Tortilla Flats Rock Climbing

This area is undergoing some work to make it more appealing, and a good alternative to Potrillo Cliffs when you find that site packed with people. We're cleaning up the routes, making them more evident and accessible, establishing well marked down climbs, and cleaning up the trail along the base. If you'd like to help out, a few things that need work, in addition to cleaning off dirt and loose rocks when you climb the routes include:

1) Cairn a path from the main trail that heads out to The Big Enchilada and the Tortilla Flats South Down Climb, marked by a large rock cairn where the down climb begins.

2) Establish nice belay locations that are cleared of tripping hazards and other debris that gets in your way when belaying.

3) Establish a nice trail along the bottom from belay location to belay location that is clear of tripping hazards and other debris that makes it cumbersome to walk the bottom.

4) Clear loose dirt, rocks, and debris along the top that can make it hazardous for people to work along the top setting TR anchors.

Thanks for your help!

The Tortilla Flats crag lies along the same cliff band as The Big Enchilada, but is located northwest of that area, in a shorter, more broken section of the cliff.

This area has been described as a beginners' top-roping area. It has also been described as not a good beginners' lead area, but actually some good, easy trad leads do exist here. For more advanced Trad leaders, the climbs here are probably less interesting than those at other White Rock crags.

According to the on-line LAM guide, the area was developed mostly by Roy Lucht, Mike Montoya, Lou Horak and Jim Straight, in the 1990s. The ratings were based, as closely as possible, on the system used by Gary Clark at Potrillo.

The cliffs are fairly short (40-50 feet), and the bottom sections of many of the routes are pretty broken up and ledgy. Top Rope setups are pretty straightforward. Every route listed on MP has a two-bolt anchor. The top of the crag is not a well-defined edge, like Potrillo Cliffs, so they are not always easy to spot. They are painted the approximate color of the rock and you may have to lie down and look over the edge or scramble down onto a lower ledge to reach them. In a couple instances the two-bolt anchors are shared by more than one route. If you prefer, or want to practice your natural feature anchor building, there are a goodly number of BFRs (big friendly rocks) and BFTs (big friendly trees). Most of these will require 50' - 100' of static line or Trad Pro and 20' or so of cord or slings. The cliff faces roughly WSW, and is therefore shaded until early afternoon. This is a fine place to climb on early Summer mornings.

Route guides include the on-line LAM guide, which contains a quaint but fairly crude topo of the overall crag. Beverly's (2006) Jemez Rock book also covers most of the climbs here, but Jackson (2006) does not cover this area.