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!
Description
Pronounced Sugar-reet. A 40-50' basalt cliff with a variety of fun vertical cracks & face climbs. Climbs have all been led, but toproping is possible on virtually all climbs: anchors (often bolts) are easily set up (you may need a longer stretch of webbing/rope for some of the climbs). The altitude (around 8,000') means that climbing can be nice even in the summer; however, the cliff faces SE, so it may get too warm even here. Rock quality on the established climbs is usually very good.
Getting There
Sugarite is NE of the town of Raton, NM. Raton is about 20 miles south of the Colorado border on Interstate 25. To get to the cliff: take exit 452 onto Highway 72. Follow 72 east and take a mild left onto 526 (signs point the way to Sugarite). As you travel up this road and enter the park, you will either need to pay the day-use fee ($5 in 2008) at the kiosk, or continue up to your campground (you pay either the day-use fee or the camping fee [$10], not both). About 2.5 miles past the visitor center (has free showers!) is a dirt road leading left to Soda Pocket Campground. The campground is just under 2 miles up the road (and is the logical place to stay if climbing), but the parking for the climbing is just after a corral (~1.3 miles from the turn). The main trail, "Little Horse Mesa" trail leaves from the right side of the road near a sign that says "No horses or mules beyond this point". Approach the cliff-top from this trail: (it heads up the valley for a half mile or so, splits to the right (this is signed well), hump up the steep, but short hill and then walk the half mile back to the top of the cliff. You will know you are close when you see a dry lake bed on your left. There is another trail that leads to the bottom of the cliff; it starts by taking the main trail to the right from the parking area for 3-400 yards. If you can spot the cairns, follow the faint trail through brambles and talus to the base. ( I would recommend the clifftop trail on your first visit, then leave via the other trail so you know where it goes....)
Sugarite State Park
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