PRINT: Rock Climb Warpy Moople, Sandia Mountains

Warpy Moople

5.9 R, Trad, 800 ft (242 m), 7 pitches, Grade III,

Avg: 3.5 from 60 votes
FA: Mike Roybal, Peter Prandoni, 1975
New Mexico > Albuquerque Area > Sandia Mountains > Chimney Canyon > Muralla Grande

Description

A long time classic in the Sandias offering some of the cleanest crack and face climbing in the area. Also a great test of route finding skills.

P1: (5.7) Begin climbing dihedral, at the end of the dihedral move left through easier ground up to a dirt ledge with many large blocks.

P2: (5.9) Move slightly right and climb an arching roof. Turn the roof and angle right to a small sloping ledge under a small roof.

P3: (5.7) Traverse out right below the small roof. Begin angling right towards the corner of the huge roof in the center of the Muralla Grande. A belay can be set here or run together with P4 using a 60m rope.

P4: (5.8) Climb the beautiful dihedral passing the huge roof on the right, ending at a 2-bolt anchor below a bulge on a small ledge.

P5: (5.9 R) A long traverse out left to the end of the ledge. Place gear here to protect your second. Next climb a small right-trending crack. You eventually meet up with the finger tip crack above your belay, however had this point it has widened out allowing for a much needed piece of gear. Follow the crack a bit further, then angle out right onto the face, ending at a sloping ledge with a bolted belay.

P6: (5.8) Face climb past a piton, tend right to a short offwidth section, continuing to a fun dihedral. End on a grassy sloping ledge.

P7: (5.6) Easy but loose climbing in either chimney system above.

Location

The route starts under the large roof in the center of the Muralla Grande, begin climbing in a dihedral. The undercling roof of pitch-2 can barely be seen from the ground.

Protection

Standard rack to a #4 Camalot, many long slings for traversing pitches

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Another beta photo of this excellent line.

The memorial medallion at the 4th belay

Heading up the steep face of pitch 5 after doing the leftward traverse from the belay.

Turning the corner on the 2nd pitch undercling taverse

the top

Is this ridge a climb? It looks cool.

beginning of pitch 6

Cindy is following the 5th pitch.

Dihedral marking start of climb. Tamara can be seen leading P2. Notice the undercling arching roof.

top of pitch 2

Isaac T. climbing the crux pitch on Warple Moople

Me finishing up pitch 4 of Warpy with Nick belaying.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

George Perkins
The Dungeon, NM

5.9 PG13

Best 5.9 in New Mexico.
I find the roof on p2 to be the most insecure section.
Pitch 5 is great and definitely the psychological crux- I'd say you get a gear placement about every body length for the harder part of the pitch, then its more scarce on the easier climbing above. Look for pro in both the thin vertical cracks and the horizontal slots. The traverse itself can be protected pretty well. Overall this climb isn't radically scary; solid 5.9 leaders won't find this climb insane for a "5.9 R", but maybe don't try it if you think maybe you shouldn't be there. There is a lot of runout 5.7 and decisions about where to go.
I think I probably wouldn't bring a #4, but you can place it a few places if you have it.

The 5.10 Direct Variation to pitch 5 is also really good. Bewarned its crux is an unprotected face straight up off the belay that you don't want to fall on. It gets easier and there's adequate pro higher up on it. But hey, you won't have rope drag problems. Jun 19, 2007

Matt Price

5.9 R

Thanks to Chuck and Tamara for the nice route topo pic. This really helped us to avoid any route-finding problems. As we were told by another party, just about every pitch has its "spicy" parts. We found some use for a #4 BD cam, but it probably wasn't absolutetly necessary. Oct 3, 2007

Mike Howard

A brief memorial to three friends who died on this climb is on the web here cs.unm.edu/~moret/jane_deat… or here cs.unm.edu/~moret/jane.html or here lamountaineers.org/xRopes.pdf. They were very smart and capable athletes with perhaps less experience in their heads as their hearts were full of adventure. I knew Glen and Carlos but never met Jane. I ended up with Glen's gear from the SAR retrieval. I kept it for about a year in my garage until I figured his wife would not want it back. I remember finally tossing the rack and shoes and gained the sudden relief like the shrugging off of a heavy Grade V pack at the end of a big day. Yet, nothing weighs more than a heavy heart. Oct 22, 2007

Mike Howard

George, I am not certain of the info on the tag. There is more about Jane at this site ( cs.unm.edu/~moret/jane.html .) I know Glen was married and may have had a child. He was a senior resident in Psychiatry at UNMH. I know Carlos was also a resident (I think a Psych intern also at UNMH) and Jane was a PT. Seems like those final pitches in the Sandias can often be covered with kitty litter and dead trees. Not the sort of place to let down your guard and relax or to send a noob up the dark.

supertopo.com/climbing/thre… Oct 23, 2007

John Kear
Albuquerque, NM

The medallion located on Warpy Moople is for Jeff Winberg. Jeff was a great friend and climbing/guiding mentor for myself and many others. He did not die climbing. The medallion is there only in his memory because Muralla Grande was one of his favorite places to climb. Dec 3, 2007

Alam

As mentioned in the description there are a lot of variations to the different pitches. For example you need to push P2 belay up as far as you think you can in order to link P3 and P4, otherwise you may come up about 10 feet short using a 60 meter rope. Also - the first photo of the starting dihedral (black rock) shows the major dihedral that is commonly wet after a rain storm (and can be slick). There is also a very nice dihedral that starts in the left corner of the same photo that can be climbed - is commonly drier - but you must move right at the roof and then back left to reach the block covered ledge. Nice way to do it, but watch the rope drag. Feb 21, 2008

mtnrobb

5.9 R

Any idea what the bolted route under the roof left of Warpy Moople is? Oct 8, 2008

longfeather
Albuqurque ,NM

theres a similar to The Granite Sea( ft collins CO pitch left of upper Warpy , It takes pro though is runout and like riding over waves, also a beautiful face up there that needs attention. Im not sure if ive ever connected anything up left that shouldnt be bolted .Time moves fast hard to get back over there,

Under roof and directly below I got direct start to roof in 90s couldnt figure out roof always fled right or left, turned blue one day there in a summer monsoon waterfall below roof. Def needs super climber attention Mar 14, 2010

Daniel Trugman
Reno, NV

5.9

"Warpy Moople" is probably one of the friendlier "5.9 R" climbs out there. Though it is a bit run out on 5.7 terrain, all the harder moves are reasonably well-protected. "Warpy Moople" still demands respect, however: the route-finding is non-trivial and it is certainly a committing line.

Pitch 5 is the clear gem, though all the pitches except the first and last are very nice. Jun 20, 2010

Brian McLaughlin

Outstanding route! Climbed it with Brian Komen in August of 86 after returning from my first route on El Cap in Yosemite. We did a terrifying rightward "walk the plank" traverse on pitch 3 that was may not be the line folks follow now. I wondered if there was a better way to climb the right side of the overhang to the same stance. Anybody know? May 11, 2011

Brian Prince
reno

5.9 R

I remember thinking pitch 5 felt pretty easy and safe compared to some random face climbing and route finding on some of the other pitches. At any rate, pretty cool intro to the Sandias. Beautiful place.

We got a late start and had people knocking rocks down at us which was a bummer but I guess our fault.. wear a helmet. Anyway we topped out at sunset (beautiful) and ended up walking back at dark. I think we just b lined it up the hill (we were off trail on the approach for most of the way so we really had no idea). This ended up working ok as we somehow managed to wind up on the crest on the -inside- of the fence. We just walked the road past all the towers and buildings back to the parking lot. Probably not ok but there was no one around that time of night. Feb 13, 2013

deaner

I thought a set of tricams worked great on this route especially for p5. You can link p3-4 with a 60,000 mm rope but can't link p6-7. Jun 1, 2015

David Baltz
Albuquerque, NM

5.9 R

Did Warpy yesterday with my son for probably the first time in 20 years. I have done it several times over the decades but not liking the looks of the dihedral start, always opted to start further right and go up the face for 150 feet to a smooth slab, exiting left to a ledge below a prominent horn on an overhang (can be seen from the start). P2 goes over the overhang then trends right up the face again over another bulge and finishing on a ledge below and to the right of the P3 corner. P3 goes back left from the ledge heading for the corner and finishing at the bolted belay before the crux pitch. The variation is clean, fun, and of course sometimes a bit runout but always 5.9 or less. May 23, 2020