Yataghan Rock Climbing

Find the crest spur trail on the south side of the Sandia Crest parking lot, and follow it about 1/2 mile. Head down the La Luz trail, down several switch backs, and continuing down past a several talus slopes. After the talus slops, the trail crosses the La Cueva canyon, here you pass a La Luz trail sign made of iron. From this point continue on for 50 yards. Here a slab of rock extends down off a formation called the Frog. Scramble up this slab and stay against the base of the Frog heading north. After a couple hundred yards you reach the gully between the Frog and the Yataghan. This gully is guarded by a huge chockstone. Which requires a short rap during your descent off the Yataghan. Continue on past the gully to the base of the Yataghan.

Descent:

Once on the summit, head pretty much due north along the summit ridge. Just before the ridge blends into solid ground, a broad gendarme forces you either west or east. Go east, and scramble down a few rock steps to the top of a gully. Traverse across the top of this gully (do not enter the gully) even though it looks casual. Instead continue to the next gully, which is choked with many dead trees. This gully is super steep, and has much loose rock and debris. But the great majority of that rock and debris can be nicely avoided by going down the far side of the gully (east side).

Hike for a long time down along the base of the cliff. When you come to the beginning / top of a ridge line with your original descent gully on skier's right, it will be necessary to make a long detour skier's left, into the wooded area, to avoid a steep section. It also becomes clear at this point why you avoided the western-most gully. Re-enter the gully, but stay on the east side for several hundred feet, until the gully begins to curve slightly to the SW. At this point more rock-hopping is required, and you should be roughly below the start of the Southeast Face. Continue for another 100 yds to the rappel point, which is about 20 feet back from the lip of the giant chockstone. The rappel is about 40 feet long. An efficient party can make this descent in less than an hour.