I don't think this route is quite as good as the Backcountry guide 3 star rating suggests, but it's still well worth doing. The first pitch isn't bad. The second is very good, but maybe not one of the best on the mountain as I was hoping for. The third is a 5.4 blip.  

  Pitch one begins with face climbing to reach a nice, right-leaning corner with fun 5.9 liebacking. From the corner's end, easy face climbing leads to a long (at least 40 feet) left-ward traverse past a tiny tree and an old pin. This varies from walking to 5.8 slopers, with no pro on the last 20 feet.  

Be sure to bring either a bolt kit and/or save a #3 friend/#2 camalot to back up the original 1/4" bolts at the belay. You basically have to do the route crux (the first move of the second pitch) in order to get the back-up piece in. Or you can aid off the bolts to avoid falling on them, which is what I did.  

  Pitch two is an obvious lead up the right-arcing dihedral, with a difficult crux off the belay but still sustained 5.9/10 climbing after that. Pro is generally good, but can be difficult to place. Take care in protecting the belay. 

  Pitch three is an easy lead up either of two corners to the top.

Town Without Pity

Stoned Man's Dream

Motor City

The second pitch of this route is dirty from neglect, but is otherwise a real gem--one of the best crack pitches on the mountain. 

  Kerry's description of this route confused us a little, mainly because he references a "direct start" that supposedly goes at 5.9, but he never describes the regular start. We did a direct start that seemed to match his description, except we didn't find 5.9 climbing. At any rate, the crack system is fairly obvious, and following your nose certainly works fine.  

  Pitch one ("direct start") begins up a short right-leaning, left-facing ramp, following by a grunty move into a short chimney formed by a large flake. Move ~30 feet right on the flake to pick up the crescent crack which leads to an uncomfortable belay beneath a bulge.  

  Pitch two pulls the bulge (rather than moving left underneath it) and then traverses left into the main crack, which is excellent moderate hands into sustained 5.8+ fingers. Easier climbing above leads to a belay with great views at the top of the cliff.  

  Partway up this pitch a diagonal crack shoots off left which is apparently a 5.7 variation and also looks pretty good.  

  The beginning of the so-called direct start is not anything worth seeking out. If you could figure out how to start higher, and do the whole thing in one pitch, that would be the way to go, as you could skip the uncomfortable hanging belay. You might be able to do this anyway, with a 70 meter rope. 

  It's also possible the direct start is further down gully, but we didn't see anything that matched the description.

Five Mile Wall faces west and is visible from Oro Valley, but not from anywhere on the Mt. Lemmon Highway. It's hard to say what area this rock belongs in. It's in the Backcountry guide rather than Squeezing the Lemmon, and requires a relatively long hike. However, access is from the Mt. Lemmon Highway, so it seems to make sense in that sub-section.  

  Five Mile Wall is so named because it is located approximately 5 miles from the summit of Mt. Lemmon. It offers high quality granite crack routes 2-4 pitches in length on good rock, in a spectacular location. You are unlikely to see other climbers due to the long hike. It's a good place to climb in summer as it's at a reasonably high elevation and faces primarily west. Great campsites are available near and directly on top of the cliff, although the nearest water is a least a half mile back in the Wilderness of Rocks, and possibly further depending on the season. Classics, according to the Backcountry Guide, include "Town Without Pity"*** and "Motor City."** Those are the only two routes I've done as of this writing, but there are several other very intriguing looking lines listed in the Backcountry guide.  

  Due to the long hike, for a "cragging" area, I don't ever see this area becoming crowded, but I'm posting it here to encourage climbers to visit, as there's some excellent climbing in a beautiful location.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Five Mile Wall