Welcome to the New Mexico section of Mountain Project!
The contributions that are made to this site are greatly appreciated; this site is made up of an awesome community of users that make the site what it is.
Although there is very little information regarding “rules” for submitting climbing areas and routes to this site, the New Mexico Administers all agree that the following guidelines may be helpful to truly make this site go “Beyond the Guidebook”.
1) Don’t be a jerk (this one states the obvious). 2) Route and area submissions should truly be helpful to those out climbing. Before posting, you should have some first hand experience actually climbing the route. This always results in a much more useful description. 3) Please, please, please… Don’t copy route descriptions directly out of guidebooks, online publications, etc. This is plagiarism! Remember, BEYOND the guidebook! 4) Please use the spell check and make an effort to use correct grammar.
Again, the Mountainproject community truly appreciates the efforts taken to make good route descriptions. If you feel that a route or area description is not up to standard, a brief email to one of the area admins for suggestions on improvement will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to make the New Mexico section of Mountain Project quality! We look forward to seeing you out there!
Rick McWilliams on "nearly classic" (5.11b)
Description
Pecos River Canyon is a picturesque granite crag northeast of Santa Fe, NM in the Santa Fe National Forest. The crag offers five separate cliffs of one-pitch, mixed trad and sport climbs on excellent pink-hued granite, nestled among the pines above the trout-filled Pecos River. On a typical weekend day, climbers will be outnumbered by fishermen 3 to 1. This ultimate roadside crag suffers and benefits from its accessibility. Complete solitude will be difficult to attain while belaying from the highway shoulder at Cathedral Rock; however, the dense vegetation and mandatory river crossing can make the Bleachers, only 100 feet distant, feel a world apart.
This crag offers excellent climbing on thin slabs, steep jug hauls, and blocky cracks (usually with a roof or two). This is a haven for the granite face-climbing afficionado, reminiscent of the best rock in the Sandias and Gilman. There are a number of pure trad lines (generally dihedrals), but this crag doesn't have any 'splitter' cracks. The real prime routes are in the 5.9 to 5.11- range, which would make this place popular in any state but NM.
Getting There
From Interstate 25, head north to the town of Pecos. Continue north from Pecos on State Route 63 for about 7.5 miles. The Cathedral, which is the main crag, will appear on the right (E) side of the road, just as the road bends sharply to the left. The Cathedral is 10.5 miles from the intersection of 66 and 63 in Pecos. There is a small, sometimes crowded pullout on the left (W) side of the highway about 25 feet past the Cathedral. Additional parking can be found N and S of the Cathedral at various Forest Service picnic grounds, etc.
I'm not sure the term "excellent climbing" really applies to any of the Pecos River Valley Crags, but certainly not the cathedral. The climbs are short for the most part and often contrived and definitely not worthy of being advertised as quality climbing. Some of the rock is very good and some of the routes might be worthy if you were already in the Pecos, but the drive in from the interstate might be too far for anything more than novelty.
There is a section on this climbing area in Marc Beverly's book Jemez Rock (2006) pp. 239-254. I agree that Cathedral near the road lacks location but the area offers a nice change for the hotter summer months.
Pecos River Canyon
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