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Wicked West

5.8 PG13, Trad, 400 ft (121 m), 3 pitches,  Avg: 2.3 from 3 votes
FA: unknown
New Mexico > Las Cruces Area… > Organ Mountains > N Organs > Lambda
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Description

This is a stellar route on clean rock, without those sections of choss or easy/dirty gully which plague other routes in vicinity. It is heady but well worth it

Pitch 1, 5.8, 100 ft
Start along a thin crack system. At the top of it, go left, up a couple of large steps, then right past an old quarter inch bolt to a flake - a precariously thin one at the bottom but solid on top - which will take you to the right. Above that is a nice grassy ledge for a belay.

Pitch 2, 5.7, PG 13, 200 ft
Go around the tree on the left (that and the agave plant right after it are the only real vegetation on the route). Continue up in the direction of a bush (which you will not reach). This will take you into a large left facing corner. We stayed in the corner only about half the time, deviating to the left along a pair of seams, then going up to the corner proper, up it a bit past a piton, finally to the left again along another seam to an arete. From there take the left face for a short stretch and step left toward the off-width (it takes #4). Go left about 10 ft under a mini-headwall, then up it. Another 30 feet or so will take you to a nice horizontal crack with a gently sloping slab below it for a comfortable belay.

Pitch 3, 5.8, 100 ft
This pitch is shared with Dyslexic. Go up on the right side of the small triangular roof/boulder, traverse on it left into the prominent right facing corner and go up it the rest of the way. The crux, at a boulder-like projection into the corner, is protected with 0.1 cam, 0.2 at most and is somewhat height dependent.

Location

Start about 30 ft left of the beginning of West Face. Walk off the top to the east to reach the standard Lambda rap line.

Protection

We had double rack for all but the most extreme of sizes. Useful sizes were all the way from 0.1 to #4. The detour from corner on Pitch 2, the most runout sections, was protected by a brown tricam is a pocket which would not take anything else. There is one quarter-inch bolt in a critical location on Pitch 1 and a piton or two on Pitch 2.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

The large left facing corner on Pitch 2, part way up.
[Hide Photo] The large left facing corner on Pitch 2, part way up.
Start of Pitch 1.
[Hide Photo] Start of Pitch 1.
Marc leading start of Pitch 1.
[Hide Photo] Marc leading start of Pitch 1.
Marc at Pitch 2 belay. Pitch 3 goes up the huge corner above him.
[Hide Photo] Marc at Pitch 2 belay. Pitch 3 goes up the huge corner above him.
Near the start of Pitch 2.
[Hide Photo] Near the start of Pitch 2.
The flake near top of Pitch 1.
[Hide Photo] The flake near top of Pitch 1.
Middle of Pitch 1.
[Hide Photo] Middle of Pitch 1.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Drew Chojnowski
Las Cruces, NM
  5.8
[Hide Comment] Ball nuts (blue to yellow) can be placed in some spots, making it feel quite PG. But that's assuming we followed exactly the same line, which may not be the case as there are options. Sep 22, 2018
Marta Reece
Las Cruces, NM
  5.8 PG13
[Hide Comment] A sizeable flake came off during a climb near the top of Pitch 1 and hit at the start of the route. It peeled off with almost no resistance, even though last year it was used as a hold repeatedly with good results. It had been located directly above the large flake shown in photo, one which cannot be avoided while climbing and is protected only by an old 1/4 inch bolt some distance from it. Should this flake come off as well, the result could be disastrous. I would not recommend climbing this pitch. Connection to the route can be made from Pitch 1 of West Face, but it's traversy and somewhat dirty. May 13, 2019