Juan Tabo Canyon is subject to annual access closures from March 1 to August 15. MORE INFO >>>
The USFS-imposed closure applies to UNM Spire, the Prow, the Ramp, and the Shield (but not the Knife Edge). The Needle, and its south and east approaches, are unaffected.
The Shield is only open from mid-August through February for peregrine falcons even though they are no longer protected, so you'll have to plan accordingly. The Knife Edge is open year-round.
The Approach is the crux for sure. The rock is good enough if your cautious. The route is an excellent solo, just make sure your damn solid at the 5.3 grade! bringing a rope on this route would be a lot more work than its worth. Its 85% 4th class then a bit of 5.3 at the top that is really fun.
Location
The route is the NW Ridge of the shield. Follow the crest trail north, until you see the "10 K Trail" post mark. In this clearing go to the edge of the limestone band, and start descending the gully. there are some game trails but for the most part you`ll be suffering in the brush. The prominent ridge line on your left is the route. their is a well defined trail on the ridge line that takes you up the route.
I have always approached this route from below, leaving a car at the tram terminal and driving to the trail head that is on the dirt road that continues past the right turn that goes to the La Luz trailhead. I believe this approach is shorter, it is definitely all on a pretty good trail, though you do need to drive two cars and purchase a tram ticket back down.
I agree that the best approach is from below, up the Piedra Lisa trail to the Rincon. Descending Chimney Canyon is probably the fastest unless you down-climb the Knife-Edge. Favorite run/scramble in the Sandias!
Anyone leave a piece of gear at the W in the last 2 weeks? I have it if you want it back... (May 11) And again - more gear left at the W... (June 30) What's up with that?
Wow - you guys are gluttin for punishment. Just start off at the Piedra Lisa Trail to the Rincon ridge, go up the Knife Edge, and then descend the fixed ropes on the SE end of the Shield to gain the Ramp back down to your car. Do this when the area is open to climbing.
By Bill Lawry From: New Mexico Aug 17, 2009 rating: 5.4
Marc, Going down the ramp instead of Chimney Canyon sounds enticing. How is the terrain between the base of Procrastination and the highest well-defined part of the Fletcher Trail? Last year I went down the descent you suggest as far as the base of Procrastination - cool and adventurous (thanks for whoever put up the fixed rope!). This year, I've been up much of the well-defined part of the Fletcher trail until cutting off to head up to the S Route - very good trail that far. I just have not connected those two sections.
Very few parties rope up for the knife edge. I'm one of them... A few years back a buddy and I did it in Jan. or Feb. just for fun. You generally stay on the north side of the ridge, but since it was iced up, we had to stay on the south. There's a second "crux" near the top where the ridge steepens and it's a little trickier if you have to go to the south, as we did. Anyhoo, I pulled down on a big ol' block and it was fine. Behind me, my partner did the same and he was left holding an 80lb block of granite. Just before he fell. If we hadn't been roped up, he would be dead. Just a cautionary tale about the Knife Edge. Have fun, be safe. But I doubt you have to keep leaving your gear behind...
By John Kear From: Albuquerque, NM Aug 26, 2009 rating: 5.4
Bill, the terrain from procrastination down to the good part of the fletcher trail is OK a little scrambly in places and maybe a little trashing through the bush but not bad. Someone cleared the trail fairly well 2-3 years back with saw and pruners probably in order to haul big wall gear to the base. The trail up to the base of Procrasty was great then. A party was also hard at work last winter trying to finish a new route before the closure, so the trail was probably good as of late Feb this year. Personally I'm a big fan of using the tram to get down and some sort of car shuttle like Lee mentions. Civilized.
By Bill Lawry From: New Mexico Aug 30, 2009 rating: 5.4
Thanks, John. Sounds like the conditions depend some on the current activity level. I'll give it a go one of these days.
An informational note about descending the Knife Edge: Of course there are the merits of free-soloing. I have also been down this twice with folks not up for that. We hung a fully stretched-out 60 meter rope to get nearly down to The W and then another rope as a "hand line" across The W. When incorporating this into a descent of the Knife Edge, it can take several hours to get to all the way down depending of course on the experience level of individuals. Hill's guide lists the Knife Edge as 11 "pitches".
Did this over Christmas vacation in 1970 or thereabouts with Leland Davis and Clay Goldberg. Decided that it really was cold when we realized that snot froze immediately on our gloves. Exciting part was that there was a herd of mountain sheep (now extinct I believe in the Sandias) ahead of us and the alpha ram was not happy. We were roped up and I was going over the only tricky part (it was full of snow) and the ram made a mock charge (and I dropped about 10 feet - I wasn't drawing to his bluff as he sure looked big). We dropped down the canyon to the south of the Needle to get back to the car. A lot of snow actually made the descent fairly easy.
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