What's the easiest way from top of the knife edge of the shield to the crest?

I just hiked the knife edge of the shield but the scramble to the north crest trail was brutal. Does anybody know if there is an actual trail that I just didn't see. The trail from the knife edge just petered out and I just followed some game trails through the brush to the top.

Sounds about right for the Sandias.

No trail that I know about. The way I can reliably repeat is to follow the high ground back to North Peak and then angle SE until hitting trails.

I tried ttaking a short cut once. I think we got close to a relatively recent plane wreck (found some tell-tale gear). But mostly it seemed like game trails and steep side hills.

The way I've gone always seems trailish. I head left around the first peak and then follow a trail up through some limestone bands until I eventually intersect the crest trail. It isn't too bad, although it can be a little rough when there is still snow on the ground.

frankbellino wrote:I just hiked the knife edge of the shield but the scramble to the north crest trail was brutal. Does anybody know if there is an actual trail that I just didn't see. The trail from the knife edge just petered out and I just followed some game trails through the brush to the top.

Sorry to say there are no easy ways to hike from the top of the Shield back to the Crest Trail. In fact. I'm glad to say there are no easy ways to hike through the Sandias to many of Her climbs. It's because it's so hard to get to and from the climbs in the Sandias that protect Her from becoming another Boulder, Colorado type of human erosion.
I should know because I was skiing in the Sandias in 1956 and hiking and camping in them throughout my youth,,, and started rock climbing while I was still in high school as a junior in 1971. Even before that, I was (legally) riding dirt bikes around her skirts. Tramway Road was still unpaved !!!
The only "easy way" to or from the climbs in the Sandias is through dedication. Another words... try and try again until you can find your way home if only by the light of the stars. I have the scars in my heart to prove what I say. "I Love the Sandias!"

Has anyone climbing in the Sandias read The Brave Cowboy by Edward Abbey or seen the movie "Lonely Are the Brave" which was filmed in the Sandias???
Movie Trail Canyon in Juan Tabo Picnic Area is where it was filmed and it would give everyone an idea of what the Sandias looked like and how wild they were back in my day.

The handful of times I've done the route I've found pretty decent trails to the crest without thinking about it much -- maybe I just got lucky. Seems to me I've stayed generally slightly left of the broad ridge line. Eric's description sounds right.

I've seen Lonely Are the Brave 3-4 times -- great movie in many ways! It's also fun to watch for the geographical inaccuracies, e.g. a helicopter hovering over the foothills is supposedly above a character who looks to be high on the la luz. Not that it matters to the story, but fun to try to puzzle out.

I just redid it a week and a half ago. The trail is pretty clear, but it does come and go in places.

1. follow the trail south along top of the shield until in the trees at the base of the peak.
2. go up the ridge to the top of the peak. The trail starts on the left side, but crosses to the right side and back several times. There is at least one limestone band that requires some scrambling.
3. from the peak, follow the ridge farther south on intermittent trails for a short while.
4. you will see occasional trails heading down/east/left. take one down no more than 100 yards to the crest trail.
5. follow the crest trail south.

I have recommended Lonely Are the Brave to any number of people, if nothing else than for a window to the sort of half frontier town Albuquerque still was in the 1950s not to mention the B & W views of a pristine Sandias ... & you'll never look at toilets the same way again. Then if you haven't had your fill of Kirk Douglas check out Ace in the Hole, also filmed in NM.

Gary - your observations on Sandia approach/deproaches is spot on ... funny thing is I never found them to apply to this one in particular. Over three times from both directions I remember only a rising/falling contour to/from the Crest Trail. Anything more than that suggests to me someone is overthinking it ...

Hey Doc... Thanks for your post :o)

I've recently discovered an old notebook which I wrote down the dates, partners and other trivia for all the climbs "we" were doing in the good ole days. By "we" I mean the New Mexico circle of friends that also included people from out of state and even from other countries.
People from all over would come here looking for something different from all the overran places they may have been and we would hear about how close our group of friends were compared to the ego dominated areas where all you could find was a cold shoulder.
Part of our connection with each other was due to "getting lost" together in the dark after doing some serious climb in the Sandias ,,, or where ever (like the Organ Mtns outside Las Cruces where you can get ripped apart by the cactus if you don't know where you're going :op ) .

Anyway... as regards my route description about the Shield this is what I have written in my note book:

# 87 Rainbos / The Shield via Cowboy's Delight(1st time CD done from the bottom)
July 29, 30, 31, 1979 VI, 5.9, A4 Doug Bridgers, Davey Hammock
Third ascent!

Sorry Doc but that's the entire description I have for that climb. We were busy boys!
In July 1979 my notebook shows:

July 1st; Avy Ary Ort Doug Davy and Dan
July 8: Duck Soup Doug Bridgers
July 22: Out to Lunch (partial 1st ascent) Doug and Davy
July 25: free solo Gemstone

Doc... in those days there were very few trails but plenty of trials :o)

Gary - I just got done scrolling through all your comments to decide if you are the protean Gary Hicks I remember - turns out you are! Sorry to hear about your illness but glad you are on the mend ... this is Mark Dalen. We almost climbed together one day ... drove up to the Crest with some project in mind only to find several inches of new snow & blow it off, though you were still gung ho, as I recall ...

The current generation will have to just grin & bear it if what follows sounds like a couple old farts reminiscing ... I too started keeping a logbook on the recommendation of my partner Paul Horak, who kept his own recording the dates & times & details that have since come in unexpectedly handy for entries here on MP ... I always thought our Sandia bunch were pretty welcoming even if I never heard about it directly ... it would have to be to host the likes of Carlos Buhler, Earl Wiggens & Andy Embick. By your timeline it would appear you & Doug Bridgers did the 2nd free ascent (3rd ascent overall) of Duck Soup ... I always wondered who did that with Doug after Paul & Andy & I freed his & Rick Meleski's line on Chaos Crag in spring 1977. I doubt it has seen a single ascent since ... not sure why except for the terrifying no pro traverse on P2 ... in any event I posted it up here for commemorative purposes if nothing else ... Andy went on to have a storied career in Alaska before committing suicide in 2003. I don't know if you ever climbed with Jay Evans either but here is his obituary from 2014.

Also by your timeline it would seem you climbed Ship Rock about 5 months before I did it with Bruce Lella & Jack Cartier in October 1979 (then again the following July with Paul & Mark Leonard & Mike Smith, who got his reward for transporting your team previously, though the summit this time was crawling not with hornets but flying ants ... ). Lastly by your timeline it would appear you had the third ascent of Aviary Ort ... providing mine with Dave Baltz in the fall of 1978 was the second.

I don't know why your Alioth route Vertical Deflections (or as the Hill guide calls it Deflection of the Vertical) is not posted save that MP seems to favor more popular &/or recent routes ... that is no reason not to post it yourself ... in fact I recommend it, especially if you have good imagery.

Well that's about it ... much of this should probably have been handled in a PM but I thought some of the current generation might like to hear more about the community of cracked loners who once ranged these sublime yet still forbidding crags ...

Hey Mark !!! Certainly I do remember your name... and despite looking at the 16 pix w you and Charlie B Ware, I can't remember all the stuff we may have done together. I am sure it was more than just a blown off hike/climb together.
Your reply to me has left me w a stomach full of trying to remember all of the persons you mentioned. I do have memories of these people and to hear Andy committed suicide bums me right out :|
I have experienced the "attraction to suicide" since the age of two yr-s old, but rock climbing always let me realize ... especially when I was soloing ... that I did NOT want to die. Climbing is a strange game :o)
I also thot that maybe you and I should "PM" together without this info being public; but in my contemplation I agree that it should remain in this question about "What is the easiest way to ...?"

Time constraints prevent me from following up on everything in your post, but there are a few questions I would like to seek out from you or other viewers;

I have tried to reach my Dear Friend, MIKE SMITH... but I have failed to contact him. Does anyone know how I can reach him? He and I did many sweet climbs together; some of which have never been recorded in any guide book. The most memorable being ESCAPE FROM the CYCLOPS on the Shield. We repeated it w "Naldo" and I have pix of my two Dear Friends... Ron looking pretty stressed, and Mike looking like, "We got this!!!".

Another question... Why did Andy commit suicide?
I've come close to killing myself due to having my heart broken. There's only so long a person can stand to be in that much pain. It's terrible!!!
What saved me was my faith in a Loving Creator (Gawd?) ; I was not proven wrong.

I need to cut this short but I do want to explain to anyone reading this what you used the term "protean" means :oP
According to my AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY ...1969-1973 ... "protean" means "readily taking on different shapes or forms; variable "

Perhaps your articulate terminology would reveal you to be a Leo or a Virgo ??? Let me know pls!!! LOL

BTW,,, I'm definitely "protean" :o)

Thank you, Gary and Mark. I, for one, appreciate the reminiscing. And we are all human beings after all. :-)

Gary and Mark...

Just sayin Hi

Charlie Ware

Hey Charlie B !!! Good to see you're still around!!!

I still have most of the pitons you sold me :o)

Whoa....

Good to hear from you. Mostly ice and alpine climbing now. Been to Chamonix the Bugs a few times the last couple of years.

Charlie

PS...those broken hearts are truly tough.

Gary - it turns out I've been using protean in its secondary sense all this time, as in versatile, many sided ... oh well ...

At the risk of straining this thread even further I thought I'd add a few more remarks ... When you mentioned Charlie I was about to tell you what I knew of him, but now he has weighed in himself ... hey Charlie! I figured you 2 knew each other as part of the Sandia scene long before I showed up in 1974 ... Gary, you mentioned Mike Smith ... there is an MP user by that name & I think he is the same but can't be sure, there is just not enough information ... you might try tracking him down through Larry Coats who is a more prolific poster to this site ... both Larry & his brother Tim were regular partners of his ... it was through them I met Mike in the first place, at Lightner Creek outside Durango in the mid 70s ... Mike later went to school at NMSU & got to know a lot of the Cruces people before we climbed together again as noted in my previous post ...

I couldn't begin to say why Andy Embick killed himself ... his reasons are as obscure to me as the method he used to bring it off, in brief involving 2 water craft, a shotgun & a steel bar off Prince William Sound ... Andy always was very thorough ... I only learned of it a few years back but a Google search on his name will still bring up details that may shed light on his state of mind at the time ... certainly lost love was part of it ...

Thanks for the trip down memory lane ... Charlie, thanks again for the pix a year & a half ago ... I can only imagine you're still doing proud ascents....

Hey "Doc",,, I've spent most of my 61st b-day here looking up "1975" from one of my too many diaries... and still haven't found the notebook that I was coerced into submitting to Mike Hill way back when :oP
However,,, I did find when Florian Walchak and I attempted to climb a new climb on the Thumb but were put off by rain the night before. We did not know the route had just been done the day before; I took a ten plus foot fall slipping off the lichen on the first pitch. We decided to wait until things dried out.
When we went to BACK COUNTRY SPORTS(Mike Hill's original store prior to The Wilderness Centre), we heard about "Pato" and "Rico" having just done "Aviary Ort" the day before our attempt. They must have done it on July 12th, 1975 because my records show Florian and I attempted it on Sunday the 13th. The guide book (1st edition copy) shows it only as "July, 1975".

[ You might wanna take a smoke break now, cuz what I'm bot to write might blow yur mind like it did me this morning when I found it in my records. In fact, I'm gonna go have a ciggie cuz this is gonna be a rather long post; sorry 'bout that! ]

OK, I'm back,,, just shoot me. Reading everything going on in my life in those days makes me wanna put both feet down my throat !!! At the same time period, it was also what led to my own discovery of " a personal gawd"... or as some people say "doG". Whatever... I think you understand what I'm trying to convey. :o)

This morning I noticed a certain climb above GEMSTONE called MARKING STONE; Any idea about who that was named from??? His partner was my good friend, Paul Horak. Paul's partner was named "Mark" and I wonder who it was ??? Would you like to give us a clue ??? :o)

According to Mike's 1st edition Hiker's and Climber's Guide etc... you and Paul did "Markingstone" in October 1976 and it was rated 1,5.7, A2. Eventually, it was free climbed... perhaps by yourself??? Let us know asshole :o)
I did eventually free climb it with Mike Smith... but we were not the first ones to do so. It's my thot that you went back and freed it; am I right??? Give us some details, pls !!! We rated it as 5.10 d. But what do I know??? As Piton Pete always told me, "After 5.6, it's All 5.11!!!" :o)

[Sorry... gotta pause for another smoke here. Hopefully, I'm close to halfway done w this post.
Doc... you're killing me! It's my b-day and my smile wrinkles looking at you are aging me 10 yr-s an hour here ;o) ]

OK,,, I'm back :op

Before I forget to ask you; did you work for an architect named A. Predock ??? He always dressed in an alien space suit. His office was on 14th st just North of Central (rt 66)???

Sorry "Doc", it's my birthday and I'm about as hammered as I was when I did "Drunken Master" next to Gemstone. Bare w me pls.

What I've seen in this old Mike Hill guide book; Page 133... "The Tridents", 5.10 Squirrel-Wayne Taylor, Mark Dalen; October 1975

Right below that is; Yucca Flower Tower ; Route 1-Charles Ware, Mark Dalen; February 1977

There's also THE FIN w Larry Coats 1975

I have to end this, my 91 yr-old landlord just got home and needs to rest. So do I!!! LOL

Gonna go have another smoke and celebrate "another day of Living".

Hopefully, "Frank B " doesn't get tired of us as we use his ? " Wheredafukarewe" :o)

"Doc",,, I knew there was one last thing to add to my previous post;

to paraphrase ; Wayne Taylor introduces me to "Mark Dalin". That's how I have it written down for December 13th, 1975. To quote the rest of my log it states... "Mark Dalin-we plan on doing the South Ridge of Hail Peak"

Saturday, December 13th, 1975

Sorry for mis-spelling your name... but like "Avy Ary Ort"...... I was just going by what I was hearing.

I don't even know which witch is which !!!

Just shoot me :oP

Gary Lee Hicks wrote:... and still haven't found the notebook that I was coerced into submitting to Mike Hill way back when :oP

Gary: In Hills guide, I've found several of your routes to have very good descriptions. Only such descriptions give me confidence to get out and give those lonely places a go, especially with my not knowing anyone to have done them. Thank you for the helpful notes!

Hey Bill :o)

I was in 11th grade high school when one of my friends (Jay Stagnone)
there introduced me to a rescue group I believe was called "ACRA". [ A current (?) Fire Chief named Clark Grey was a member of that old group] We were all going out and rappelling off cliffs anywhere we could find them. Our ropes were all hemp or "Goldline" braided, or... really advanced!!! >>> GOLDLINE KERN-MANTLE :op Viagra has nothing on "stiff" compared to the rope drag of a Goldline rope. Trust me PLEASE :oP

I still have my original Gold Line rope and it's coiled up in the exact same way we were coiling ropes in the early 1970-s. It probably hasn't been uncoiled in 35 yr-s :op

Jay and his brother, Greg, had Tram and ski lifts for the season of '70 - '71 and Jay and I chose to go up the Tram and go climbing rather than skiing. I pretended to be Jay's brother Greg.
Instead of skiing (which I had done since the age of two), we both chose rock climbing.

Jay and Greg's whole family had just done a tour of Europe which happened to include Kleinscheideg ( however it's spelt ) near the base of the Eiger Nordwand.

[ So sorry, Bill... but alot of my life these days has to do w taking care of other people as well as my wolves and dawg and kitty cat. I wish I could explain everything to everyone ... but good luck w that :op
The last few hr-s were spent w a neighbor as she is going thru her own BS. I can't finish what I had hoped to say about the Eiger and John Harlin, Dougal Haston, and Layton Kor and how they were our inspiration to rock climb in the 1970-s :| I would not exist as a climber if it were not for their winter ascent of the Eiger and the book I took from our high school library. It was called DIRECTISIMA ... My spelling may not be correct here, but pls bare w me. PLEASE!!! ]

Two movies you may want to watch that totally inspired me to take up mountaineering as I was growing up; LOST HORIZONS (1936?) and THE MOUNTAIN (1954?).

BTW,,, I returned both Directisima and another great book about astronomy to my high school library after I saw Bob Dylan give a free concert to a tiny church here in Albuquerque that only sat about 300 people. He had just come out with his album SLOW TRAIN COMING ; it seemed liked everyone hated him but us.
The climb "Christian Rock" next to Gemstone was named for all the great music that was coming out at that time period... 1976- 1978. Bob Dylan's SLOW TRAIN COMING was one of the best :o)
I' m glad I was one of the few good people that got to see him do that concert.

I had alot more to say but,,, it's hard to type w tears in your eyes. I'll have to leave the rest till later.

Some people call me "Wolf Man" cuz I've lived w wolves for the past 25 yr-s... But really... I'm just a Puss ; I've loved way more cats than wolves in my life!!!
If I was keeping score I'd say... "Cats,,, 35 plus"/ "Wolves,,, 28"