A very wild and as yet undeveloped area with tons of rock, how much of it is climbable and reasonably accessable is up for debate. The main aspect of the cliff line is west facing and bakes in the afternoon sun, though as the cliff contours along the hillside there are more north and south facing aspects as well. The rock is limestone and varies from great to pretty bad onion skin.
This is a pretty rough area and requires 4x4 and clearance to make it all the way to the highest parking. There are no services with in about 45 minutes so plan accordingly. Cliffs range from about 100 feet to close to 300 or taller.
Many years ago Bryan Pletta, Dave Baltz and Doug Teague did some exploring and put up a handful of mixed routes at a small cliff in the Bat Cave area but could not get others motivated to go down and continue development. The area sat for many years without any further development untill the winter of 2008/2009 when Timmy Fairfield, John Kear, Mark Beverley and Lance Hadfield among others started to add routes. Bryan also returned and added bolts to his mixed routes to make them sport climbs.
Getting There
Directions to Bat Cave
I-25 to Exit 59 Arrey Derry/ Caballo Percha State Parks Turn right (southwest) at exit for 2.7 mi. Left on W. Wagoneer Rd. for 1.1 mi. Left on Sugar Sand Rd. for 0.7 mi. Veer right onto dirt for 0.2 mi. Left at Tee, drive under highway in single lane tunnel for 2.6 miles to dam Continue for 3.7 mi and turn right onto a 4WD road Continue for 0.4 mi. and veer left Continue for 0.6 mi. and veer right Turn left at Green Truck and drive to end for Bat Cave Continue straight for 0.25 mi at Green Truck for Gotham City
GPS is a very rough estimate from looking at the map. If anyone has accurate GPS cordinates, let me know and I will up date them.
By Aaron Hobson Administrator From: Las Cruces, NM Aug 29, 2009
It's really good to see this area being posted. I've made a few trips up here this year and plan on many more as it's a reasonable drive from Las Cruces. I managed to get my little 2wd Geo tracker up to the parking area, although it was a bit iffy. This will be a good winter climbing area.
Is there any decent camping around this area or is it sketchy (a comment on one of the other pages under this area suggests carrying a gun!)? It would be quite the drive from up north so going down to spend a couple days would be ideal. Thanks.
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