About three meters of good, dead-vertical climbing in the middle of lower-angle scrambling. There are several different ways to do the crux.

Three Fingers, Three Meters

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Peaceful Pale-throat

Pleistocene Megafauna

Cromulent Choloepus

Rocky Road

Two-Toed Two-Step

Brooding Bradypus

Rainforest Ridge

Shattered Sloth

Deadly Sin

Perezoso Pull-up

Mostly scrambly, with one steep, juggy section 2/3 of the way up.

A combination of technical face climbing, and slightly-overhung juggy climbing. Stay out of the corner to keep the grade accurate. You pull the crux a couple feet above a bolt, so that's a little exciting.

This route was made so people could learn and practice multipitch techniques in a safe environment. P1 is a slabby 5.7 for a few moves, then the angle eases up. P2, while only 5.3, is actually pretty fun, near-vertical climbing, with big holds. Some people decide to finish on Three Fingers Three Meters to the left of P2. You can link both pitches if you have a 70m rope.

 UPDATE: I installed another anchor half-way up Pitch 1. This is a hanging belay, and was deliberately put in so people could practice belay transitions from a hanging belay, which is more challenging than a transition on a big ledge.

Although the low angle makes the grade 5.4, the holds on this route are small.  The 5.3 or 5.6 to the right feel more secure and are better beginner leads. Start by walking the very low angle slab. The first bolt is a ways up, right when it starts getting steeper.

Start on Cromulent Choloepus for 3 bolts, then move right to follow the black stained gully. Towards the top, it's practically walking, and I considered ending the route sooner, but I thought walking up the "rocky road" of big quartz crystals and mica deposits was neat.

Cruxy beginning that requires a bit of thought.

The first part climbs up a bulge, then it turns into slab/thin face.

5.5 section is the first few moves, then the rest is easier. Ends with big knobby holds.

Starts with blocky scrambling, then a move or two on a vertical section. Finishes with some lower-angle slab/face.

Short little one-move wonder. Go straight up over the roof.

Sloth Slab is an upper-mountain beginner area. Most of the routes are 5.6 or less. I've witnessed many times how the typical 5.6-5.7 Mount Lemmon beginner route can be too difficult or intimidating for a brand-new climber, so I made this area. All the routes are bolted well, so it's a good place for first leads. Still, the cliff's low angle would make any lead fall unpleasant. The rock face itself starts out low-angle and slabby, but some routes actually go through a juggy and near-vertical section. Some anchors can be reached by scrambling to the top of the wall (there is no trail), but honestly it's easier and safer to just lead up a climb. The wall is west-facing, so it goes into the sun at about 11am. Most of the routes that are around the black-stained gully (which is Rocky Road - 5.3) start on the belay ledge about 15 feet up, where two,  two-bolt-anchors exist. On those routes, a 60 meter rope will NOT reach if you belay from the ground. You can anchor into one of the 2-bolt belays if you really want to, but it's mostly there just so people have a safe place to practice anchor building and cleaning.

**** 70M rope recommended **** Tie a knot in the end of your rope ****

 Almost all routes have lower-off hooks or biners at the anchors. You're welcome to lower off them AFTER you've finished climbing, but please toprope off your own gear. The one route that has more traditional chain anchors is "Pleistocene Megafauna", and that was done so people can practice cleaning and rappelling off of the older style of anchors. 

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Sloth Slab