El Paisano

BETA PHOTO: Photo taken in early-morning light from just west ...

Description 

This secluded but sunny wall sits in between Torreon and the Sentinel in a upper sub canyon of the Upper La Cueva Canyon. The wall is quite wide and overall fairly low angle (ie easy routes) and the rock quality we found to be pretty high for the Sandias. There is a lot of potential for moderate routes (5.6-5.9) up to 300ft long. This wall is mentioned in the old Mike Hill book but with only one route on the northern end of the formation. There is a lot more to this crag than previously mentioned.

Getting There 

Find the wall either by approaching as for Torreon; hike halfway down the Torreon approach gully and look for 300ft tall WSW facing wall on the north side of the gully. Contour over to the base of the wall. The other approach option is to approach for the Sentinel. Once you reach the notch above the Sentinel scramble down the gully/slope heading South. Contour underneath the rock formation on your left. This wall becomes the El Paisano formation. Approach time is 20-30mins.

The Classics