On our second stay at Cochise, we climb "The Wasteland" with one of our good friends, Gary Clark. Gary was considering including this climb in his collection of classic climbs.
The climbing was all right but just not the classic that Gary remembered. We remembered it as a so-so route, mostly interesting for its creative belay anchors on plates and small nuts.
The climbing is mostly easy (5.6) with just a few harder sections. The 5.8 rating felt a bit overdone… more like 5.7 we agreed.
We had a gorgeous day. Not a speck of wind and blue skies.
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The Wasteland
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| Hiking up toward the Wasteland dome. |
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| One of the local inhabitants we met on the hike up! |
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| Close up view of the dome. |
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| Eric on lead (photo by G. Clark). |
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| Our friend Gary following the first pitch. |
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| The chimney you have to go through on the second pitch. |
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| Eric leading the chimney (pitch 2). |
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| Gary following the same pitch. |
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| The third pitch is quintessential chicken plate climbing (photo by G. Clark). |
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| Gary following pitch 3. |
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| Lucie near the top of the same pitch (photo by G. Clark). |
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| Views from the belay atop pitch 3. |
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| Eric starting pitch 4. |
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| Higher on pitch 4. |
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| Gary starting pitch 4. |
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| Gary higher on the same pitch. |
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| Eric traversing left on pitch 5 (photo by G. Clark). |
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| Looking back toward the belay. |
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| Summit... |
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| ...views. |
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| Rapping down (photo by G. Clark). |