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Thank you for taking the time to make the New Mexico section of Mountain Project quality! We look forward to seeing you out there!
Patrick on The Second Coming.
Description
Four pitches, the final of which is the makes this one such a beauty. However, the star rating of the route really depends on which way you decide to go on the headwall at the top. There are four choices for the final pitch (5.10d, 5.10a, 5.9, and 5.8).
Getting There: Follow directions to Muralla Grande. Soon after you get to the bottom of the couloir of death talus and rocks, begin looking to your right. You will eventually come upon an alcove beneath a large headwall (the headwall is high up on the route). If you round the corner toward the bottom of the hill at the base of the stone, you have gone too far.
Route:
Pitch 1: Begin up the right corner of the alcove, climbing past a small tree. At the top is a large with another pine tree. If you plan on taking the variation going straight up, belay from the tree, if you are going up the chimney variation, it is best to traverse left to a spot below the chimney.
Pitch 2: 2 variations: A- Traverse left into an awkward looking chimney, after exiting the chimney, continue climbing up over some loose rock to a very large ledge. There is also an optional intermediate belay with shiny bolts about 20 feet beyond the chimney. B- You can also take a more direct line by going straight up and diagnaling to the left toward the ledge. I found there was plenty of places to put protection going this way.
The second pitch is quite long and as discussed above the leader of the 1st pitch might want to set the anchor at the start of the chosen variation (either at the tree or under chimney to the left of the tree.) Either that, or the climb can be made into 5 pitches by using the bolt anchor in the middle of variation A.
Once attaining a large ledge at the end of the pitch, there are a few places to set a belay for pitch 3. You are aiming for the large, left facing dihedral. You can set up your belay below and left of the dihedral, or you can move to the uppermost part of the ledge just below two fixed pitons (slightly trick anchor set up with some with a flaring crack, but I found solid placements to back up the piton.)
Pitch 3: From here there are a few different ways to get you to the same location. If you start under the pins, after clipping the second pin undercling a flake moving left into the left facing corner. OR, you can climb from left and below the corner to eventually gain it.
Continue to climb up to the large left facing dihedral, eventually moving to the left to a right facing corner. Follow this corner to the base of the headwall. You will know you are there because you will see a beautiful 10a finger crack directly above you, and a 5.9+ crack going up and right. There is one bolt and a fixed piton here for an anchor.
Pitch 4: Four choices here. (a) Far Right, a 5.8 crack is the original finish. (b) To the right of that is a widish crack that goes at 5.9. (c) straight up and slightly to the left is a clean, steep fracture (very nice, this is the way we took! It has been noted that a double set of nuts is nice for this pitch, though I did not use that) that goes at about 10 a/b. (d) To the far left is a 5.10d crack, which I know nothing about. At the top is a large tree about 15 feet back from the cliff that you can belay from. There are also some newly placed bolts at the top of this pitch.
Once at the top, follow the trail that goes away from the cliff and eventually veers to the left, to the top.
Can also rap back to the base of the the climb if so inclined (see comments below) via either second coming itself or the route next to it, Rapture.
Second Coming: Takes 4 double rope raps.
Rapture: 3 double 60m raps, first rap is long about 190 feet.
Protection
Gear: Took a double set of camalots to #3 with a set of nuts. Anchors: Gear, except for the top of the 3rd pitch (bolts), and the final pitch (tree).
There are a lot of new bolts in the area, so do not get lost. Climb gently on either variation of the second pitch. There is a pin and a shiny new bolt at the base of the 10a fingers and a pair of new bolts at the top of the pitch as well. The traditional last belay is off the fat tree ten feet back. The final fingers pitch is really very good.
Pitch 2 is long and the leader of the 1st pitch might want to set the anchor at the start of the chosen variation rather than 1st traversing as needed. A 60 meter rope may be useful.
The end of Anthony's pitch 3 description gets you to the base of the 10a and 9 and, as Eric said, there is 1 pin and 1 shiny new bolt. I suspect there is more than 1 way to start the 3rd pitch: For us the 3rd pitch initially went up a nice left-facing dihedral/corner (versus Anthony's right-facing corner) and then mid-pitch one traverses left and up to a right-facing corner; up that and on top is a ledge with the pin and bolt.
For the 3rd pitch and for a more direct line to pitch 4's 5.8 var, omit the mid-pitch traverse left to the right-facing dihedral and instead head up. Find 2 shiny bolts on a nice ledge. From the pin/bolt anchor, the 2 bolt anchor is located maybe 15 feet below and 20 feet to the climber's right.
We did the 5.9 for the last pitch and we liked it!
By Anthony Stout Administrator From: Albuquerque, NM Dec 4, 2006
"I suspect there is more than 1 way to start the 3rd pitch: For us the 3rd pitch initially went up a nice left-facing dihedral/corner (versus Anthony's right-facing corner) and then mid-pitch one traverses left and up to a right-facing corner; up that and on top is a ledge with the pin and bolt."
Bill is correct, we did follow a left facing dihedral, to the left, then to a right facing dihedral. It was a typo on the description that has been corrected. Thanks Bill.
The left facing corner system that starts right of the standard belay is awesome. The beginning of the pitch is easily identified via two pins. After the second pin undercling a flake moving left into another left facing corner eventually meeting up with P3 described in the route description. I believe this may be described as The Liar King....however I think the variation i describe above is the actual original P3 of Second Coming.
My first trip to the Sandias! Matt Price and I attempted Second Coming. Took a while to find the correct descent gully because we continued on the obvious trail once we got to the aspen grove. Ended up finding the top of Second Coming in the process, which was ultimately good to know, but it ate up a lot of time in the process. The base of the climb had 3 inches of hail from the previous day's thunderstorms and the rock was still a bit wet. Clouds were beginning to build by the time we finished P1. Got part way up P2 (straight up from large tree on left) and it started raining, then raining hard and hailing, so we decided to bail. Lowered off a small stopper (booty!) about 45 feet to the tree, then rapping off the remainder. The rain subsided, but the rock was quite wet and we weren't willing to risk getting caught in a full-fledged thunderstorm. Hiked back up the gully, this time taking the easier line back up. Weather was still holding, so we set up a TR and took turns on the 10a finger crack finish. Fantastic line! Got back to the car and the sky opened up on us. Can't wait to get back out there once these unusually late monsoons pass.
By George Vigeon From: Park City, UT Jun 16, 2008 rating: 5.8+
Holy wandering climb Batman! I'm pretty sure I got lost on all but the first and last pitch. Lucky for me nothing on the whole wall was harder than 5.9 but in trying to find the route I got the worst case of the rope draggin's I have ever seen. On Pitch 3 or 2 depending where you came from there is a nice new 2 bolt anchor followed by a three bolt line that leads to what exactly?!? I traversed left under that leftward leaning flake on up to the big ledge at the headwall but I wouldn't consider that 5.8. There is a stuck red CCH alien in there but I was too busy to really try to get it out. Did the 5.9 crack at the top which was lots of fun. I'd do it again if I was with someone that actually knew the route.
By George Perkins Administrator From: Los Alamos, NM Jun 17, 2008 rating: 5.8
George- it sounds like you wandered left onto a new climb, the Rapture, which hosts 15-20 bolts, mainly on the first pitch, and 2-bolt anchors. (Second Coming does not have bolted belays, except for just below the headwall) The stuck red Alien is on p3 of the Rapture (until someone gets it!).
It seems possible to reach the 2nd Coming headwall by a few different variations, all of comparable difficulty.
Muralla Grande
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