Camel’s Head 2,290′ via Pedrick’s Chimney
Phoenix Area
Total Time: 4:00
Distance: 4.0 miles
Elevation Gain: 1000′
Crux: 5.1
Partners: Brian Joseph
Trailhead: Echo Canyon (but lot was full so parked on a side street)
With the weather warming up in the valley, I was looking for a short, less ambitious outing before working that night. While I’ve wanted to climb the Hart Route on Camelback Mountain to the Camel’s Head, the notorious bees mid route would be particularly active given the warm weather and recent spring blooms. So instead I thought I would give Pedrick’s Chimney a try, the first technical route on Camelback pioneered and free soloed in 1947. Older guide books suggest a possible scramble route to the summit of the Camel’s Head from the top of the chimney, and it would make a short, fun outing to see if this would be the technically easiest route to the top of the head. There were about 15 cars circling in the Echo Canyon lot when we arrived on a Friday morning and Brian and I quickly abandoned any hope for a spot and drove a few blocks down the street to park. I knew there were a handful of bolts on the route, but had read things were a bit run out in between. So I took a couple of cams along with a set of quickdraws and we started to the trailhead. Most of the cars were still circling for spots by the time we reached the trailhead kiosk, and we wasted no time starting up the Echo Canyon Trail. After a few short switchbacks, we turned off at the boulders towards the headwall and spotted a trio of climbers working up ‘The Headwall’ 5.4 route. The third climber of there group was just tying in, so we roped up on the alternate Walk-Up (4th class) gully and I quickly climbed the easy pitch and built and anchor on a small Palo Verde Tree.
I brought Brian up behind me and coiling the rope around my shoulders, we scrambled up to the terrace above the headwall to the base of the Praying Monk where the trio of climbers were starting up. We hiked past on braided use trails to reach the base of Pedrick’s Chimney. I spotted a bolt partway up the lower slab confirming we were in the right spot and after reflaking the rope, I started on lead.
The lower section was quite easy, basically low angled slabs followed by some easy stemming between two boulders. I placed one cam (0.75 BD with a long alpine draw) just before a ramp leading to the base of the chimney proper, more as an anti-catastrophe piece given the exposure as the climbing here was quite easy. There were two new glue-in bolts protecting the crux chimney fairly close together causing me to Z-clip, the first time making that mistake and one I quickly realized when I couldn’t move from the friction. After correcting my mistake, I started off by face climbing the wall just left of the chimney then transitioned myself in at the crux bulge. There were plenty of hand holds to pull myself up and around the large smooth rock jutting out, and once above the main obstacle, it was only a few more feet up to the giant bolted anchor.
Brian followed behind having little trouble at the crux, and we pulled the rope off to the side to ensure it didn’t slide down to the base of the pitch while we tried to find our way to the top of the Camel’s Head. Some Google Earth recon suggested a series of ramps leading south and then west would probably be the ticket up. A use trail led south and up to a broad series of ledges about 20′ below the summit with great views of the main bulk of Camelback.
Another use trail hooked west up a gully and some final scrambling brought us the remaining distance to the summit. The top of the Camel’s Head was actually pretty interesting. With cliffs on all sides, the views were unobstructed in all directions with Camelback Mountain dominating the view to the south. Near the high point were a pair of Palo Verde Trees and a tunnel/cave that went through the high point and out of the southern cliffs. We grabbed a bit of shade from some of the small Palo Verde trees for a snack and drinks, and took photos under beautiful skies with mixed clouds and sun.
We dropped off the summit and hiked the slabs west to look down into August Canyon, a high canyon tucked into the northwest side of the Camel’s Head formation invisible from below. An old school class 4 route, George’s Route, takes and improbable ascending traverse up into August Canyon, but has a similar issue with bees on route. To be saved for a cold day….
Before rappelling down Pedrick’s Chimney, I wanted to walk along the high catwalk along the north side of the Camel’s Head which joins the upper pitches of the Hart Route, mostly to scout out the bee situation. There was a short 8′ class 3-4 crack to solo in order to get to the catwalk, and I quickly found the notorious bee cave at the far end. It was close, but not directly on the route, and an encounter actually seemed more likely on the descent hiking across the cliff band to reach the rappel down Pedrick’s Chimney. In fact, I’m guessing it would be easy to descend down the south and east ramps to reach Pedrick’s Chimney directly which would save a rappel and make the bees a nonfactor on all descents from the Camel’s Head.
We downclimbed back to the top of Pedrick’s Chimney and Brian headed down on rappel. I rapped second and after changing out of rock shoes, I recoiled the rope around my shoulders for the short hike back to the top of the headwall. We headed to the top of the rappel gully and I rappeled first this time, with Brian aggressively coming down second. I should probably remind him not to stress the anchors so much…..
After removing our harnesses and packing our things, it was an easy hike back to our cars and a little bit of rest before another weekend of call.
A wonderful entry of a place within view, that I feel I know, but the names and contours of the particular parts of Camelback that you did were unknown and fun to see. You rock!