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Upper East Fork

Submitted By: Josh Smith on Mar 22, 2009
Administrators: Aaron Hobson, Anthony Stout, George Perkins
Latitude: 35.8198  Longitude: -106.5182 
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BETA PHOTO: Overview of the whole area. Very useful for first ...


Description 

This area is upstream from Las Conchas and is very similar in look and feel. Fun, varied climbing next to the Jemez river.


Getting There 

Upper East Fork is towards the Valles Grande from the Las Conchas climbing area, about half a mile past mile marker 37 (“Climbing Area 37”). Park at the paved parking area next to the large rock that lies just off the road. The hike from Area 37 is about the same, so it can be used as overflow parking. Go through the cattle gate. The obvious trail goes at 90 degrees to the road. Don’t go this way. Turn left, over the rocks, and follow a good trail parallel to the road for about a hundred yards, about a hundred feet back from the road. It trends up hill and hits a saddle on the ridge. Follow it over and down to the river. At the river, go downstream a hundred yards to the obvious walls. Ford the river. This is the Monster Wall. Approach time will be about fifteen or twenty minutes.

Spaghetti Western Wall is another quarter mile down stream, on the same side of the river as the Monster Wall.
Logs have been used as bridges to access the walls, but they’ll likely be gone each spring.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Upper East Fork:
(04) Soy Beefcake   5.8     Sport, 1 pitch, 40 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(16) Cookie Monster   5.8     Sport, 1 pitch, 70 feet   Monster Wall
(09) Demanda   5.9     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(17) Ogopogo   5.10a     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   Monster Wall
(10) Pale Rider   5.10a     Sport, 70 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(15) Powder Monkey   5.10c     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(04a) Hamburger Helper   5.10c     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(01) Excrementally Weighted   5.10d     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   The Bull Horn
(13) Cowboy Up   5.10d     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(12) Smart Cowboy   5.10d     Sport   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(05) Bareback   5.11b/c     Sport, 1 pitch, 70 feet   Spaghetti Western Wall Area
(10) Werepig   5.11b/c     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Monster Wall
(12) Pegasus   5.12a     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Monster Wall
(11a) Monster Slayer   5.13a     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Monster Wall
Browse More Classics in Upper East Fork

Featured Route For Upper East Fork
Past the business on Demanda.

(09) Demanda 5.9  NM : Jemez Valley Area : ... : Spaghetti Western Wall Area
Has a crux down low, and then has pretty fun, rambly climbing. This route is kind of squeezed in with Pitchfork and Pale Rider, and about a third of the way up all three routes converge. Stick with the middle line if you want the climbing to stay at 5.9. ...[more]   Browse More Classics in NM


Photos of Upper East Fork Slideshow Add Photo
UEF in December 2007. The <a href='/v/new_mexico/jemez_valley_area/upper_east_fork/106382989'>Monster Wall</a> can be seen in the right portion of the photo.

UEF in December 2007. The Monster Wall can be see...

We found a handfull of baby birds that apparently had been booted from the nest. Ripper and I each picked one up in an attempt to show them to Dylan (under 2 years old). The one I was carrying took flight for possibly the first time. This is the one that Ripper had.

We found a handfull of baby birds that apparently ...

Then again maybe Ripper is so scarry that the bird could not do anything but drop a turd in his hand. After letting Dylan check out the baby we returned it to the bushed were we found it and after an hour or so they were all gone.

Then again maybe Ripper is so scarry that the bird...


Comments on Upper East Fork Add Comment
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By Josh Smith
Mar 22, 2009

This is a pretty new area, and many of these routes have only been climbed a few times. The rock is also pretty soft, so BE CAREFUL. It can and will break. Some of the routes are still a little dirty as well (some will likely always be), so if be prepared for that. Please use the trails as much as possible to keep the grass from getting demolished.

By LeeAB
Administrator
From: ABQ, NM
Mar 22, 2009

Josh
Thanks for posting this, sometime last spring or summer a topo of the area mysterioously showed up at Stone Age, it showed all the routes but did not give directions at all.

By George Perkins
Administrator
From: Los Alamos, NM
Mar 22, 2009

Glad to see this area has "gone public". It's wonderful.. taller than Las Conchas but just as nice a setting but without all the hikers.. It's like a Las Conchas for 5.10+, 5.11 and 5.12 climbers, and many of the climbs have now seen enough traffic that they are cleaning up nicely. Josh is largely responsible for the vision of the place and deserves most of the credit for the area, but others did their share too: Rick Bradshaw, James Hunter, Scott Beguin, Jason Halladay, Gary Parker, Mandy Smith, Sam Gardner, and a few others who I didn't mean to leave out.

Please do not rip off the biners at the top of the climbs!!!

If you print out Josh's 3 beta photos, it's easy to find your way around:
Overview Map
Monster Wall Topo
Spaghetti Western Topo

By Jason Halladay
From: Los Alamos, NM
Mar 22, 2009

Most all of the routes face south so it can get pretty warm here. Spring, fall and summer nights are the best climbing times.

The rock and moves on many of the routes at UEF are best described as tricky. I've climbed here with many different folks and get mixed reviews about sandbagged ratings, tricky moves, sneaky technique and sketchy rock. To some degree I can agree with all of those descriptions. It's gritty and interesting rock and it's best to go into with the expectation of it being tough and perhaps a bit sketchy. But the setting is amazing along the river and you don't hear the roar of motorcycles or jake brakes from trucks and you're not likely to see the local church group TRing on the same four routes all day.

Enjoy the setting and climb lightly. If that jug looks like it could come off despite the FAs best attempts to clean it, it probably could.

By LeeAB
Administrator
From: ABQ, NM
Aug 2, 2009

What happened to the Overview map? It seems to be MIA.

The climbing here was fun. The rock is still a little grainy, so expect pebbles to drop off if you are dragging your foot on the wall or trying to use unchalked holds. I did not really find the grades sandbagged, but maybe a little inconsistent, which makes sense, fewer opinions to come to a consensus at this point.

By Marc Beverly
From: New Mexico
Aug 16, 2009

You guys have been doing a great job up there ! The climbing is great and it's a nice venue to boot. Thanks for hard work (I know what it's like). Hope to climb there more.