Taos, "the Place of the Red Willow" in the native Tiwa of the Pueblo Indians, has long been the rendezvous of the Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains and of the various cultures that call this region home. The Spanish referred to it as "Remote Beyond Compare" and it is for that reason it has remained to this day, unspoiled. Artists since have gathered at the foot of the Sangre De Cristo to take advantage of the high desert light and how it plays along the peaks and down into the Rio Grande Rift valley. Georgia O'Keefe, Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Dorthea Lange and fellow Taos artists cherished a legendary affection for the brilliance and physicality of the light and the extraordinary diversity of landforms and cultures in northern New Mexico.
Taosenos enjoy a diverse topography spanning from the basalt crags of the Rio Grande Gorge (John Dunn Bridge Area, Dead Cholla Wall, Miner's Crag, Utopian Vistas, Vista Verde Crag, Wild and Scenic, from about 5500 to 7000 ft) to the pristine granite of Tres Piedras or Questa Dome, Sandstone of Comales Canyon (up to 10,000 ft.) and the cobble conglomerate of El Rito all within a reasonable drive from one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the U.S. Bring your sense of adventure and independence (as well as your rack, rod, boat, bike and skis/board) and get lost in the expanse. Gradual development and expansion of local crags has added a variety of new sport and trad pitches in the area surrounding Taos.
Disclaimer: As Lew Wallce once said: "Every calculation based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico", and that may be doubly true for Taos. (Therefore climbing is dangerous, BETA is just that, use your own judgement, blah, blah ...)
Photo: Jay Foley working "Letting Go" in the Bat Cave. On loan from Bob D'Antonio Collection
South of Town. Go East on Canon Bypass (look for Chevron at corner of Paseo Del Pueblo and Canon Bypass). About 1/2 mile to Weimer Road turn Right (South) to Hospital (Approx 1 mile)
High Angle Unit:Richard McCracken - 776-5226/mcracken@laplaza.org
Getting to Taos
From Albuquerque: I-25 to Santa Fe; exit on 599 north to by-pass Santa Fe; Hwy. 285 to Hwy. 68 to Taos. From Arizona: I-40 WEST to Albuquerque; I-25 to Santa Fe; Hwy. 285 to Hwy. 68 to Taos. From Denver: I-25 to Colorado Springs to Walsenburg; Hwy. 160 to Fort Garland; Hwy. 159 and Hwy. 522 to Taos. From Texas: I-40 EAST to Albuquerque; I-25 to Santa Fe; Hwy. 285 to Hwy. 68 to Taos.
Driving Distances / Approximate Times to Taos
Albuquerque 135 mi. / 2:15 Amarillo 302 mi / 5:00 Dallas 682 mi / 11:00 Denver 300 mi / 5:00 Durango 208 mi / 3:30 Phoenix 568 mi / 8:30 Santa Fe 72 mi / 1:15
Pitch 1: Begin below a short, curving half-moon flake about 20 feet off the ground. Climb up to the flake and then veer a little left across a slab, up, then left again across another steep slab below a flake. Hand traverse back right across the flake and into a corner with a pin under a small roof. Pull over the roof (5.11-) to a thin hands crack then go straight up steep rock past a bolt to a chain anchor. There are a couple of harder variati...[more]
Best Resource: "Taos Rock Climbs & Boulders of Northern New Mexico" by Jay Foley, Sharp End Books, 2005. Great book on climbing in Northern New Mexico. Purchase here.
Limited access has been arranged through Mountain Skills Climbing Guides.This is a foot in the door for a tricky access situation. I have been working on this for over 5 years now. They are currently allowing limited guided trips with Mountain Skills only.
I did not find Jay Foley's Taos Rock guidebook to be helpful while climbing in the Taos area and feel that better, more detailed directions and route descriptions can be found online rather than in that book, both at naclassics.com and here on mountainproject. Perhaps the Foley book could be a supplement if you really wanted to buy it.
I was frustrated with Foley’s Taos book mostly because the directions to every area we went to were vague at best and left a lot of room for interpretation in how to get there. We had to ask for help several times. For future editions, it would be helpful to note that the directions seemed like they were written for locals only, who were already familiar with all the unmarked dirt roads and country highways rather than out-of-towners. Same goes for the route information, if there even was any. I guess it’s best summed up in the El Rito chapter when it says for “detailed route descriptions visit Gary Clark’s website at www.naclassics.com/elrito”. I'm confused why I should visit a free website rather than consult the guidebook I purchased for route information. All the locals we ran into sympathetically laughed when they saw us using the Sharp End book and one of them was gracious enough to let me keep the print out from Clark’s website – thanks Mark!
If I could do it over again, I would have saved my money and simply looked at the information online, both at naclassics.com and on this website.
Scott, Welcome to MP and thanks for your opinion (even though it came off a touch harsh when I first read it) but I think my point is still valid. When "Taos Rock" came out a few years back (2005) it was, and I would argue still is, the most complete book on the subject for this area and a real gift to our climbing community. I think Dennis Jackson's statewide book is also done well (with some limits by scope he would probably admit) but Jay's book tried to make available every route in the county.
Jay, Bob D'Antonio, Joel Tinl, Tim Naylor, Dennis and a few others have since tripled the total number of pitches in the county and some of that is listed here. I agree on the difficulty of finding one's way around NM, I still get lost, but I have checked the directions and I think they are pretty sound. As for the route descriptions, aren't they all shown as photos?
I, for one, have been impressed by the effort these guys have put in, and I think we all agree with you that a second edition would be nice. Salud y paz, Mike
I've really enjoyed and gotten good mileage out of Jay's book - found plenty of first-time visit areas (Comales, routes we hadn't done at TP, Bat Cave, etc) without a hitch. New Mexico is full of dirt roads that, while they have a number on a map, might not have one easily visible in the real world. It's the Wild West - I think Jay did a great job on his book.
By George Perkins Administrator From: Los Alamos, NM May 25, 2009
OK. I don't personally know either guidebook author (Jay Foley or Dennis Jackson), so here's my hopefully unbiased view [in response to some now-deleted comments]:
SCT's opinion, like everyone elses, is valid. If I was going to an area I knew nothing about, I would want to know which guidebook to buy, so it's good to see his opinion shared (along with the other 3). However..
I think the directions and beta in 'Taos Rock' are overall very good (I don't see how SCT got lost, other than the obvious "welcome to northern New Mexico" reasons), but there are a few minor mistakes (which I've posted on the route pages as I've found them), and I hope that if/when a 2nd edition is underway, that these corrections are made. None of the mistakes I've found has gotten me lost or off-route in a bad situation.
The online El Rito guide by Gary Clark which Jason H. updated is the best resource for that area (a few incorrect route names aside). Especially since it now includes the more recent routes put up mostly by Vaino K. that aren't in the published guidebooks. Climbers going to "only El Rito and nowhere else" will be fine with the online guide only. (not that there is anything outright wrong with the books)
Climbers will want a guidebook to go to TP, Questa, most Taos Gorge crags, Comales, Red River, and, if they reopen, Cimarron and El Salto; the online info (on MP or elsewhere) is not enough to go without a guidebook. For TP and Comales Canyon, the 2 books are nearly identical. For Questa, they are both great for Question of Balance and a couple others, but 'Taos Rock' has more info for those looking for more climbs in that area. Dead Cholla can be a little confusing now, because of new climbs, but either book is good enough. (I haven't been to Wild/Scenic yet, but the 2 books look similar.) For the other areas, 'Taos Rock' is the best resource because it has more crags & climbs. If you want a guide for bouldering, 'Taos Rock' has that too. Most climbers I know have one of the 2 guidebooks, usually 'Taos Rock', and wouldn't consider going to any of these areas without bringing a guidebook.
I've had bad experiences with bindings falling apart in other Sharp End books, but my 'Taos Rock' hasn't fallen apart yet, despite frequent mistreatment over the last 4 years.
Falcon (which publishes Jackson's Rock Climbing:NM) categorically gets a bad rap among climbers for its statewide guides. I think the newer 2006 version is quite good for the northern NM areas included in it, and is pretty good for the most part overall (with some shortcomings in the Sandias and Socorro IMO), and it's significantly improved upon from the older version which included Texas. For some areas elsewhere in NM (various southern NM areas, Sugarite), this book is the only resource available (and it's the only inprint guide to Socorro- the warmest winter area within easy reach of ABQ). I think it is priced higher than Taos Rock is.
I don't think Mountain Project hurts guidebook sales in this case. I think it does the opposite. Taos isn't well-known as a climbing destination, but people seeing the routes and photos posted online might lead them to decide to come here and check it out for a weekend of climbing (and get away from the crowded areas in Colo.), and then they'll buy 'Taos Rock' (most people trust a published guide more than they trust what a random person writes on a website). This debate of whether MP hurts guidebook sales has been discussed in forums on MP, and some people disagree.
We all appreciate that JF and friends have established so many areas, put up 100s(?) of climbs in recent years, and shared the info here. Obviously, there is nothing to stop Jay from deleting it because of someone's criticism or worries about loss of revenue (seriously- I'm sure nobody's writing climbing guidebooks for the money and Jay must have spent considerable $$$ on hardware developing these crags)... however-
The new areas near Taos that Jay et al. developed (Vista Verde, Utopian Vistas, Miners) that aren't in the guidebook will improve considerably as traffic cleans them up. By having the info posted here in a useful numbered format, climbers from Los Alamos & Santa Fe have climbed up there numerous times this winter & spring, and we've already seen the amount of loose rock go down. (If the info were to be removed from MP, these areas would see less traffic, and take longer to clean up.) Thanks for the work put into developing these new areas, and thanks for sharing them! We've all enjoyed the climbing.
Just spent a week out in the Taos area and had a blast. What a great variety of rock and style of climbs. Jay took me on a great tour of the area and enjoyed everything from Comales, to TP, the trad at El Rito (Jay was sick, good jerky huh Jay?) and the great Wild and Scenic. Climbing here was very surreal and I want to give an applause to all the guys doing great work developing the crags, and making it a great area to climb in. Jays book is pretty close to right on, I have never been to the area before and drove right to the El Rito trad area solo with no problems as well as finding routes and trails. Taos has a great local scene, great food, wonderful places to stay, and just a atmosphere that will inspire you to look around not just up or down.
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