Dust to Dust

* ALERT: A change was made to the 3rd rappel in July 2025. Please read details below.

There are really several options here and in a way just major variations in the Bad Fun area. The rock is stellar as with most of the Pino Wall, true stone, water worn and highly featured.

Pitch 1 (5.8) 80ft bolted anchor - Shares the first pitch with Bad Fun. Follow the blocky corner to a bolted anchor just above the tree.

Pitch 2 (5.10b) 120ft bolted anchor - Step left off the belay and head up the shallow corner passing a roof to gain a nice corner groove straight above. Continue up the corner stemming and lie-backing through continuous 5.9-10 climbing. There is a wide section up high so its nice to have at least one #4. Top out the corner and traverse the ledge to a bolted belay on blocky ledges (this is the higher anchor on the ledge with hangers only, not the rappel anchor on the face).

There is a variation to this pitch and its highly recommended. After following the straight clean corner/groove for about 50ft, traverse left and up about 15 ft. From here follow beautiful face climbing and seams on perfect stone that lead to a steep finger splitter with a shallow left facing corner just to the right of the crack. Crank through this to finish by underclinging to the right to join the last few moves of the described main 5.10 corner. This variation is about 11b/c and superb!

Pitch 3 (5.11a) 90ft bolted anchor - Step right up to the red and black face with two bolts, pull through to easier climbing above. The easy climbing leads to a bulge, climb over the bulge to a bolted belay with hangers.

Pitch 4 (5.11a) 100ft bolted anchor - Climb straight up off the belay on 5.8-5.9 terrain follows intermittent cracks that lead to a steep gold and black headwall. Locate the bolt that marks the moves that pull through the steep section. Lie back the black crack for a few moves then step left on enjoyable face climbing that leads to the belay at the top of the climb.

Keep in mind the Bad Fun is just to the left of these variations and it's easy to intermix these routes if you choose.

The route is on the west face of the Pino Wall on the far right side of the wall near the "nose" of the Pino Wall. Check weather before starting down. Bring warm/rain layers & shoes in case you have to hike out of the canyon. Sun usually hits this wall by 11:30am.

To arrive at the base of the climb, rappel this route 4 times with 1 70m rope. Pitch 1 starts off the ledge at the base of the last rappel. The first pitch is shared with Bad Fun.

FINDING THE START OF THE RAPPEL
To find the start of this rappel, approach as per normal for the Pino Wall (park at the Ellis Trail and hike south past the Tram to the start of the climber's trail (35.19110, -106.43004). Follow the trail until you arrive near the edge of the cliff. Look for a gully to your right and follow that down. At the bottom of the gully, look for the bolted rappel anchor located on the right side of the rocky bowl [PHOTO] (35.18872, -106.43148). Gear up and store packs before scrambling into the bowl to the anchor. See map for downloadable GPX tracks for approach and rappel anchor location.

RAPPEL DETAILS

Rappel 1 - 100ft
Bolted anchor with chains. Throw skier's left of the fall-line. You MUST rappel skier's LEFT of the pillar that you see after descending out of the bowl onto the face. Don't rappel straight down or you will miss the next anchor.

Rappel 2 - 100ft
Bolted anchor with rap ring. Throw skier's slight right of the fall-line.

*** Rappel 3 - 115ft
Bolted anchor painted dark brown with rap ring located on the face BELOW the ledge. Above the ledge, you’ll see the belay anchor with hangers only, look down and slight skier’s left to find the rappel anchor. Throw slight skier's left and aim for the tree on the small ledge. (***ALERT: this rap anchor was relocated in July 2025 and a 70m rope works perfectly for the rappel now)

Rappel 4 - 80ft
Delivers you to the "ground" at the base of the first pitch.

Double rack with one #3 and one #4

• P1 bolted belay
• P2 bolted belay on the comfy ledge (not the same as the rappel anchor)
• P3 two protection bolts and bolted belay
• P4 one protection bolt and bolted belay