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Pitch 1, Climb on the small fluted rock, following the grain of the fluting, either just left of where it makes an open book with the rock wall on the right (preferred) or on the small fluted rock about 20' to the left of that spot.The ledge before the belay ledge is full of cactus. Belay at the ledge above it. You will fully run out a 60 meter rope getting to the belay spot.
Pitch 2, Go upward to a cliff face, then the left over blocky boulders and ledges to one of a few spots where you can more easily ascend between the gaps in the cliff face (crux 5.6 to 5.7), then left to a ledge on the skyline buttress. There is room here for three or four people. To avoid severe rope drag, break this lead into two separate leads.
Pitch 3, This is the fun pitch. In front of you is a textured rock zone that turns into a very wide (8'or so) very shallow chimney. Climb the textured back of the chimney exiting right about halfway up and continue upward among the giant mushroom shaped rock extrusions (chicken heads on steroids). Set belay in an alcove ledge. Only tricams work here in odd shaped pockets. The alternative is to stay on the textured rock to the top. I'ts easier and better protected and avoids the last pitch, but it's much less fun.
Pitch 4, Continue up leftward on an easy partial pitch to the top.
Descend on third class route on opposite side of the volcanic neck, being careful not to get off route. At one spot part way down it is difficult to tell whether to go left or right. Go right.
Follow the standard route trail until you get to the barbed wire fence. Follow it up the scree, then go about 20' to 40' south past the end of the fence. Avoid the cactus.
Standard rack to #3 Camelot and #1 to #3 tricams.
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The Dungeon, NM
mountainproject.com/v/cabez…
rockclimbing.com/routes/Nor… May 4, 2016
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe, NM
ABQ
Getting to the start of pitch 1 (~5.5) involves fighting a lot of steep loose scree. The farther left of the fence you go, the steeper it is. The farther right you go, the looser it is. Pick your poison. You still want to aim pretty much for the top of the fence, however. I'm not entirely certain what the exact belay ledge is from the description, but there's a lot of options for solid gear anchors and good stances.
For pitch 2 (~5.6-5.7), you can trend left or right to get past the 'cliff face'. Going right gives you a fun ~V1 layback boulder problem with a stimulating mantle onto loose rock. Left is more mellow but more sustained (but still only 5.6). Either way, there's a lot of death blocks you'll need to be careful about. The refrigerator-sized blocks leaning out from the wall over you can be a bit unnerving.
Pitch 3 (~5.5 PG13) is definitely the money pitch. Very fun climbing but on somewhat terrible rock. The rock is pretty friable and extremely textured, making cams tough to place and nuts somewhat untrustworthy. I placed three cams on the pitch, maybe only one of which would bear any weight.
Plenty of horns available at the top for a belay if you exit to the left on P3. I haven't tried the described P4 yet, but from how it looks, the 'partial' pitch might only be 20 feet or so.
A #4 is also useful for the belays and the 3rd pitch (my only semi-trustworthy piece). Aug 26, 2020
Albuquerque NM
ABQ