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 1960's and 70's and the area was then known as Buckman Mesa; but major development began in the '90s when the first sport climbs were bolted and anchors were installed atop some of the cracks which were cleaned, by climbers from both Albuquerque and Los Alamos. 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, and for 5.10-5.12 climbers, this is one of the best sport climbing areas in northern New Mexico. With the greatly increased popularity of Diablo Canyon, by now traffic has cleaned much of the loose rock from many of the more popular climbs, but some remains.
Climbing in Diablo can be found nearly year round, 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. Tread 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 4.7 miles, turn right on Old Buckman Road, which is a reasonably well-maintained dirt road. At 7.7 miles you’ll pass a large green colored frame (apparently used to be a windmill painted like a daisy) 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 vehicles 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 guard 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 vehicle 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.
An obvious long offwidth pitch can be seen from across the canyon as a corner thats adjacent to the right most rock buttress with lots of lichen (lichening the serpent is on this). The first pitch is either a dirty 5.8 stem corner that leads to a stellar cove below a clean squeeze bombay chimney or an easy traverse from a 5.8 sport route. Great belays with chain anchors. Fight your way up a hard 5.11 squeeze that gets you on top of a large c...[more]Browse More Classics in NM
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.
I am going to be traveling to santa Fe this fall and maybe climbing in Diablo canyon Does any one have and recmondations for long/multi pitch routes inthis area.
There is a fun route on sunshine wall called post moderate, it's 5.9 with 17 or so bolts but you can traverse over to some chains and do it with one rope and eight or nine, if not bring two for full rap. its a great warmup but gets really hot. The name is aptly given, do it on a day when its overcast .
By Lee Jenkins From: Buena Vista, Colorado Mar 9, 2009
I'm looking for good, free camping near the Canyon. Thanks, Lee
By Monomaniac Administrator From: Morrison, CO Mar 9, 2009
Not that its "good camping" but I'm pretty sure you can camp right at the parking lot. I believe its all BLM land. If you want some more privacy, keep heading west on the dirt road past Diablo and in a few miles you'll end up at the Rio Grande. That would probably be a nice place to camp. Be careful if the road is wet, its easy to get stuck in the mud.
As Mono says BLM, but I belive this only applies to the solar cave and winter wall and would include the parking area. I've been told that the early wall and the notch are on NFS land, which would mean off limits if the forest gets shut down.
I've got a copy of "The Climber's Bible" by Robin Shaw, published 1983. It's just an old, quaint, 'how-to' climb book, but in the back, it has a list of US climbing destinations. Under New Mexico, it lists:
"Sandia Mountains, near Albuquerque The Tooth of Time, Cimarron The Basalts, near Santa Fe"
Maybe that's what Diablo used to be called? Ring a bell for any of you oldsters?
Not that I'm an "oldster", but the Basalts may also be a reference to White Rock Canyon. Though I could be wrong, I suspect the climbs there may have been more developed and better known than those in Diablo in 1983.
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