Queen Victoria 5331′
Total Time: 5:45
Distance: 2.2 miles
Elevation Gain: ~900′
Crux: 5.7 (pitch 2)
Companions: Holly, Emily Elkins, Alex Wallace
Trailhead: Pullout on Schnebley Hill Rd, High clearance required.
With temps rising in the valley my adventures began to shift north for the late spring and summer, and climbing in Sedona was in prime conditions. Queen Victoria, one of the easier but classic sandstone spires in Sedona had been on my short list for a long time. It would be the perfect introduction to sandstone climbing for Holly and Emily with 3 pitches to the small, dramatic summit. We left Phoenix early on a Saturday morning and turned off onto the rough Schnebly Hill Rd, which aside from a few other SUVs, was mostly traveled by various Jeep Tours (usually pink). We missed the unmarked parking area for the climb and continued towards a trailhead about 2 miles up the road, but were stopped by one of the tour jeep drivers who was familiar with the climb who sent us back down to the appropriate turn off. There was another car in the pull off, and after loading our packs, we stepped down into the wash and hooked right onto the trail. We were only on this about 50′ before cutting cross country to the left and hooking back towards the wash, essentially to get us above a series of dry falls. The wash itself thankfully was brush free with a vague trail, and a few short dry falls brought us to the Hangover Trail just below the south face of Moose Butte and Pope’s Dick.
We turned left (west) onto the trail, and as we began to switchback up, Queen Victoria popped into view, looking quite formidable and exciting. We followed the trail for maybe half a mile until reaching a point immediately below the saddle between Queen Victoria and Moose Butte with a use trail marked with a cairn. I had heard the trail up to the saddle was the worst part of the day, but actually found it fairly easy to follow without too much overhanging brush. The trail reached a series of sandstone slabs about halfway up with a bit of easy scrambling, and another 10 minutes brought us to the broad saddle between the two technical summits. A threesome was just starting up the first pitch of the climb so we took our time taking pictures before racking up.
Alex had been feeling sick so I had the honor of leading all three pitches, and we headed towards the base of the first pitch once the last of the threesome started up. The first pitch is rated 5.6 and has the longest continuous climbing of the three, about 100′ of blocky chimney climbing to a cozy bolted belay ledge above. Once 2/3 of the group ahead climbed the second pitch I started up. Protection was plentiful and straight forward, with excellent stances and opportunities to place cams or nuts at the various difficulties. The sandstone is far more forgiving compared to the rough granite of the McDowells we were more familiar with, and made for a highly enjoyable pitch of climbing. The party above was already on the third pitch by the time I reached the first belay ledge, and I built a quick anchor off the bolts to bring up the others. I first brought up Holly, who cleaned as she ascended and thoroughly enjoyed the first pitch.
Once I brought Alex up, I had him belay up Emily while Holly belayed me for pitch 2, the 5.7 crux pitch. Although the second pitch is the shortest pitch of the three, it had a tricky ~20′ off width crack that was difficult to protect. A short scramble brought me to the base of the off width, and I placed a #4 BD cam as high as I could before starting up. The pitch was made far easier by my height, and really only required one off width move off the deck before I could reach up to a small ledge halfway up that I could pull myself up to. At this halfway ledge I girth hitched a chockstone with some slings for the shorter members of the party to use as aid if needed, then placed a small cam in a pocket high up to the right with a long runner to protect the second half of the pitch, which I climbed similarly with a single off width move followed by a pull up to the top.
There was an old piton that could be used as an anchor immediately right of the off width, but I scrambled to the base of the third pitch with a newer looking bolt, which I backed up with a pair of cams for an anchor. This belay ledge was huge, large enough to park a truck, but unfortunately extremely windy making communication difficult. Holly started up the crux pitch, needing to use the slings to get up the crux, being unfamiliar with the unintuitive off width techniques or tall enough to jump and do a pull up. I brought up Alex then Emily, and I was ready to lead the final pitch just as the party above was rappelling off the summit.
Alex worked on freeing the overcammed pro I had placed in the pocket to the right of the crux while Holly belayed me up the ‘trick dihedral’, also rated 5.7. Some parties reported some trouble with this pitch, but the fractured chimney/ dihedral was very featured with large blocks and ledges jutting out providing ample holds. Similar to the first pitch, there were many options for protection, and I girth hitched a few more slings for aid for the others at a slightly overhanging portion near the top of the pitch before hitting a ramp below the summit rocks with easy scrambling to the summit.
I used the rappel bolts to build an anchor and brought up the others one by one to the summit, surprisingly with little wind compared to the belay ledge below. Alex came up last no longer needing to act as an intermediate belay (and also did not get any one to photograph climbing him 🙁 .
The summit was the perfect size for four climbers, and we enjoyed the cozy summit enjoying the Sedona views and the intimidating climbs on nearby Moose Butte and Pointed Dome.
We stayed as long as we could before a pair of climbers popped up next to us, a busy day on Queen Vic with perfect April weather. There was another pair on their heels as well, so I set up the rappel with one of our ropes and Alex went down first with a 70m rope to immediately set up the second rappel. Once Alex was down, Emily went second followed by Holly and myself to the spacious ledge for the second much longer rappel. Starting the second rap was a little tricky as it was difficult to weight the anchor before committing, especially with extenders.
But soon the four of us were back at the base and we loaded up our packs for the hike down. As we descended we were already discussing future adventures in the area, all of us finding the sandstone climbing very forgiving and scenic. It only took us about 30 minutes to reach the car, and a bit of rough road brought us back to the paved roundabouts. We headed to Oak Creek Brewing for celebratory beers and burgers where we were met by my sister and brother in law before heading up Sugarloaf to enjoy the Sedona sunset.
