Mt. Lemmon Closure List - From the Tucson Climber's Association

Here is the list of closed climbing areas on Mt. Lemmon. It is provided by the Tucson Climber's Association.

Aspen Fire Closures - Santa Catalina Ranger District

The following climbing areas are closed until further notice. This list may be partial or incomplete. If you have any doubts whatsoever as to the access status of a particular area, please contact the Santa Catalina Ranger District.

CLOSED CLIMBING AREAS:


Mt. Lemmon Fire Report - From Jeff Mayhew

Here is a report from Jeff Mayhew on the fire damage and closures on Mt. Lemmon.

I took a drive up Mt. Lemmon yesterday to check out the damage--pretty amazing. The Summerhaven area wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and the Ski Valley area looks fine. There are some pretty huge areas of devastation as you drive up the hwy, though. I attached copies of a news release they were handing out at the base in case you wanted to post them on your page. I also made a rough list of climbing areas that were burned along the bases. I didn't see any specific "area" closures other than those from the Bullock fire and the trails listed on the news release. Signs might start popping up if climbers flock to some of the areas that are burned. It would probably be a good idea to avoid the burned areas so they just don't make a "blanket" closure to climbing. Do you know if any climbers are working with the USFS on that particular issue? Maybe James D. and gang? Windy Point looked open but there's a lot of construction going on in the area.

These are just what I could see easily.

Burned:

Chessmen, Faded Rock, Mean Mistreater Wall, the Fins, Beaver Wall, Nurd Rock, Punch and Judy and vicinity, Wind Wall, Hunchback Pinnacle, Iranian Wall, Troll Wall (probably Munchkinland), Palisades Ridge Rocks, the entire mid-mt. strip between the upper and lower hwy. from the Pharaoh all the way to Windy Point, parts of Lizard and Middle Earth areas (as best as I could tell).

Not Burned:

Hairpin, Hidden Jewels, Weathertop areas, Green Slabs, Panorama Wall, Hearthstone, Friction Rocks, Chimney Rock, Hitchcock Pinnacle, the Stones area, Wheeler Wall, San Pedro areas, Barnum, and the Druid is probably good, too.

No cars or foot traffic allowed above the Ski Valley area.

Jeff


Fire Report on the Druid - From Gary Sax

Here is a report from Gary Sax on access to the Druid.

I climbed at the Druid on Saturday. It appears to be right on the line between open/closed areas. Stopped at the Palisades ranger station and they weren't sure but told us to go in and just not continue if the area looked really burned out. The trail in has some areas where the fire hit but there is lots of green as well. At the base of the rock there are a couple of burned trees but it is 90% + green. There is no damage to the rock.

It was interesting to drive up. Parts of the mountain took a very big hit and other parts are untouched. Just before the Windy Point parking area it looks like the fire crossed the road in a couple of spots. I imagine that the fire hit all the rocks in the area just below the road.

Also, there was a lot less traffic than I expected.

Gary Sax


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News Release - page 1

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News Release - page 2

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Copyright ©: 2003 RAHutchins and Jeff Mayhew
Revised: August 22, 2003
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