Another one of the "easily accessible" walls, this wall offers a smattering of decent routes on 1-3 pitch slabby terrain. It's north-west aspect means that there is a chance that it is in the shade longer, and may provide cooler summer climbing.
The bottom is broken up into two-main slab sections, bordered by prominent gullys. After about 200 meters, the cliffs become more broken-up and eventually become 3rd-4th class scrambling up the flank of the Rabbit Ears Massive.
Getting There
Approach from the Topp Hut rd. Take the trail into Rabbit Ear canyon. The Rabbit Ear Slabs are the first series of large slabs on the right, directly across from Lambda Wall and before The Citadel. A short but thorny bushwhack takes you to the base of the slabs.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Rabbit Ears Slabs:
This route doesn't compare to Buckey Blue in climbing quality but it is a fun route to continue up after topping out on Buckey Blue. Stay in the corner that closely resembles Buckey and stop when you get to a small tree with some really old webbing on it (140ft). One could probably traverse left from this tree and continue up to the top of the formation. The climbing is easy and straight forward but its the cacti you have to worry about, in some places you may need to place gear just to keep you...[more]Browse More Classics in NM
By Aaron Hobson Administrator From: Las Cruces, NM Jan 30, 2008
I had originally posted this area as "Barb's Buttress". I think Charlie Cundiff may have called it that and the name stuck in my head. Barb was the wife of one of the old-timer Organ mtn climbers and I thought the formation was named for her because she was often taken to this area. Ingraham's guide describes these slabs in his section on the Rabbit Ears Massif as a good area to train your alpine skills, as it has a forgiving approach (at least by Organ mts standards)
I haven't found any concrete information on these climbs yet, or had the chance to question some of the more experienced locals about this crag, and am posting some routes here without full knowledge of established route-names and ratings (I am simply dubbing the routes for now). Please correct me if you know more about the routes in this area.
The area downhill from the Citadel Gully to the walk off descent of Bucky Blue is generally known as the Rabbit Ears Slabs. Your reference to Barb relates to her love of this climb not the name of the formation. There are about six climbs in the area absent any new climbs.
By Aaron Hobson Administrator From: Las Cruces, NM Mar 14, 2008
Thanks for the clarification Karl. I still think Barb's Buttress has a better ring to it than Rabbit Ears Slabs. Do you have any information on the routes here? I'd love to hear it.
By Aaron Hobson Administrator From: Las Cruces, NM May 30, 2010
This wall stayed in the shade until ~10am (Late May). It remained cool until around noon, at which point it was baking hot and not as fun.
RSS Feed
6 more...
