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Main Wall- Upper Tier
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Routes Sorted
L to R R to L Alpha
Air Voyager 
Bunghole Slot 
Gorgonzola 
Pajarito Gorge Gully 
Poseidon Adventure, The 
Route 10 
Route 11 
Route 12 
Route 13 
Route 14 
Route 15 
Route 19 
Route 20 
Route 21 
Route 3 
Route 4 
Route 6 
Route 8 
Route 9 
Shake It Up 
Spill the Wine 

Main Wall- Upper Tier 


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Lat, Long: 35.8115, -106.1996 Map
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Administrators: Aaron Hobson, Jason Halladay, Anthony Stout, LeeAB, Tom Erickson
Submitted By: Scott Beguin on Jan 7, 2008

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  Print a Mini-Guide with routes

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BETA PHOTO: Pajarito Gorge main cliff. Crappy photo from befo...

Description 

This is a mostly south-facing basalt crag with trad and sport routes that are exposed and fun. This gets sun most of the day and is subject to winds because of the nature of the location.


Getting There 

Once in White Rock, turn south on Rover and continue slightly past Rover Park and then take a right on Kimberly. Follow Kimberly to the end of the cul-de-sac and park. From the cul-de-sac on Kimberly, walk south to the cliff edge where you'll overlook the gorge and be above the crag. This is not the east-facing cliff that faces the Rio and the tire art (New New Place). The descent is not obvious. The descent is the only place that looks possible on the south-facing cliff. Descend exposed 4th class down blocks and hand cracks about 15'. Then traverse to the east on a 2' ledge around a corner followed by easier scramble downwards. This gets you to most of the rock climbs here. Rappelling is a good choice for beginners, or if you want to bring your pack to the base.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Main Wall- Upper Tier:
Pajarito Gorge Gully   WI3 M3     Trad, Mixed, Ice, 1 pitch, 60 feet   
Route 21   5.8-     Trad, TR, 50 feet   
Route 20   5.9     Trad, TR, 55 feet   
Route 14   5.9     Trad, TR, 65 feet   
Route 13   5.10     Trad, TR, 65 feet   
Route 9   5.10     Trad, TR, 65 feet   
Air Voyager   5.10     TR, 60 feet   
The Poseidon Adventure   5.10c     Trad, TR, 1 pitch, 60 feet   
Route 4   5.10c     TR, 65 feet   
Route 6   5.11a     Trad, TR, 70 feet   
Route 11   5.11     Trad, TR, 65 feet   
Route 19   5.11     Trad, TR, 50 feet   
Route 15   5.11+     Trad, TR, 60 feet   
Route 3   5.11+     TR, 65 feet   
Route 8   5.11+     Trad, TR, 65 feet   
Bunghole Slot   5.12-     Trad, TR, 65 feet   
Spill the Wine   5.12     TR, 60 feet   
Browse More Classics in Main Wall- Upper Tier

Featured Route For Main Wall- Upper Tier
"Boots" Barto flashing The P.G. Gorge.

Pajarito Gorge Gully WI3 M3  NM : Los Alamos & White Rock : ... : Main Wall- Upper Tier
The crux depends on what shape it is in. It is usually near the bottom and a mental crux at that. This is a great moderate ice route that rarely forms all of the way in. It is lots of fun and not much stress is invoved. It is easier than it looks and offers good gear placements....[more]   Browse More Classics in NM


Photos of Main Wall- Upper Tier Slideshow Add Photo
Routes 4 through 9.  <br /> <br />Route 3 finishes as for Route 4, but it was not clear to me where it started.  <br /> <br />Route 10 starts to the right of the start of Route 8/9, but finishes as for Route 9. Route 11 starts as for Route 10 and breaks right.

BETA PHOTO: Routes 4 through 9.

Route 3 finishes as for Rout...


Routes 12 and 13

BETA PHOTO: Routes 12 and 13

Routes 14 through 17. As of 9/2010, the bolts on Gorgonzola (Route 16) have hangars.

BETA PHOTO: Routes 14 through 17. As of 9/2010, the bolts on G...

The right side of Pajarito Gorge, Routes 18 through 21.

BETA PHOTO: The right side of Pajarito Gorge, Routes 18 throug...


Comments on Main Wall- Upper Tier Add Comment
Show which comments
By Daniel Trugman
From: Los Alamos, NM / Stanford, CA
Sep 13, 2010

The downclimb is not *that* bad, but it's still likely the trickiest in White Rock. If you don't like the looks of the downclimb described above, you can also scramble down the blocks about ten feet skier's left of the blank plaque/bench. This is more like 3rd class and less exposed, but is slightly loose.

To be clear, there are two distinct subareas of the Main Wall:

One subarea is climber's left of the "official" approach, and includes routes 1 -17. Some of the climbs, (at least the ones left of #7, maybe some others), face southwest, and therefore are climbable on summer mornings. The rest of the routes face southeast.

The other is climber's right of the "official", and includes routes 18 - 21. This area is directly below the bench/plaque. The climbs here face south, but there are enough deep dihedrals that they are relatively shady on summer mornings.

Both subareas are climber's left of the alternative approach I described.

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I agree with the comments on the main Pajarito Gorge page; there are some really good climbs here, and the area is well worth a visit or two.