Two Nuns are

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

s in

Coconino County, Arizona Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...

, United States.

Description

Two Nuns is located south of Sedona and one-half mile (0.8 km) east of Chapel of the Holy Cross, on land managed by

Coconino National Forest The Coconino National Forest is a 1.856-million acre (751,000 ha) United States National Forest located in northern Arizona in the vicinity of Flagstaff, with elevations ranging from 2,600 feet to the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet (H ...

. Precipitation runoff from this landform drains to Oak Creek which is part of the

Verde River The Verde River ( Yavapai: Haka'he:la) is a major tributary of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is about long and carries a mean flow of at its mouth. It is one of the largest perennial streams in Arizona. Description The ri ...

watershed.

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises above Little Horse Park in 0.2 mile (0.32 km). Two Nuns is composed of reddish sandstone of the

Schnebly Hill Formation The Schnebly Hill Formation is a section of red bed deposits found at the Colorado Plateau, near Sedona, Arizona. It is a dark red sandstone, from to thick. It lies between Coconino Sandstone and the older Hermit Formation. It is near the Supa ...

. The landform's Two Nuns toponym has not been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names, so various names exist such as "The Nuns", "Twin Nuns", "Christianity Spire", "Streaker Spire" and "The Four Nuns."

North Nun

North Nun is also known as Christianity Spire. It is sometimes also called Beckey's Spire for

Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of some of the tallest peaks and ...

who made the

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

in 1970. The rock-climbing route called ''Blast from the Past'' was first climbed by Tom Isaac and Jeff Bowman.

South Nun

The South Nun is also known as Streaker Spire. The North Face (class 5.7+) was first climbed in 1972 by Scott Baxter, Ross Hardwick, Karl Karlstrom, and Geoff Parker.''Weekend Rock Arizona''
Lon Abbott, The Mountaineers Books, 2006, p. 214

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Two Nuns is located in a temperate

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

zone. Climbers can expect afternoon rain and lightning from the seasonal monsoon in late July and August.

Gallery

File:Red Rock Sedona,USA - panoramio.jpg, Christianity Spire centered, Streaker Spire on the right File:Two Sisters (or Two Nuns) and Chicken Point.jpg, East aspect

References

External links

{{commons category, Two Nuns * Weather forecast
National Weather Service
* Christianity Spire rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
* Streaker Spire rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
One-thousanders of the United States Coconino National Forest Buttes of Arizona Rock formations of Arizona Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Sandstone formations of the United States