Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 34.89100°N / 111.753°W
Activities Activities: Trad Climbing
Seasons Season: Spring, Summer, Fall
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview/Approach

 
Steamboat Rocks
Steamboat, Princess Spire, Tisha Spire and Acropolis

Acropolis in Greek means “city on the extremity". The Acropolis area near Sedona references a ridgeline littered with several spires which sit directly above the heart of Sedona. The Acropolis itself is the largest feature which has several solid splitters at its southern end. Steamboat Rock, an easy to identify tourist landmark, anchors the opposite end (east) of the same ridge line. In between sit two smaller spires, Tisha and Princess. Tisha shares a col with the southern end of Acropolis. The name Tisha originates in America supposedly and means “joy”. Its summit is one of the easiest of the Sedona Spires to obtain and offers a full value view including Mormon Canyon.  Baxter established the route in 1978.
 
Tisha Spire
First Pitch

Tisha Spire has two established routes, its relatively easy north face (5.7) and the more challenging east face (5.11). Tisha’s north face sits directly off of the col with Acropolis and gives you a good scouting of some of the more interesting splitter routes in Sedona: Rad Off-Width (5.10+), Flight of the Anasazi, (5.11d) and Olympiad (5.10+). It is a good route to guide if you have fit clients for the hour long approach with decent elevation gain by Sedona standards.

Park at the scenic Midgley Bridge trail head just north of Sedona and before Oak Creek Canyon. Take the Wilson Canyon trail down to the wash and follow it along until you can take a left on the signed Jim Thompson Trail. At a fork, take the right option (mountain bikes-well traveled) up to just below the north end of Steamboat Rock. Hike up an indistinct climbers trail to the slick rock north ridge of Steamboat. Continue up to the broad summit mesa of Steamboat Rock and bypass its summit tower and Princess Spire to the north. Follow a decent climbers trial through brush to the col between the large eastern wall of Acropolis (right) and Tisha Spire (left). The route starts right off of the col, behind a large rock. It is a well shaded route. There is a unique bivy spot (cave) at the base of the west face of Tisha.

Route Description

North Face, 2 Pitches, 5.7

1st Pitch- 50’- 5.7/ Climb the right angling flake/corner up past a bolt. You can place a larger piece in an open flake on your right before mantling up to a significant ledge with a slung block.

2nd Pitch- 50’- 5.7/ Move the belay to the left at the base of a corner. Climb the fun but short corner placing gear at will and pull the small roof up and right past a bolt and into another left facing corner. Follow this easy corner past a rap anchor to the summit.

Descent

One single 60m rope rap from the fixed rap station makes it to the ground.

Essential Gear

A single 60m rope. There are two fixed pieces of pro. I might have placed a .5, .75 and #3 C4. A few draws and slings. The route is fairly clean in terms of carrying helmets up there. Well shaded, but the approach is exposed to the sun.

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.

Sedona Spire ClimbsMountains & Rocks