Archive: An Oak Flat State of Mind

So this will be my third winter in Phoenix, and I think I've acclimatized well, coming from the direct opposite of the desert. For one thing, Phoenix winter isn't really like Bostonian winters. Boston winters actually mean getting cold temperatures, wearing large jackets, and spending inordinate amount of time dealing with the snow. For Phoenix, it means time to get outside. This past winter, I decided to spend more time bouldering around the better crags near Phoenix. Beardsley feels like a choss pile, and at South Mountain, the Equestrian sector at South Mountain seems to be currently under closure since January. The Pima Canyon sector is still open, but I'm not in the mood to experience scary topouts when there are better problems in areas within a reasonable driving distance, which is a whole other can of worms. 

Instead, I've dedicated most of my time climbing at the Superstitions and Oak Flat, which are located near Superior AZ, a hour east of Phoenix. The Supes deserve its own post, so for today it's all about Oak Flat. Oak Flat is a sacred land to the Apache and other Arizona tribes. It's also currently the battleground of a mining conflict between the tribes and Resolution Copper. It has historically also been a very famous bouldering area in the southwest with the Phoenix Bouldering Comp (PBC) being held here in the past, and where strong climbers used to come by to test their mettle. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of knowledge has been scattered- as those who knew the area well moved away, and the area seems to be a shell of its former self. Hopefully one day, the knowledge will be regained and maintained, if not in this generation, hopefully by the later ones. 

Contrary to the name of the blog, the climbing style has a lack of dangling. It's very different from the areas up north, especially at Priest Draw, where the climbing style there inspired the name of this blog. This area is more vertical/gently overhanging, so while volcanic rock makes for grippy and sharpish holds, the movement here is delicate, and the holds aren't as obvious or large, which means the beta is more subtle and less athletic. It's a nice change of pace, though it takes time to get used to.  

Anyways, I spent last Sunday out at Oak Flat with Bobby and Nadia, two local Phoenix climbers. The video below is of me running a quick lap on the rail. The rail is a perfect example of the climbing style in the area- a really classy line, but for sure requires precision, tension, and endurance to move through- and a good understanding of the whole boulder problem so that you don't blow the top out, where the holds are basically blind throws from the climbers POV.  Bobby got really close on this one, and I hope he gets it done soon. 

We also did a few endurance laps on the Davey Jones Traverse to end the day, which is probably my favorite style of boulder problem besides roof climbing. 

I'll need to get back out here to try Evolution- we managed to take a look at it, but the snow in Flagstaff caused it to rain in Superior, so the approach in is a bit wet. I think it will snow again this week up north, so it looks like this will need to wait till next season.