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!
The Rio Quemado Falls in December 2005.
Description
Often referred to as the best waterfall in New Mexico, the Rio Quemado Falls are a beautiful set of waterfalls high in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico. For most of the year they offer a nice distraction to day hikers, backpackers and peak baggers destined for the high summits of the three Truchas Peaks. In winter, these ~60-foot waterfalls offer some enjoyable and very isolated ice climbing routes.
The ice is generally in from mid-December until March I'd guess. The easiest line follows a stair-stepped line up the center of the falls but harder lines with steeper ice seem likely on the left side while mixed options appear possible on the right side.
Getting There
Access to the Rio Quemado Falls is best done from the west via a very confusing maze of dirt roads from the town of Truchas, NM. Even having driven the roads many times, I still have trouble finding the trailhead in winter. It's best to go scope it in summer with a 4WD vehicle as the roads can be very rough. Also, the area here has a bad historical reputation for vehicle vandalism. That said, here's the best I can do: From the town of Truchas, drive east on the dirt road NM 75/NF639 for about 3 miles to where the road forks. Stay right. The general idea from here is to stay in the valley next to the creek but on the creek's north side. Numerous side roads will appear from time to time but stay on what appears to be the most traveled road. Your destination is the trailhead of 35° 59.80'N, 105° 41.43'W. A map might be helpful but probably not due to the crazy number of roads back there.
The trail is listed as Rio Quemado Trail 153. From the trailhead it's about 3 miles up to the falls. Skis with skins are a great idea in all but the leanest of snow conditions.
Rio Quemado Falls
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