Los Alamos is of course famed as the site of the Manhattan Project to develop the first Atom Bomb. The Los Alamos National Laboratory now dominates the Mesa top with dozens of sites wrapped in razor wire.

However, this does little to detract from thousands of square miles of unspoilt wilderness, carved through by the Rio Grande and backed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Just a couple of miles outside the neighbouring town of White Rock, the Mesa rim is home to hundreds of routes on volcanic tuff – the remnants of giant ash eruptions from the nearby super volcano. This makes for great climbing in an awesome setting at just over 6,000 ft.