ChristopherFranklin wrote:Haha! Yeah I have a scar from a dicey bar in gila bend! A friend and I are planning to climb mt Whitney's mountaineers route and Capitol in Colorado it's dicey for sure. Just kinda looking for some warm ups.

In a normal year, crampon and ice ax skills are more important for a spring trip up the mountaineers route. Sierra granite is a bit different from sandstone. You won't find an absolute analogy for the length of the class 3 section in most areas mentioned. However, the NE route on Castle Dome feels a bit more like a Sierra climb than many others mentioned; scrambling over blocky rock and large talus with exposure. You can do that in the fall.
http://hwstock.org/kofa/html/IMG_8517.htm

Are you planning to practice snow skills before the Whitney trip? I might recommend using the hard ski routes at the AZ Snow Bowl for practice, but since the ski season won't close till April, that may not give you much time. Mt Lemmon also has a few black diamond runs, which may close earlier.

Vishnu Temple (4th class) or Zoroaster Temple (5.9) . Grand Canyon Peaks are some of the hardest to do in the country and there are a ton of them. Fall is the time of year to do them too!

four peaks traverse is awesome.

exposed non technical scramble. rock is surprisingly good. routefinding can be hard.

dicey factor high.

Attempting all 4 of the Four Peaks could be considered. There is all sort of class 3/4 and maybe even some easy class 5.
http://www.summitpost.org/browns-peak-four-peaks/151540
I don't think there is anything you would need ropes for, but it is a fun Climb. I've only done Browns Peak and the southern 2 peaks (2 different trips).
I highly recommend this area, it's amazing.

Someone mentioned the Four Peaks Motherlode...that's habanero spice.

Want more than that? Check out Eagletail Peak west of PHX

The only amethyst mine in North America is located below the southernmost of the Four Peaks.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/bestof/2 ... s-2730062/

I got a new dicey idea that is dicey in both the sense of legality and safety... mountain bike down the North Kaibab trail in winter, at Phantom Ranch attach pontoons to the bike and make it into a paddle-boat. Then proceed to raft the canyon, and base jump off Hoover Dam. After that find some driftwood, construct a raft and have an even sketchier time floating down the Colorado to Mexico. To finish it off, hitchhike back home with no passport. The possibilities are endless!

surgent wrote:The only amethyst mine in North America is located below the southernmost of the Four Peaks.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/bestof/2 ... s-2730062/

I visited the amethyst mine back in 2004, while camped overnight on Lone Pine Saddle. Guess you could say I was "back in the saddle again !"

surgent wrote:The only amethyst mine in North America is located below the southernmost of the Four Peaks.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/bestof/2 ... s-2730062/

That is really, really interesting. You can see the shed and such mentioned in the article here.