Welcome to the New Mexico section of Mountain Project!
The contributions that are made to this site are greatly appreciated; this site is made up of an awesome community of users that make the site what it is.
Although there is very little information regarding “rules” for submitting climbing areas and routes to this site, the New Mexico Administers all agree that the following guidelines may be helpful to truly make this site go “Beyond the Guidebook”.
1) Don’t be a jerk (this one states the obvious). 2) Route and area submissions should truly be helpful to those out climbing. Before posting, you should have some first hand experience actually climbing the route. This always results in a much more useful description. 3) Please, please, please… Don’t copy route descriptions directly out of guidebooks, online publications, etc. This is plagiarism! Remember, BEYOND the guidebook! 4) Please use the spell check and make an effort to use correct grammar.
Again, the Mountainproject community truly appreciates the efforts taken to make good route descriptions. If you feel that a route or area description is not up to standard, a brief email to one of the area admins for suggestions on improvement will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to make the New Mexico section of Mountain Project quality! We look forward to seeing you out there!
BETA PHOTO: Main Overview of Diablo Canyon.
Description
Diablo Canyon is located outside of Santa Fe New Mexico, and offers fine climbing on basalt cliffs up to three hundred feet tall. Traditional climbing began here during 1970's, and the introduction of sport climbing to the area in the 90s increased its popularity.
As of 2002, there are over 70 bolted routes, and many good trad lines. Many potential lines still exist in the area. Grades range from 5.8 to 5.13, and vary in steepness and exposure. Many routes are in the moderate 5.10 arena.
Climbing in Diablo can be found nearly year around, with shade in the summer and sun in the winter.
Approaches to the various crags can range from 5 to 30 minutes.
DANGER: Please wear a helmet while climbing at Diablo, rockfall is a significant risk here. South facing rock appears and is chossy and loose. This is due to the extreme fluctuations in temperatures during the winter, where the rock temperature can swing from over 100 to below 0 F in a 24 hour period. This freeze/thaw cycle is associated with tremendous thermal expansion and contraction, which can make rock that was solid yesterday become airborne today. Tred lightly while leading, belay from a spot out of the line of fire, and (if they have brains worth protecting) WEAR a HELMET.
NOTE: The majority beta text and photos are reprinted here from the website, http://www.losalamos.com/diablo/, by permission of Rick Bradshaw, who was kind enough to allow me to use his material here.
Getting There
1) Get on the Santa Fe Bypass route (Veterans Memorial Hiway 599) either from I-25 south of Santa Fe or off of Saint Frances Drive NW of Santa Fe.
2) Exit onto Camino La Tierra heading west toward the Rio Grande, setting your odometer to 0 at the turnoff. After 3.8 miles the pavement ends and the road continues on a reasonably well maintained dirt road. At 7.7 miles you’ll pass a large green colored frame (aparently used to be a windmill painted like a daisey) on your left as you follow the main Diablo wash toward the river. At 12.2 miles you should reach the first turn off into the Diablo parking area. The canyon is clearly visible beyond. 2WD vehicals make it there all the time. They get stuck in the sand or mud on their way out at a somewhat less frequency.
Watch out for rattlesnakes basking and tarantulas looking for mates in the middle of the road. This is their home we’re visiting, please give them the right of way.
From the parking area, it is possible to drive into the main Diablo wash by crossing a cattle gaurd at the near end of the parking area. This will get you closer to the climbs and add a significant amount of risk to your day. First, flash floods can, and have taken cars parked in the arroyo down the wash and smashed them into the waiting boulders below Sun Devil. In most cases, it isn’t even raining in the canyon when you hear water approaching about 30 seconds before it arrives. That is the amount of warning you may have. Second, if you take a 2WD vehical into the wash you’ll have about a 20% chance of getting it out without assistance. Third, rocks can fall from high on the Sun Devil Wall and make it all the way to your car. But, what the heck it’ll save you 5 minutes of walking.
Big muscles will power you over the technical cruxes through the roof section, but save something for the hairy, airy, and crimpy headwall. Splendid position, long route, cool moves. To find this route, look for the trail that goes along the base of the cliff and follow it until you find a wooden post at the beginning of Post Moderate. Grape Ape is the bolted line just to the left of this route....[more]
We drove down to Diablo Canyon today and the sprawl and development of houses along the main road atop the mesa is getting crazy! The paved road appears to have been extended by a mile or more and we missed a right turn where I don't remember having to turn in the past (Note: I was last there a couple years ago so maybe my memory doesn't serve too well!)
We didn't set the odometer in the car but as you get onto real new pavement (still without stripes) for a while the really new pavement turns to somewhat old pavement with a center stripe. If you see this, you've gone too far! Backtrack and take the right-ish road that starts as pavement for 50 feet and then turns to dirt. If we go again soon, I'll take note of the odometer readings.
We climbed at the Cockscomb for the first time and really enjoyed it! Great stuff but see my comment under the Cockscomb Crag-->Poultrygeist Area about two routes there...
Many of the fine crack climbs were done in the 1970s. These FA parties went to the top and usually did not leave evidence of their ascents. By the later 1990s two groups were putting up routes (a generally Albuquerque group and a Los Alamos route). The different names of some features in Diablo Canyon come from the two groups.
Greg Swift and Tim Johnson did a lot of trad climbing in Diablo in the early 1980s. Greg mentioned that several climbs which are currently bolted have been climbed without bolts.
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