A fun crag tucked underneath NM Highway 152. Climbed since the 1980's a handful of bolted and trad routes can be found here and there exists potential for more route developmnet. Most of the cliff receives direct sun but there are numerous willows to provide shade in the canyon. The willows have choked up the canyon directly below some routes, and some bushwhacking is needed to get to the base of the climb and even to reach the first or second bolt. If water is present, it can be difficult to get to the base of some climbs, as there will be pools directly under portions of the cliff. [edited by Aaron Hobson]
Getting There
From I-25, take Hillsboro exit going west. Go (slowly) through the town of Hillsboro. A few minutes past the town, the road goes uphill and makes a sharp turn right. Park at the pullout on the left just before the bridge. There is a sign for the old Percha Creek bridge. Hop over rock wall, go down to the creek, and walk to the right a few hundred feet. Climbs are on your right side on the east side of the creek.(Taken directly from miniguide topo, author: Kelly and Susan Elverum).
Note: The GPS Coordinates above are to the town of Hillsboro. I do not have the coordinates to the location of the crag. Will post when I do.
(This same guide is posted as a picture to the right or below.)
Dennis Jackson's guide book, Rock Climbing New Mexico (2006) has a section on Percha Creek which covers all of the routes in the Elverum topo, as well as a few more.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Percha Creek, Hillsboro:
An exciting climb that's easier than it looks. All the bolts for this route are on the right side of an arete which is quite smooth, but can be clipped from around the corner if needed. There is great exposure as you move from one side to the other following the line of least resistance. The 5th bolt is on the lip of an overhanging lip. Let your feet kick free to really feel the exposure on this climb, then crank up the good holds.CAUTION: There...[more]Browse More Classics in NM
Dennis Jackson's new book "Climb New Mexico" (2006) has this crag pp. 381-85. Both the topo and Jackson's book need updating. I made notes after climbing here Nov. 2004. First, we started climbing here in the mid 1980s (not 1990s). Routes tended to be trad and TR. The bolted lines came later.
Key--DJ (Dennis Jackson's book); T (revised topo (Kelly Elverum) posted by Jeff Amato)
DJ#3 "Duck Soup"--bolted line just left Edmund' crack 5.10/5.10+ walk off right just left a bolted line with anchor the creek is under these climbs unless climbers have added rocks
DJ#4 (T-1) "El Solo Loco" needs bolts and anchor, currently a free solo DJ#5 (T-2) "Grady's Route" there once was a Lost Arrow down low DJ#6 (T-3) I did the FA with Cindy Weaver, it is called "Patience" DJ#7 (T-4) "Burning the Candle at Both Ends" just left, a bolted arete the creek is pooled under these climbs as well
DJ#8 (T-5) "Meanderneath You DJ#9 (T-6) "Project" just left a bolted route with anchors, some type of 5.10
DJ#10 (T-7) "Worth the Wade" DJ#11 (T-8) "Wade for Me DJ#12 (T-9) Dihedral 2 DJ#13 (T-10) "Nutcracker" DJ#14 unknown
DJ#15 (T-11) "Just Your Style" DJ#16 (T-12) "Rolling Stones Gather No Mas" just left bolted route with anchors
DJ#17 (T-13) Unnamed trad to anchor
Hopefully this post will generate some additional comments.
By Aaron Hobson Administrator From: Las Cruces, NM Apr 24, 2007
This area has seen some serious terraforming since last year. All the trees below Duck Soup area are gone, and the ground has eroded out a few feet, making the initial moves tricker. Most of the trees that interefered with Meanderneath You are also gone. In fact the only tree that remains at the base of the crag is the tall cottonwood in front of Nutcracker, and much of its root-base is showing.
Grady's route, 10b(?) just to the right of Patience, recently got two shiny new bolts down low courtesy of Grady Viramontes. It's trad the rest of way up, but protectable. Cool climb!!
Tony Grenko and I started the development of this area in the very late 1970s and early 1980s. During this time we were climbing in tennis and hiking shoes and using hexes and nuts for protection. We learned to climb by reading books (Rock Climbing by Peter Livesey, Ropes Knots and Slings for Climbers by Walt Wedlock, Basic Rockcraft and Advanced Rockcraft by Royal Robins) We did not have a bolt kit, or even know about bolts.
In particular we climbed most of the easier routes on the left side of the cliff (Unknown #13 and the cracks around it). All routes we put up were done traditional (it was the 70s-80s after all) style as we did not know any better at the time. To us climbing was walking up to a cliff and climbing it.
Eventually, we started climbing with the Southwest Mountaineers who educated us on the finer points of climbing, for example route names and topos. Sometime around 1983-84 we brought a group of Southwest Mountaineers to the cliff. I remember this vividly as I was nervous that the area would not prove worthy compared to the various walls in the Organ Mountains the SW Mountaineer had showed us. But is was hot and and this location is higher and cooler than the desert around Las Cruces.
Potentially of interest to some is that Tony and I actually tried to ice-climb the cliff south of the road one winter after a storm. We got about 30 ft up before running away. We also climbed the cliff a mile or so up Railroad canyon and the cliff opposite Jordan Hot Spring on the Mid-fork of the Gila river, probably the loosest most dangerous climb of my career.
02/03/2009 - There is a nice bolted route (10d?) with a couple of roofs 10 feet left of The Nipple.
There are two bolted routes with shared anchors 10 and 14 feet left of Duck Soup. The first route is a challanging face climb, the second is a nice climb on the arete.
Note the picture taken on this page with a few black lines to show the routes.
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