Why Tucson Climbing is Special

The City of Tucson lies in the shadow of Mount Lemmon. Rather than a single peak like the name implies, Lemmon is a toothed range that cuts across the sky north of the city, towering 6500 feet from the valley floor below. It is the topographical feature that defines Tucson, separates her from her northern neighbor— the comparably flat sprawling metropolis of Phoenix. And as it rises from the Tucson Basin, the landscape begins to transform. As you leave the desert, driest of all the biomes, you ascend into the Grasslands, host to oak, juniper, and stretching grass meadows. Up from there you will enter oak and pine woodlands, then forests. Finally, in the upper zone above 8000 feet, the mountain is enshrouded by a lush mixed-conifer forest of pines, firs, spruce, and groves of Aspen.

Beautiful, yes, but what does it have to do with climbing? Well, it provides a breadth of temperatures and climate zones. The climates found along the 26 mile highway that weaves up mountain mirror those of Mexico all the way to Canada. What this provides for climbers and outdoor enthusiasts is a refuge from the valley temps below. Pleasant temperatures can be found high up on Lemmon on all but the hottest of days. Conversely, during the frosty desert winters climbers can access the lower mountain crags, some no more than a mile up the highway. Other climbing areas like Miligrosa Canyon sit right at the foothills at effectively the same elevation as Tucson. Tucson is one of the few cities that boasts reasonable climbing temperatures nearly year round. When the local mountain people gut it out through the blazing valley temps of summertime, they look to the north and take solace in their upcoming weekend trip to the refreshing refuge of the upper mountain.

There are many things that make Tucson a special place to climb, but the year-round accessibility has always stood out—it is one of the main reason a lot of us local climbers choose to call Tucson home. Like they say in sport, “the best ability is availability,” and if you are looking to climb, in Tucson there is almost always somewhere available.