at how high up you get. Start as described below. 

  P1) Climb up multi-bulge face (5.8) with bolts to a fixed anchor above. Then scramble up to the base of the second pitch up and left. 

  P2) Crux pitch. There are a couple stiff spots on this pitch, but basically climb in crack system left of a buttress, with an overhanging tight-hands crack at the top to a fixed belay. 

  P3) Climb up into slot behind the top of the buttress and tunnel right behind it until you can exit to the right. A couple of face moves up and further right will put you on top of the limestone layer and a fixed anchor. Short pitch. 

  P4) Climb crack above and right of the anchor to good shelf with fixed anchors. 

  P5) Fingercrack in corner, good layback crack. Then short offwidth section leading to "dirt clod" (be careful not to damage this!). Surmount the dirt clod and climb up to a ledge in corner with anchors. 

  P6) Climb up nice steep finger crack (5.9) to flat summit. I found the moves right at the top to be the crux on this one. 

  Descent: Since I climbed this route, the rappels have been moved. Call the Flag gym to see if they have updated info.

As laid out in Tim Toula's guide, this route comes off fairly trivial. In reality, most of it is pretty trivial, but I felt that the crux mantle move was much harder than 5.6 The good news is that it is well protected and you can always yank on something to get through the mantle. 

  This ascent is somewhat of an exercise in route finding. I will give general description here, but you have to sort of work some of it out as you go. Start by getting into the south bowl on the left side, then work your way up and across ledge systems to gain a ramp on the right side. Climb this ramp (4th or easy 5th class) to more ledges, and work your way up the right side of a big huge fin that sort of splits the bowl. Continue up drainage to a big ledge that cuts back right across the wall. Cross the ledge all the way over and around the corner to get to the one pitch of real climbing. You should be able to spot bolt or pin to identify the pitch once you get over there. A section of 5.6 climbing leads to the crux mantle move next to a bolt. A long sling might be hanging down from the two bolt anchor above to help out. 

  Once you're at the anchor, it's pretty much hiking to the top from there. The summit of Courthouse is straight up the hill south from the anchor. There's a register you can sign (needs more paper) under a cairn. 

  After topping out, reverse your steps, make one rap off the two-bolt anchor and then continue reversing back to the parking lot.

Courthouse Butte is the humongous looking mesa formation that sits just east of Bell Rock (Oak Creek Villages). There are only a handful of routes on this massive formation. I believe the first ascent was done many years back (early 1900's) by a Flagstaff hiking club, but haven't found any documentation to back this up yet.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Courthouse Butte