Ursa Minor 5,160′
Sedona Area– Rock Climbing
Total Time: 4:30
Distance: 1.7 miles
Elevation Gain: 720′
Crux: 5.9
Pitches: 2
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Doe Mountain Trailhead, $5 Red Rocks Pass, Trash, Toilets
It had been a while since pushing myself a bit on lead, and wanted to try a little tougher moderate spire in Sedona. A round of recent rains made finding an option tough- pushing my boundaries on damp sandstone slabs and chimneys seemed a bit risky. So I settled on Ursa Minor- a 2 pitch 5.9 spire with a crux 5.9 slab well protected with a bolt. Hopefully it would dry out after a week of sunshine. The approach to Ursa Minor is pretty tame by Sedona standards, starting at the Doe Mountain Trailhead off Boynton Pass Road. The spire blended in with the rest of Bear Mountain above, the cliff face holding a number of much harder lines, the most famous being Oski 5.11.
The approach was nearly all trail, following the well-traveled path up towards the summit of Bear Mountain to breach the first series of sandstone cliffs. Ursa Minor was upslope to the right, and we left the main trail up a wash to reach the saddle between Ursa Minor and a small rock spire to the north.
The first pitch was entirely in view from the saddle, climbing an easy crack with immediate exposure off the deck, to the crux slab followed by a traverse right to the base of a stembox and the start of pitch 2. Although the wind wasn’t strong, the route was in the shade and we racked up just below the saddle to stay out of the breeeze. Holly ground anchored to a tree since there was a good chance I would fall at the slab crux. After doing our checks I walked back to the saddle and reached the base of the first crack.
The start required a somewhat committing step across onto a teetering rock, and I placed a cam down super low to do my best to protect the first move. The block didn’t budge as I weighted it, and I pulled up into the crack where I could begin to place more solid protection. The lower crack was easy, about 5.4, and I quickly reached the ledge beneath the crux 5.9. I easily clipped the draw protecting the move, and reached up for a gritty small ledge just to the right. Unfortunately the slab was still a bit damp being entirely in the shade on the north side and covered in a thin layer of sand. I tried brushing off what tiny nubs of rock I thought could actually hold me, but wasn’t able to hold on to the rock to pull myself up. I thought repeatedly falling would put a damper on the day, so I decided to pull on the draw to get through the crux, finding that to be hard and exhausting on its own. The pockets and cracks above the crux move were full of sand and essentially useless for protection, so I climbed past to clip a high bolt above the traverse. The ledge traverse was easy and quite wide, but I was beginning to feel the rope drag as I worked around the corner. I reached the base of the dual crack system and climbed up another 5 feet to build a trad anchor into the dual crack system at the base of the second pitch.
I pulled up the rope and Holly started up, only to realize she hadn’t put on her rock shoes (D’oh!) requiring me to feed out a ton of slack with my Reverso in Guide mode. Properly equipped, she started up the first pitch, trying the crux slab once before pulling on the draw herself to get to the traverse. She joined me at the belay, and we reflaked the rope for the second pitch. The dual cracks and wide stembox was one of the reasons I had chosen the climb, and I started up stemming, alternating between crack climbing, chimneying and even a lie-back thrown in for fun. I all too quickly reached the crux of the pitch, a 5.8 bulge/ rooflet which has some ledges off to the right to help get over the hardest difficulties. I plugged in a cam at the base of the rooflet, then another up a bit higher before pulling up and over, using some of the only true crack climbing moves of the day. I clipped into the two bolt anchor and sat on a ledge at the summit, happy to be back in the warm sun. My only complaint about the second pitch is that I wished it had been at least 50′ longer! It was Holly’s turn, and she made short work of the dual crack system down low.
She had a bit more difficulty at the roof, in part because she hadn’t seen one of the key rock ledges on the right side of the wall to get up higher in the crack system. But she still made it up without falling, and the two of us sat on the summit to take in the views across Sedona, with Capitol Butte to the east, Mescal Mountain to the northeast and Doe Mountain to the south. Bear Mountain still loomed above, with the well-named Turtle Dome to the west.
I had read on MP that a 60 meter rope would just manage the rappel, and I as the tallest I decide to head down first. I fed the rope down, the majority coiling at the belay ledge below, and started down the spire.
I rethrew the ropes which proceeded to ball up in the air beneath me, not quite reaching the ground. It was still unclear if I had enough to make it, and was glad we remembered to tie knots into the ends. I reached the ball and untangled the two strands, my feet just reaching the ground with rope stretch. Now it was Holly’s turn, and she started her rappel, having just enough rope stretch to make it down herself.
The rope pulled easily and we packed our things and started back down the use trail. Although there was time for a second climb, the clouds above looked a bit iffy with rain forecasted for later that night. So we left Sedona and headed into Cottonwood for dinner and some wine tasting before heading home.
