The Dry

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	Home One of the things that's hard to find in Southern AZ is truly STEEP climbing. The Dry is mostly NOT very steep, but it is the exceptions that really make the place. And since it is limestone, even the not-so-steep routes can be good with unusual moves and holds. Each of the 3 cave areas has some really good routes. The rest of the crag has a lot of meatloaf. My first couple of trips to the Dry (back in '97) did not impress me much. I couldn't get my mind around Winsley's absurdly steep Renaissance Man and some of the other climbs seemed pretty dirty. Todd Gangelhoff tried to tell me the place was good, I just had to do the stuff that was harder than 5.11. I have since discovered he was right. Even some of the 10s and 11s are decent. The Dry does have a few negatives. It's about an hour's drive from Tucson to the turn off, and about 15 more minutes of fairly nasty dirt road to the parking spot. The hike is no fun either, although it's a lot better now that there is a trail. There are weather issues to consider when going to The Dry. Like The Beach it faces SSE so the sun really comes burning in with very little shade in mid-winter. You can go in the spring and get afternoon shade, but fairly LATE afternoon and the approach hike would be HOT. The Bee Cave and Celebrity Cave get shade earlier than the rest of the crag. It is easy to get into a sun-is-too-hot-shade-is -too-cold situation at The Dry. To get to the crag, take highway 90 south from I-10 toward Sierra Vista. About 12 miles south you turn right onto a dirt road marked "Dry Canyon". It's a small sign, so keep a sharp eye. About 1.5 miles in is a triangle intersection. Bear right (north) at that point and then left onto road 4014 soon after. Follow the main road until you can see the limestone band with the Celebrity Cave prominent at the upper right. Head in that direction (northwesterly) until you run out of road. The hiking approach follows the dwindling road west into a wash. Follow the trail out the other side of the wash and keep an eye out for the sharp switchback that takes you up the slope towards the north east. The trail intersects the crag just below the "Spine Cave" (which is more of a alcove than a cave). I'm going to use a SINGLE STAR quality rating to begin with. If a route has a star it means I liked it or I've heard good things about it. If it doesn't have a star it means I didn't like it or haven't done it. I disagreed with many of Tyler's quality ratings so I'm not taking them into account. (Stars inside parenthesis are on the 3-star scale.)
	Left Side Routes
	Left of the Spine Cave there are two cliff bands, one that is pretty much continuous with the Spine Cave band, and one that is even further left and detached from the main band. I haven't done any of the newer routes on the detached band. Frankly, they just look goofy. I don't know why you would drive to the Dry to do routes like that. Even the "attached" part of the left side looks pretty goofy at its left margin. I have done a couple of routes there. As the band gets nearer to the Spine Cave it starts looking better although it's still not very steep. Tyler's guide lists 13 routes on the "attached" band left of the Spine Cave, and it looks like more have been added since.
Stumpy 5.10a	On the left-most portion of the "attached" band there are 3 short routes lined up close together. They each start with a little slab and finish with a bulgey crux. Stumpy is the left-most of the three. (Steve Bleyl)
Stimpy 5.10a	The middle of the 3 short routes. Not exactly a _bad_ route, but kind of a waste of metal. (Steve Bleyl)
Runt 5.9	The right route of the 3 short routes. Again, not exactly bad, but... (Steve Bleyl)
101 5.9?	A bit further right of the 3 above routes, a longer low-angle route goes up a blocky area. Two friends were climbing it when I was there and I asked them how it was. One said "5.8 and boring", the other said "great, easy with big holds". (Andrew Kornylak)
	Spine Cave Area
	To orient yourself, find the SPINE formation in the alcove. It is pretty obvious and cool-looking. This feature is part of the route "Spinal Twist". Topo
Unknown 5.10d (*)	There are FOUR routes to the left of Spinal Twist. This is the left-most of the four. It is about 70 feet high. The first 40 feet are trivial, followed by maybe 25 feet of good climbing (and maybe a bit stiff for 10d), ending with 15 feet of strangeness. Not really that good of a warmup since crux section is a bit too fingery and thin for a proper warm-up pump.
Chosstafarian 5.11a (**)	To the right of the above route and 3 left of Spinal Twist. (Eric Rhicard)
Way To Dry 5.11c (**)	To the right of the above route and 2 left of Spinal Twist. Has an obvious undercling slot at 2/3 height.
Rocket Man 5.12d *	Just left of Spinal Twist IN the alcove. (Todd Gangelhoff)
Spinal Twist 5.12b (***)	Starts just left of the Spine formation mentioned above and goes straight out the roof. I consider this to be one of the best routes in So. Arizona. It has great moves, and a fantastic variety of holds. The only possible knock is that it's a bit short. (Trent Baker) (Note to self: after crux clip, put left toe on nub, PUSH ON BLOCK with RIGHT foot, go for left crimp. Hand stack on crip if necessary.)
Dan's Playhouse 5.13a/b	Starts just RIGHT of the Spine formation.(Nate McCormick)
Hammer Mill 5.12b *	Outside the alcove and to the right. (CP Little)
Loose Stools 5.12a (***)	A shit name for a very good route. High on my list of "best easy 12s". Right of the alcove, and right of Hammer Mill. Although only vertical, everybody seems to like this route. Probably the most popular route at the Dry. Starts just left of a nasty looking block on a ledge. (Nate McCormick)
Land Fill 5.10d (*+)	Right of Loose Stools, starts off the big ledge. A pretty standard area warmup. (Todd Gangelhoff)
	Between Spine Cave and Bee Cave Heading east out of the Spine Cave area you pass under 2 routes I haven't really looked at: The Alter (11) and Borrowed Time (12a). Then the trail winds away from the crag and then back toward the crag. As it nears the crag again you can look up and see a route with a big split block on top -- Broken Biscuit.
Broken Biscuit 5.10d	Big split block marks the top of this route. My initial reaction to this route was to hate it. I thought it should be named "Blowing Biscuits". Especially after seeing TWO stars for it in Tyler's guide. But others convinced me it wasn't that bad. It has an old school, Mt Lemmony feel to it which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not the type of route I'd go to The Dry to do. (Eric Rhicard)
Last Call 5.11a	This is the route that made me think Broken Biscuit is not that bad, because this one is way worse. And still gets TWO stars from Tyler (!!). Should be renamed "Last Crap". Starts right of Broken Biscuit and follows a groove/dihedral with a crack at the top. (Trent Baker)
Super Fly 5.13a	Further right, the trail narrows to a ledge and passes under a shallow cave area with a couple of projects (I guess) and a route at the right end of the shallow cave -- Super Fly. Don't know much about it. (CP Little)
	The Bee Cave Further on up, you pass another project and then find a cable leading up to another alcove area -- The Bee Cave. This area gets shade earlier than any areas down-trail (west).
Project 5.hard	In the center of the Bee Cave is a STEEP, nice-looking line.
Stranglehoff 5.13a (***)	Starting to the right of the cave, this route and Veganator share a start, then this one branches left into the steep stuff. Has fixed draws. (Nate McCormick)
Veganator 5.12a (**)	Starting to the right of the cave, this route and Stranglehoff share a start, then this one branches right. Fixed draws. Gets shade at about 1 pm, the first sub-13 to do so. (Trent Baker)
Project ?	Right of Veganator is a hanging rope on a project said to have been started by Maria.
	The Celebrity Cave Continuing up the trail a couple of hundred yards from the Bee Cave you hit the Celebrity Cave. No description necessary, you will know it when you see it. It is pretty impressive and has some really sweet lines. I'll start at the UPPER end of the cave and work down. SHADE ALERT: The routes to the left of the cave get shade earlier than most of the rest of The Dry.
Butterfly Hiccup 5.11c (***)	Starts at the extreme upper end of the cave, not quite IN the cave. One of the early routes at the Dry. (Jon Winsley)
Go Nad ! 5.13b (***)	Some routes you can just look at and you know they are good. This is one of them. At the upper end of the cave, two STEEP routes start side-by-side INSIDE the cave. This is the right-hand route. It shares a finish with Butterfly Hiccup. (Nate McCormick)
Renaissance Man 5.13a (***)	The left-hand of the two routes at the upper end of the cave. The one looks great too. It was one of the first hard routes done at the Dry. Fixed draws. (Jon Winsley)
Project 5.14	The middle part of the cave has a blank roof and NO ROUTES. As you get to the left side of the cave, two routes start out side-by-side. The one going to the stalactite is Suzanne Sommers. The one to Suzanne's right is a project.
Suzanne Summers (Project) 5.14	At the LEFT side of the cave, two routes start side by side. The left hand route goes up to an obvious blunt stalactite. This is Suzanne.
It Ain't Called The Fuckin Spark (AKA The Spark) 5.13 (***)	Just outside the left side of the cave is a route leading up to a tufa below a striking zebra-skin water streak. It ends at chains under the roof. (Eric Scully)
Project 5.?	Left of IACTFS is a project with a work rope on it.
The Great White Hunter 5.12d	Left of the project. It looks blank but interesting. Supposed to be crimpy.
Oh Bee-have 5.12 (**)	Left of GWH a route goes up to a triangular alcove with an obvious left-hand Gaston above it. Then up to a little pod below a small roof. It traverses right out of the pod up blocks and a seam to anchors. Has chain draws. It's a bit hard to put a letter grade on this route because the technical crux is kind of body-metric specific. (Trent Baker)
Project 5.13 ?	Left of Oh Bee-have is a project of C.P. Little I think.
The Violator 5.10d	Looks ok. Haven't done it. (C.P. Little)
Wild Thing 5.12a	Looks ok. Haven't done it. (C.P. Little)
Blood Bath 5.11b (*)	Not the kind of route I would drive to The Dry to do, but if you're already here... Decent vertical climbing that follows right-trending lieback blocks near the bottom and then goes back left near the top and ends beneath a little tree. The anchors seem mis-placed until you find the lieback hold around the corner to the left. (C.P. Little)
Rock On 5.10	Another vertical route. Tyler gives it 3 stars. Ends 5 feet right of a roof.
Mr. Roper 5.11c	Just left of Rock On, ends at the right side of a roof.
Ziggy 5.10	Weird little route ending at the LEFT side of the roof. Almost strange enough to be good.
Pucker 5.12a	Starts around the corner to the left of Ziggy. Vertical.