PRINT: Rock Climb Yucca Flower Tower, Sandia Mountains

Yucca Flower Tower

5.10b, Trad, 3 pitches, Grade II,

Avg: 3.2 from 61 votes
FA: FA: Mark Dalen, Charles Ware, 1977 FFA: Doug Drumheller, Paul Horak, Mark Leonard, Doug Teague, 1986.
New Mexico > Albuquerque Area > Sandia Mountains > Echo Canyon > Yucca Flower Tower

Description

After rapping to the base of the Yucca Flower Tower, head to the top of the pillar at your right (not the gully!). The route begins just at the top of this pillar.

Pitch 1 (80'): Head up the obvious crack though a small roof, continuing through a corner system. Below another roof, clip a piton, and move through some awkward roof moves. Just up and left of the crux, find the bolted belay (5.10b).

Pitch 2+3: Head straight up a fine looking finger crack (5.9+), after which you can either stop at a convenient belay ledge and make the climb 4 pitches, or continue up easy low angle climbing to the anchors on the rappel block.

Pitch 4: (We did not do this exit pitch, we went to the first rappel and exited at Great Escape, a MUCH nicer variation!) The original line climbs up and to the left of a right facing corner and to the top (5.4).

Protection

Double set to #1 Camalot, with 1 #2, and nuts and slings (will want some to avoid rope drag) will suffice.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

The Yucca Flower Tower clear after some patchy weather conditions.

Looking up Yucca Flower's first pitch, fixed for solo ascent (summer 2000) ...

Climber on the second pitch of [[105862618]].

Climber on the second pitch of Yucca Flower Tower.

Looking down into echo canyon midway up p2

Gray getting gear in the bulge of p1

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

mattb19

5.10b

The 5.9 pitch felt like a hard 5.9. It was a sustained pitch but very enjoyable. Great route! Jun 29, 2008

longfeather
Albuqurque ,NM

Climbed this weekend Great Great route

did Var start to south for extra pitch. Is there a route comming up right 15m or so of the 10 B lots of lichen down low.. 11- or so little scary but took pro.

if standing on base of yucca flower look right and low at bottom of gully climb face that starts with a handle bar right facing lay back.
climb up to buldge with loosy right facing overhang to gaston like placement red C3 TCU and gray c3 TCU for pro rps and # 2 camalot also protect crux.

could take this straight up but decided to traverse left onto the yucca ledge and brought up second

looking for info this would be more direct to 10C pitch

Also out right excellent looking arete.with pro..??

We rapped gully instead of yucca face. Jun 30, 2008

longfeather
Albuqurque ,NM

10 b pitch is great

5.9 more like JohnD black canyon 5.9 Jun 30, 2008

Ryan Curry

Athough I enjoyed the location and position of this climb I found the actual climbing to be somewhat mediocre. The rock quality on the first pitch was so-so, as was the gear and moves. Worth doing, but the other climbs in this area were, to me anyway, better. Apr 22, 2011

Ben Gleason
Durango, CO

On the second pitch there is a very large flake/block that forms the right side of the finger crack for about 10 or 12 feet. Its shape vaguely resembles the state of Idaho. It is loose and can be easily wobbled by hand. Perhaps it has been loose for a thousand years, and will stand a thousand more, but I personally would never climb that pitch again. That thing is way too big to be moving around. Nov 4, 2015

Jake Cantu

5.10b

This was a really fun route. The gear is tricky and requires a lot of thinking. The climbing is a lot of face climbing moves that aren't straight forward but fun none the less. Rapelling dow The Great Escape is slightly sketch just because the "ledge" you have to walk across to get to the top of YFT is more of a giant chose pile. It is best to break up the climb into three pitches rather than trying to link the second into one long one. Trying to link those pitches is really long and a 70m might work. A 60m rope will not work unless you have a tag line to rappel on. This is a great route none the less and I thoroughly enjoyed the movement. Jun 7, 2016

George Perkins
The Dungeon, NM

5.10a

Climbed YFT for the [4th] time recently. Regarding pitch 2:
-I was able to link it with pitch 3, going from the bolted belay atop p1 to the top of Yucca Flower Tower with a 60m rope and about 10' to spare, but placed little gear on the easy terrain at the top of this pitch.
-Not sure what to make of the coffin-lid block (mentioned above). I climbed very carefully and delicately past it, and you pretty much have to use it to some extent. If it pulled out unexpectedly, it would be disastrous. To the extent that I assessed it, my take is that if it was at a newer chossy area like Capulin or Diablo, it would likely be deliberately pried off by local climbers with a hammer. My somewhat-non-local opinion is this is worth taking a close look at, and possibly cleaning it safely. [4/2019 edit. Led this pitch again, wasn't sketched.] Aug 6, 2017

Clayton Underwood
Albuquerque, NM

It is VERY important to use some cordelette to extend the rappel from the top of the third pitch if you are using a single rope. With the anchor extended probably close to six feet a 70 meter still just barely made it to the next anchors. There is more beta for this rappel in the YFT area comments section but I think it's also useful to mention here. May 24, 2020