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An image of the 'A' Mountain lit up at dusk for Homecoming. Downtown Tucson is visible beside.

‘A’ Mountain

Originally constructed by a group of students between late 1915 and early 1916, the “A” in “A” Mountain, also known as Sentinel Peak, is a constant reminder of the U of A’s presence and ingenuity. Look to the horizon — there we are.

A historic image of "A" Mountain through a telescope.

The concept for the “A” came from football player and civil engineering student Albert Condron, who pitched it to a professor as a class project. The rocks were originally trucked up the mountain by six-horse teams and later painted white, with classes in the 1950s refreshing the paint job by passing buckets in long lines up the hill. 

An image of the Bobcat Senior Honorary, a University of Arizona student group who lights "A" Mountain every year for Homecoming.

“A” Mountain is an important part of Homecoming, with the week’s festivities being kicked off by a lighting of road flares around the “A” by the Bobcat Senior Honorary, one of campus’s longest-running tradition clubs. 

A historic black-and-white image of University of Arizona students pouring white paint to form the "A" on "A" Mountain.

More than a U of A landmark, Sentinel Peak is a significant landmark in regional history, “Tucson” being derived from the O’odham for “Cuk Ṣon,” or, roughly, “at the base of the black hill” — in other words, Tucson’s birthplace. We are proud and privileged to be here.

TRADITIONS

WILBUR & WILMA