Windfull Thinking

A fun and engaging four-pitch route on the quiet west face of Pino Wall, this 500-foot line follows corners, roofs and slab to the top, offering varied movement and good protection on every pitch. A quality route on good rock for anyone looking for a moderate committing adventure in the Sandias. Rappel to the ground and climb back to the top for a full-value day.

Pitch 1 (5.8+) 115ft - bolted anchor
Start 20 feet downhill of the classic Pino Wall Route. Climb up and slightly left towards a shallow left-facing corner which starts below and right of a higher big roof. Continue up the corner past a thin committing crux near the top and trend up and right to a bolted anchor on the left side of the ledge.

Pitch 2 (5.8+) 135ft- bolted anchor 
Climb up and right aiming for a small roof with a left-facing corner above it. Move through the roof (crux) on the left side and climb almost straight up from here to the anchor. Move into the right facing corner for the top 3rd of the climb for 5.fun stemming with better protection than you can see at the start of it.

Pitch 3 (5.9) 130ft - bolted anchor (2 protection bolts)
Step right, make a couple moves and traverse back left towards the two roofs you see right above the belay. Move past the first roof on the right on slippery rock. Proceed up to the second roof which you'll pass with committed climbing by traversing in from right to LEFT. Above, get small gear in where you can, then traverse up/right towards a gritty flake. Climb on top of the flake to clip the bolt. Make a thin move past bolt, move slight right to continue up on easier ledges, then traverse up/left across the slabby face passing a second bolt. You’ll pass the large roof on the left. Belay from the tree or look for the bolted rappel anchor just out of view to your left on a boulder face about 15 feet below the tree.

Pitch 4 (5.8+) 125ft - bolted anchor 
Head up and left towards a small tree. Pass the tree to reach a larger jagged crack and head up. Then angle up and right towards a hand crack which delivers you to a small ledge with a bulge to surmount above it. Pull over the bulge using a gritty crack (crux) and navigate easier ledges to the top getting gear in where you can. VARIATION 1: At the start, you can also climb the spicier thin face (5.10?) above the small tree to arrive at the ledge below the bulge. VARIATION 2: If you need to make a hasty exit on this last pitch, head up and hard left from the anchor into easier terrain to avoid the crack/bulge and then continue up on a gully/slab ledges to the top.

The route is on the west face of the Pino Wall (middle/left side) immediately left of Pino Wall Route

To arrive at the start of this climb, you can rappel this route to the ground. 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. If there are any issues, a party can hike the gully to the north to get out of the canyon.

You are at the start of the route when you complete the last rappel of Windfull Thinking. Pitch 1 starts up a black waterstain on the face, aiming for a shallow left-facing dihedral.

FINDING THE START OF THE RAPPEL
To find the start of this rappel, approach as per normal for the Pino Wall from the Crest Trail (park at the Ellis Trail and hike south past the Tram to the start of the climber's trail (35.19110, -106.43004) down to Pino Wall). Follow the trail down until you arrive into the obvious clearing roughly 50 feet BEFORE the cliff edge, look for a cairn to your RIGHT (35.18927, -106.43101). Hike down this short gully following a couple cairns. Gear up and store packs at the bottom of the gully at the flat area just before the cliff edge. Follow the path north between the trees and rock face, then scramble down about 10 feet to a bolted rappel anchor on a nice ledge (35.18935, -106.43154).

See map for downloadable GPX tracks for approach and rappel anchor location.

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RAPPEL DETAILS
All 4 rappel stations are bolted and two ropes are required. You can get down with two 60s, two 50s or two 40s (but ONLY if you know how to sort out a 42m rappel with a pair of 40s. The 3rd rappel is longer than 40m). 

• Rappel 1 - 125ft Throw hard out and slightly skier’s left to get the rope over the slab ledges. You're aiming for a bolted anchor on the face of a boulder with a smaller tree about 10 feet above it.
• Rappel 2 - 130ft This rappel anchor might be easy to miss. Throw hard skier’s LEFT. As you’re rappelling, look for the next anchor skier’s left of the pillar with a small tree with dead branches at the top. The natural line is to be on the skier’s right side of the pillar so make sure to force yourself skier’s LEFT to arrive at the bolted anchor.
• Rappel 3 - 135ft Throw skier’s right of the bushy ledge so you don't have to detangle the rope from the shrubs.
• Rappel 4 - 115ft Throw straight down to arrive at the ground

A party can also rappel Dust to Dust to the ground with 1 70m rope and hike/traverse left/north about 10 minutes to the base of this climb.

• Double rack to #2, single #3, microcams, small set of nuts, optional #4 for bulge on pitch 4
• 2 protection bolts on pitch 3
• All anchors are vertical two bolt anchors with two integrated rap rings