NM Ice Climbing

Hi all, I'm looking for some info on good spots to ice climb in the state, or surrounding states. I'd like to find at least a small area to play around in closer to Albuquerque, so if you know of some spots please let me know! Also, I've heard rumors that Big Block is decent for dry tooling, is it true?

As far as ice climbing in New Mexico things are pretty slim. In the Sandias there is always waterfall canyon that comes in after a good storm followed by cold temps. Also south peak has a good ice line as well, a little thin and fast to melt out. Overall the temps around Albuquerque fluctuate too much to have solid ice. A few years ago I climbed an ice right on the shield. It was next to the standard s route and had one solid pitch of ice climbing followed by many mixed pitches to the top.

You could always venture north to the Taos/Angelfire area. The lines north of Taos are on private land so I will not go into detail on those. The things in Angel fire are small and not worth the drive unless you were up there skiing. There is also a climb up by Williams Lake by Wheeler Peak but agin only worth it if u where up there skiing.

You are better off going to Wolfcreek area which has lots of great climbs. You could also just drive to Silverton/Ouray which is a sure bet.

Big Block is a great place to go dry tooling just be respectful if there are boulders below you. Get out there and find more ice it would be cool to see what else is out there that comes in on a regular basis.

I don't drytool on boulder problems. Unless you are all bouldering up high on the upper part of big block. If you are man you have stones. The routes up high have been setup for drytooling and are great for that. I can't speak for all and I am sure people start the drytooling on the boulder problems even though that's not needed. HoBo your chipping comment is a joke. Do you have your eyes open when you boulder at big block. Again I am not saying go and drytool the boulder problems like I said above you can stay off them to access the climbs up high. Everyone can share the "greatness" of big block!

HoBo wrote: The joke is giving a shit about big block to begin with. The joke is dry tooling. The joke could be telling someone new to NM to go dry tooling at big block. I am not joking when I say that people dry tooling is impacting the established bouldering negatively. If you really do haul your crap up 15 feet just to strap it on and climb another 20 well then good on you, you are the exception to the rule. I have been bouldering there for over ten years and I can say that without question drytooling is taking it's toll on the finishes (cruxes) of the boulder problems, and this problem has become much worse in the last five years. When you tell someone new to the area to go dry tooling at big block are they supposed to magically know not to dry tool on the first 15 feet? Why would they make that assumption? If someone told me to dry tool at an area I would assume that the entire area was made for dry tooling. ps, the routes that are "equiped for dry tooling" were originally sport routes that sucked so much no one climbed them. Your assertion that they are dry tool routes makes me chuckle.

You have shown how little you know here. There was only one route in the cave overhang that still had hardware that was good to climb on. The rest up there have been bolted for drytooling. The old sport routes did not have safe hardware and some of the rock fell off holding them. I don't carry my gear up there but climb up on the far right side. I will encourage people to drytool there as it is a perfect place for this. I will not get into the argument as to if it is silly or not as that could go on for days. If you are truly concerned about what drytooling is doing to the boulder problems that were chipped and glued from day one let me know and I would love to sit down and talk with you about it. Since you have only been climbing there for 10 years you have not seen how much that place has changed. It is just bad rock.

Matt Barela

Forgot to say that if you don't care about big block then why engage on this topic.

Alesser,
If yo are looking for alpine ice in NM, North of Questa has some stuff that usually comes in Later. The Brazos Box has some awesome adventure alpine ice routes that are probably in now. They do close Hwy 64 when the big snows come however. For crag ice, you can always go to Taos, but even better is Los Alamos and the Jemez. Not ready yet, but there are several mixed/dry tool problems in town (M5-M6) to get a days pump on. You won't have to worry about pissing any boulderers off. Jemez Falls must be frozen by now with a neighboring M7+ and M8. That is worth a day. When the town routes are in, Los Alamos is worth the trip and could keep you entertained for a couple of days. The San Juan Range in Colorado offers more than you can shake your tools at, and is not that far out. It is always worth the trip.

Hey Scott, thanks! Where is Jemez falls?

Wow, this thread got a lot of beta posted in a big ole hurry. Kinda surprising.
Anyway, re: Jemez Falls; I went down there last January (?, or whenever that multi-day cold snap was last winter when the state's natural gas got shut off). Even then, the falls was just a thin hollow shell of ice with raging water behind. I'd think it takes quite a bit more cold and time to freeze that sucker up safely, since the stream has got such a (relatively) high cfs.

And, FFS, if you can't find Jemez Falls with teh Googles, then....

anyone been up to Jemez Falls lately? How are the conditions? I miss the Taos ice, but am hoping to make my way onto some this winter.

Ice in NM?

has anyone been to anywhere with ice? Looking for a place to practice ice anchors and crevasse rescue practice. Dont need it to be climbable, just there.

Jemez falls, Waterfall canyon, los alamos?

Appreciate it!

Anyone? I feel like its probably been too warm lately to find anything around here.