Type: Sport, 400 ft (121 m), 4 pitches, Grade II
GPS: 35.18909, -106.43102
FA: Marc Bevelry and Brad Ellen
Page Views: 5,104 total · 23/month
Shared By: Orphaned on Oct 1, 2007
Admins: Jason Halladay, Mike Hoskins, Anna Brown

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Description Suggest change

This line will likely see more sun than any route in the Sandias as you can see the orange orb rise over the eastern horizon and set in the west from on top of the climb! You might even be able to climb in the winter at 10,000 feet. Bullet rock the whole way. There's no closer climbing in proximity with this quality of rock to the Tram in the Sandias...so far. It was also the first major line put up on the south face of Pino Wall.

The name comes from a funny story where my driver's license and Visa card fell out of my pocket while I was developing this route. To my dismay, they fluttered away on the wind at sunset. I came back the next day, soloed up to about pitch 2 and found they had both landed on small ledges!

  • Pitch 1 (5.8) - Climb slab with intermittent crack climbing. bolts and fixed gear. 7 bolts and a few finger-sized cams. 
  • Pitch 2 (5.11b/c) - Climb past 11 bolts to a two-bolt belay on a tiny ledge. These belay bolts do not have any chains on them. Brilliant face climbing with a couple of technical cruxes. Helps to have a reach on the second crux. You can link this pitch with P3 but you will need 19 draws. The climbing is rather sustained. 11 bolts, a finger-sized piece useful low on the pitch but not necessary
  • Pitch 3 (5.11a) - From the two-bolt belay on the tiny ledge, make a cruxy move (it's a good idea to pre-hang a draw on the first bolt of this pitch on the way down) or three past a few bolts to easier 5.8 climbing for a bit. Then run it out a tad clipping several more bolts to an overhang. Negotiate the fun overhang and gain a sweet belay ledge. 8 bolts, no supplemental gear needed.
  • Pitch 4 (5.8) - Jet left 2 meters and climb the bolted furrows to the top on enjoyable, featured 5.8-ish terrain. 12 bolts, no supplemental gear needed.

Location Suggest change

The route is on the south face of the Pino Wall. To arrive at the base of the climb, rappel this route 3 times with 2 ropes.

FINDING THE START OF THE RAPPEL
The approach hike takes roughly 1 hour from the Ellis Trailhead or 30 minutes from the upper Tram terminal (approach as for Pino Wall). 

From the clearing at the top of the cliff, following cairns south and descending to a ledge that you have to down-climb onto with bolts on the wall to the skiers right (35.18853, -106.43119).

Three 50m rappels with bolted anchors takes you to the bottom of the steep wall. Clean raps all the way down. You may want to back up once on the bottom to avoid your knot getting stuck in the splitter crack atop Pitch 1.

Protection Suggest change

Bolted sport climb. 2x50 ropes. One climbing rope and one rap line works best for lighter packs. 20 draws if you link pitches 2 and 3. I like stopping at the second pitch belay so as to keep in close contact with the lead climber, among other reasons.

If you don't want to run it out on the first pitch, bring 2x yellow TCUs, and a blue and orange TCU as well. Bolted anchors the whole way.

Photos

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