The forecast is for a 50-60% chance of rain all weekend, so we do our best to start early when see clear skies in the morning. This is our first time to the traditional area at El Rito. It appears to be used far more lightly than the sport area. The approach from the forest…

Will this be our last time repeating this mistake? I hope so. We head to a new area in the camper, at night, after a birthday dinner. The Gilman tunnels are remnants from a narrow gauge railroad that burrowed through the steep canyon walls of the Guadalupe Box. It’s an ominous looking place in the…

Ann rallies after to work to join our climbing friend Jason at the New New Place outside White Rock for climbing. It would be easy to snuff at this place. It’s full of graffiti, tire art at the bottom of the hill, and fairly short routes. So I’m surprised when I like it. Nearly every…

We decide to camp out close to home at Diablo Canyon this weekend. There’s not much sacrifice involved. Wildflowers of almost every kind we’ve seen in the past month anywhere are blooming here. We have no trouble finding climbs in the shade, and while there are more people around here, most don’t stay long. We’re…

It’s likely to get too hot to climb at Penitente this time of year, and we resolve not to sleep in too late to catch the cool morning. That translates to about 8:30 in practice. Dave, Lisa, and Dyson were waiting for us at the campsite last night, and Dre and Serena join us in…

When Ann gets off work we head to Cochiti Mesa to check out the climbing there. We find an old trail up the Ponderosa-filled canyon, reach the rocks, and spot bolts, but we can’t identify the climbs at all. After a lot scrambling and scraping through brush we find the last route on the cliff…

I can’t think of anything I’d rather do for my birthday weekend than explore a new climbing area! Tres Piedras (Three Rocks) is a tiny town in northern New Mexico, distinguished by three rock formations visible from afar. The largest is partially in Carson National Forest, and has some nice climbing on highly featured granite.…

We feel like climbing cracks today. There is some high cloud cover, which Ann thinks may keep it cool enough to climb at The Overlook in White Rock, another scenic area on the Rio Grande. Our routes: Headwall Crack Left 5.8 A nice handcrack, supplemented by lots of good face holds. That’s a theme here.…

After a nice night along forest road 280, Ann and I make our way to the Las Conchas trailhead for some climbing. This is a lush, forested area along the East Fork Jemez River, whose headwaters flow from the caldera of a long-since-blown volcano. We cling to the remaining volcanic walls here, while hikers, fishers,…

We make an evening outing to this climbing area on the Rio Grande outside of Santa Fe. You have to drive through a suburb to reach it, and a I make a big, confused loop through it, somehow ending up driving back the way we came without realizing it. Finally we figure out we have…