Cochise Stronghold is a celebrated “hardman” area near Tucson, Arizona. But with patience, it will reveal its wonders to less-seasoned climbers.

Arizona

COCHISE STRONGHOLD

RECOMMENDED BY Tanya Bok

Cochise Stronghold is a bit off the radar for many in the climbing community. But those climbers who do know it covet the stronghold as a gem, a world-class destination.

“Cochise is known as a hardman area,” Tanya Bok began. “There’s the perception that it takes big cojones to climb, making people hesitant to visit. It’s true that it’s not easy to navigate Cochise’s labyrinth of granite domes and tight gullies chocked with oak, manzanita, and alligator juniper. You’re often alone out there, the approaches are longer, and if you get off track you might get little wounds from Agave lechugilla [Shin Dagger].

“While Cochise may not be ideal for new climbers, it can be a place that revives a sense of adventure for experienced climbers and a place of growth for any climber. I wrote my Cochise guidebooks to share what I have discovered and encourage others to step out of their comfort zones. Cochise challenges you and makes you question what you can and can’t do. As you earn your chops on Cochise granite, you can graduate up to the big domes and historical routes. There are hundreds of places you can climb at Cochise, even if you’re not a hardman. When I moved to Arizona, the Stronghold became my home more than my house in Tucson. At the center of our home, hundreds of feet high, granite domes are eroded out like slices of a gigantic bread loaf that act as our roof; in the valley, under a mantel created by a canopy of trees, a little patch of dirt next to a fire became our hearth. Everyone who visits Cochise should expect to leave some blood, sweat, and tears. But you’ll also leave with a smile, and a little different than when you arrived.”

Cochise Stronghold rests in the Dragoon Mountains of the Coronado National Forest, in the southeastern corner of Arizona. It’s a fine example of a sky island habitat, rising to elevations of over five thousand feet from the surrounding desert. Thanks to the elevation, different flora and fauna thrive here among the woodlands, imposing granite domes, and sheer cliffs. (The Stronghold takes its name from a Chiricahua Apache chief, Cochise, who bedeviled U.S. Army forces in the territory of present-day Arizona.)

While Cochise’s warriors certainly scaled the formations around the Stronghold to monitor their enemies’ movements, recreational climbers didn’t begin exploring the area until the early 1970s. A leading pioneer was Dave Baker, who put up many classics at Cochise. Baker also established the area’s first climbing shop, the Summit Hut, which provided a hub for the nascent Tucson climbing community. As Fitz Cahall notes in a fine Climbing piece on the Stronghold, the Summit Hut was also the repository of “a three-ring binder known as ‘the Book’ that held hand-drawn topos to all of southern Arizona; it passed from climber to climber until it finally disappeared.”

Fortunately for climbers, much of the material from “the Book” materialized for Tanya. “I was cleaning out a filing cabinet, and I came across hundreds of hand-drawn topos and route descriptions for the Stronghold,” Tanya wrote in a story for Rock and Ice. “I was also the holder of some of the original material used in Bob Kerry’s Backcountry Rock Climbing in Southern Arizona. Mix this with new route development compiled from the intervening twenty years, and ten years of my personal climbing and route development, and I had a recipe for a guidebook.”

Climbing at Cochise is divided between the East and West Strongholds; given their distance apart and the length of most approaches, climbers will generally commit to being on one side or the other. To Tanya, What’s My Line (5.6+R, A0/5.10, on the southeast face of Cochise Dome in the East Stronghold) is as good an introduction as any to Stronghold climbing. “All that’s sticking out of this seven hundred–foot face are chicken heads [a knob of rock, case-hardened and eroded out of the surrounding matrix],” she explained. “When I first climbed it, I had never encountered such a feature. Lots of newcomers look at it and think, ‘Can I really just sling chicken heads all the way up?’ But once they do, it resonates. You can see why this ‘easy’ route is considered a classic. I also like to send people to Endgame (5.10-, in the Rockfellow Group in the East Stronghold). The route sends you up a big dome, where each of the five pitches is different and requires different techniques. Some climbers who are comfortable with 5.10s will attempt a route like Endgame and say that Cochise is sandbagged. I think some of that perception comes from the foreboding nature of the place. It’s intimidating and doesn’t allow easy passage for all visitors, at least not with the first sampling.”

Climbing satisfaction at Cochise can come from overcoming challenges, or from the self-reliance that comes from a successful backcountry expedition. Or, from simply absorbing the colors of a late afternoon. “The granite takes on glowing pink and golden hues, patched with chartreuse lichen,” Tanya described. “The trees are a blue and green. It’s a warm, soft color palette. Being among these granite domes you witness the swifts, turkey vultures, and peregrine falcons start patrolling the sky. Tired after a long day of climbing, I watch the sun slip below the horizon and saturate the sky in color so vibrant it seems artificial. It is here, I get a feeling I haven’t found anywhere else.”

TANYA BOK is a native of Alberta, a registered nurse by vocation, and a Cochise Stronghold devotee by avocation. She has rock climbed all over the United States and the Canadian Alpine, preferring long, remote climbs where the modern world does not reach her. This penchant drew her to explore the deep recesses of the Cochise Stronghold, climbing, developing routes, and painstakingly documenting, photographing, and designing two in-depth guidebooks on the area: Cochise Stronghold: Rock Climbing on the West Side and Cochise Stronghold: Rock Climbing on the East Side (www.cochiseclimbing.com).

If You Go

▶ Getting There: Cochise Stronghold is approximately eighty miles southeast of Tucson, which is served by many carriers.

▶ Best Time to Visit: September through May, though multiple elevations and exposures mean you can eke out climbing all year.

▶ Level of Difficulty: There are routes to suit climbers with a range of abilities—5.5 to 5.12—though anyone climbing Cochise should be self-sufficient in a wilderness setting.

▶ Guides: Tanya Bok has compiled two extensive guides to the area: Cochise Stronghold: Rock Climbing on the West Side and Cochise Stronghold: Rock Climbing on the East Side, as well as Cochise Stronghold: Select Climbs.

▶ Accommodations: Primitive camping on BLM/Forest Service land is available in both the West and East Strongholds. Lodging is available in the towns of Wilcox, Tombstone, and Benson.