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!
Description
A selection of climbs can be found in Los Alamos Canyon, just south of the town of Los Alamos.
The Hospital Crag, which is located downhill just south of the medical center, hosts a handful of sport climbs on rhyolitic tuff and sees midday summer sun. An online guide is found here: http://lamountaineers.org/pdf/Hospital_Crag.pdf (This is surprising since this crag is nearly on DOE property and, if so, taking unauthorized photos is technically prohibited.)
20 or more short sport climbs on rhyolite formerly existed in the vicinity of Los Alamos Reservoir, however, this area has been closed to visitation following the fire in 2000, and the hangers are almost certainly not there. It is hopeful that this area will be re-opened to public access in the near future. Sneaking in would be a very poor decision.
It's probably too cold for rock climbing in Los Alamos Canyon in the winter, a fact that is reinforced by its hosting the largest outdoor ice rink in New Mexico.
Getting There
From the town of Los Alamos, head toward the bridge to LANL property. Just before the bridge, take a right on West Rd. to drop into the Canyon; go past the ice rink, before the road goes up the south side of the canyon is the turn-off to the reservoir (gated). The Hospital Crag is more readily accessed by parking behind the medical center and hiking down.
Los Alamos Canyon
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