SW gully

Page Type Page Type: Route
Location Lat/Lon: 32.34000°N / 110.77°W
Additional Information Route Type: Hike/ technical climb
Additional Information Time Required: Half a day
Additional Information Difficulty: Fourth class
Sign the Climber's Log

Approach

Approach this climb via the Phoneline Trail, which runs NNE up Sabino Canyon. The trail is fairly level and parallels the road running up the canyon. As you approach Thimble Peak a break can be seen in the wall of cliffs on the south face. This is a gully that slants all the way up to the peak from the Phoneline trail.

Route Description

Leave the Phoneline Trail where the gully intersects it and head up the gully. This is mostly scrambling of the 2nd - 3rd class variety. Sometimes the easiest going is in the gully itself, and sometimes it's best to skirt the gully - do whatever works best. The gully soon leads to the upper slopes of Thimble Peak, where an easy uphill stroll leads to the summit cap itself.

The cap is actually two separate blocks. Both can be climbed, but the one to the south is higher. The easiest way to gain the true summit is to go up the slot between the two blocks. There is a short stretch of 4th class climbing necessary to gain the notch between the summits. From here, you can:

1) Go straight up the face to the south.  There are two bolts protecting about 10-15' of 5.6 or so; the last time I was there (2024) someone had tied webbing between the two.

2) Traverse around to your right (west) where a 4th-class crack slants up to the summit.  The start is quite exposed but not terribly technical.

Essential Gear

It's possible to solo this peak, but take gear and a rope to rap with if you're not comfortable with the difficulty or the exposure.

Miscellaneous Info

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Parents 

Parents

Parents refers to a larger category under which an object falls. For example, theAconcagua mountain page has the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits' asparents and is a parent itself to many routes, photos, and Trip Reports.