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Ryan and I got an alpine start (10am) and headed down to Cochise Stronghold to climb Absinthe of Mallet, which is a 7 pitch, class III, 5.10a climb on The Sheepshead dome. If you click on the first picture, there is a zoomify image of the dome. We started up and the climbing was good. According to the Tombstone weather report, the wind was 20 mpg gusting to 40! That was not good!! More than once a gust would come up and we would flatten ourselves onto the rock. After 6 pitches of climbing, we were at the base of the polished 7th friction pitch and the wind was stronger than ever. Ryan (the leader) was not looking happy about leading it. We decided to bail off. Using some simple aid techniques, we got off the climb into a gully to the left. By the time we got to the top a storm was blowing it. We ran down the decent path and went home. A Good Day! |
 Sheep’s Head dome |
 Sheep’s Head dome area |
 Ryan starting up pitch 1 |
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 Some people to our right |
 Some people to our right |
 David is down there (somewhere) |
 The start of pitch 4 (Ryan is up there somewhere) |
 The view from the belay below pitch 4 |
 Me |
 Note the camera and the belay anchor |
 Some people to our right |
 Some people to our right |
 Ryan at the belay below pitch 5 |
 David at the belay below pitch 5 |
 A tenacious tree |
 Lunch |
 Ryan and me at the belay below pitch 6 |
 Ryan on pitch 6 |
 At the top |
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 David with the storm that did NOT get us |