Cochise Stronghold in Climbing Magazine

In the newest Climbing Magazine, May issue #275, there is a great article about Cochise Stronghold, in southern Arizona and the photos are by Flagstaff's very own, James Martin.

If you haven't read it yet or don't have access to a print version of the magazine, fear not! Climbing has an online version of the article that is even better than the print one.

Highlights of the online article are: More in depth story, more photos by James Martin, local hardman Clay Usinger in lots of the photos (one great sequence of shots shows Clay taking a great fall on a 5.10 slab) and lots of good history about the climbing there.

Check out the online Cochise article here.

A very well written article by James Martin about his close friend (and friend of many in Flagstaff), titled "Honoring Old and New, Matt Kelly: friend and Cochise mentor," is exclusively on the online version of the article. Matt's life was cut short by a drunk driver while riding his road bike in 2005. He is missed by many. Read the article about Matt here.

To see more photos by James Martin, visit his website jamesQmartin.com.

Owner of Vertical Relief Climbing Center, John Doskicz, wrote an article of his own for one of our past VR newsletters about Cochise. I dug it out of our archives to reprint it here. NOTE: John found an online guide for Cochise that is excellent. He has a link to it in his article below.

Cochise Stronghold By John Doskicz
Over spring break my family took a trip down south to Cochise Stronghold for some outdoor fun in the sun and some sightseeing. It has been too many years since I have visited this magical mountain range about an hour's drive east of Tucson. The Dragoon Mountains have a lot to offer. Lots of granite, offering multi pitch adventures as well as developed sport areas. The forest roads are great for biking. Hiking trails cross the range. The camping is at large, plentiful and peaceful. For a good trail run check out the Slavin Gulch trail located ½ mile north of the Isle of You camping area. The historic mining town of Bisbee is less than 30 miles south. Tombstone is just a few miles away, don't forget your costume. I also recently discovered the Backcountry Climbing Guide to Southern Arizona on the web. It is shown in its entirety here, http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ztc9vzcab.0.0.eqipxgcab.0&ts=S0388&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.climbaz.com%2FBackcountry%2Fbackcountry.html&id=preview. This book has been out of print for a while and I know many of you will want to use this. There is still at least another month of great weather in southern Arizona (Note: this article was written in April). Check it out.