How to Climb to the Top of Bell Rock | Sedona, AZ

Bell Rock is a very special place to us because it's one of the first things that you see that let you know that you've arrived in Sedona. In a previous video we did the official Bell Rock climb. This is fun and challenging but what we didn't know at the time was that this route only takes you about two-thirds of the way up Bell Rock. On the plus side the views from up here are absolutely breathtaking but V and I had seen videos of people that were able to climb all the way up to the top and we were determined to get there as well. This ended up taking us on a crazy journey that stretched out over a couple of years and saw two failed attempts to climb Bell Rock. I think that the two main mistakes that we were making is that we were coming after long day hikes where we didn't have a lot of time before sunset and we also didn't quite have the right shoes for the job. We were wearing hiking boots but they weren't quite sticky enough for the near vertical climbs like these. I want to put a big warning on this video. Climbing to the very top of Bell Rock is definitely not for everybody. This route is very strenuous and if you do not have climbing, mountaineering, or canyoneering skills I don't even think I would attempt it. On our third attempt not only did we bring our La Sportiva approach shoes but we brought the adventure crew as well. If we couldn't get to the top after putting all of our abilities together then I'm not sure this would be in the cards for us. One good thing about this adventure is that the approach doesn't take up too much of your energy. We had to park in the further parking lot and it still only has an overall distance of two and a half miles. After a nice and easy hike in we had arrived at the western face of Bell Rock which is the side that we will be climbing up. The adrenaline was definitely pumping as we began our climb that would take us up 467 feet in just three tenths of a mile. There are several small trails running up the hill at this point but as long as you end up where the orange arrow is you're going the right direction. We were doing our best to enjoy the easier part of the approach because as soon as you get to these trees the difficulty ramps up really quickly. We didn't have a lot of time to waste because we were once again attempting the climb near sunset. Even though the lighting is beautiful at that time I would recommend starting it at least two hours before sunset so you don't have to climb down in the dark. Climbing up and down Bell Rock can be pretty intense and there is a small climb section up towards the top that is rated as a class 5 climb. You're definitely going to want some daylight so you can see where to put your hands and feet. Here we are at the chute. This stemming section can be extremely tricky if you don't have the right footwear on. Even with our hiking shoes on last time we struggled but our La Sportiva shoes made easy work of it. I swear we're not sponsored by La Sportiva but if they wanted to I would definitely say yes. At the top of the chute there is a large boulder that looks like it's just waiting to come down like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. Luckily it hasn't and it has some really nice holds on the left side. After the chute we made our way up this very steep slab. Luckily between the shoes and the sandstone we had plenty of traction but it is still a major butt kicker. It was right around these trees that we had gotten stuck the last two attempts so we were really looking forward to seeing how the adventure crew was going to tackle this. There are a series of three or four foot ledges here and if they were on flat ground they wouldn't be that challenging. The main problem here is that if you mess up on one of these ledges and fall off you could be taking the express route all the way back down to the bottom. But somehow between the shoes our skill levels having increased and the juju of the group we breezed past this obstacle as well. I think that we were so thrilled at this point that we made it past our usual sticking point that we didn't realize that we still had quite an obstacle ahead of us. After this fairly simple climb up you'll have a pretty big decision to make. The final climb up to the top has at least two different routes that you can take. You can climb up the class 5 v slot that you see right here or you can climb up the class 4 face like we did. It has much better holds but the first 20 feet of the climb is completely exposed. It's pretty dang sketchy and any mistakes could result in a very long fall. After the adrenaline pumping 20 feet the rest of the climb up is fairly simple and straightforward. You're still going to be climbing just a little bit more but it's nothing compared to what you've been through. It might be helpful if you can hand your backpack off to somebody because that last climb is just a tiny bit on the tight side. Or you can just do what Ann did and climb all the way up the v slot. The funniest thing is we didn't know he was going to do that and he just kind of like magically appeared out of nowhere. And with that we had reached the top of bell rock. It was a pretty crazy moment because we've been wanting to do this for years and here we were savoring the sweet taste of victory. If you're still feeling ambitious once you reach the top there are still a couple of small sketchy climbs that you can do. We'll get to that in just a second but first check out this view. I know that bell rock is only a little bit under 500 feet but we were so stoked that you would have sworn that we had climbed Everest. We were starting to run out of daylight and some of the group had already started on their way back down but we just couldn't help but do that little bit of a bonus climb. Please be warned that this is quite sketchy as well so do this at your own risk. The climb up itself isn't very technical but any mistake here would be very costly. If you have a fear of heights the bonus climb is not for you and probably this entire activity is not for you. Here you will find yourself on a platform that's only about five or six feet wide with sharp drops on both sides. It was absolutely gorgeous on top and so much so that I actually forgot to video it but luckily I did take this picture. Even though we were having a lot of fun it was now time to say goodbye to bell rock. The sun had already set and we wanted to be back on that hiking trail before it got too dark. If you thought that the way up was too intense I hate to break it to you but the way down is even worse. At least on the way up you can stare into the side of the rock if you're starting to freak out but on the way down you are confronted with just how high you are the entire descent. That being said I don't think this is the last time that V and I will stand on top of bell rock. One of the trickiest things about the way down is that class climb section. We didn't really get a great shot of it on the way up because we were all too busy trying to figure out the route but An got this epic shot with his drone on the way down that shows just how hairy this really is and this is exactly why I said that you need to know how to climb rocks if you plan on coming up here. You're going to be climbing this like an out and back trail so you're going to be hitting down the same exact way that you came up. Unfortunately the footage is going to start to get a little bit shaky from here on out because it was starting to get really dark and gopros don't like the dark. If you plan on climbing bell rock yourself I would highly recommend going in a group. There were several occasions where it was really nice that you could help each other out while we were trying to make our way back down and it also helps if you bring a koala. I am a koala! Before we knew it we were back at the shoot and it was pretty much smooth sailing after that. We'd like to send a big shout out to the adventure crew and thank you for helping us check this one off the list and that's going to do it for this video. If you enjoyed it be sure to hit that thumbs up and subscribe because we have a lot of awesome videos on the way and for more information about climbing bell rock as well as other awesome Sedona adventures head on over to thatadventurelife.com