Mountain Project Logo
To save paper & ink, use the [Hide] controls next to photos and comments so you only print what you need.

The Windward Passage

5.9+, Trad, 200 ft (61 m), 2 pitches,  Avg: 2.5 from 6 votes
FA: Partick French & David Milford 1991
New Mexico > Albuquerque Area > Sandia Mountains > La Cueva Canyon… > Windward Wall

Description

See Sandia Rock by Mick Schein (2003, Sharp end Publishing) for a good description.

First pitch is a "Great". Second pitch is just "Okay" - has its share of looseness and lichen for a good stretch (~40 ft?) right off the belay.

Location

Begins between Good Clean Fun on the left and a crack on the right that has an evergreen shrub roughly 40 feet up.

Protection

Standard rack including an extra handful of cams in the 3/8 to 3/4 inch range in addition to the usual stoppers.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Windward Passage start
[Hide Photo] Windward Passage start
Sky warming up!
[Hide Photo] Sky warming up!

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

George Perkins
The Dungeon, NM
  5.9
[Hide Comment] Pitch 1 is about as good as Sandia 5.9 face climbing gets. Pitch 2 didn't look good (appeared easy and bushy), so I traversed to the Good Clean Fun p1 anchor just below that climbs last bolt. That traverse over was 5.8 and not at all scary (the book said that was runout and possibly 5.10, so maybe I went over a bit lower). I continued up and combined p1 with p2 of Good Clean Fun (5.11a) into a single 60m pitch; do plan to address rope drag if trying that. Jul 4, 2022