The Jemez Mountains lie to the west of Los Alamos and offer a great range of accessible, high altitude cragging in some stunning locations. We started our exploration to the west of the historic Jemez Springs, at Gilman Tunnels. The drive is like a trip through a geology textbook and it’s impossible not to appreciate the huge scale and timescales involved. A few thousand feet above us, the characteristic sandstone formations dominate the skyline (though ironically it’s the one rock type we haven’t climbed on yet this trip).

It’s incredible to think that the tiny trickle of a river that burbles in the bottom of the valley has managed to carve its way through all that rock, and to expose the underlying granite – anyway, a little bit of water and a LOT of time have created a handy climbing resource…

… made accessible by the New Mexico highways authority thanks to the eponymous tunnels.

There’s climbing on both sides of the gorge, and we kicked off, perhaps foolishly, on the sunny side, with a short boulder hop to the Broken Arrows formation.

Here’s me on a fun 5.9, Trads into Rads, and we also did the adjacent Entrapment, also 5.9, and Cyber Crime, 10.c, which takes the steeper wall above and right through a tricky overlap.

The rock quality on the shady side isn’t up to the same standard, but needs must (it was toasty despite being around 9,000ft). Here’s Helen on the looong slab of Sierra Corazon, and I quite enjoyed Out of the Shadows, 10b.

All that worked up a thirst, and the Jemez Mountain Brewery seemed like the ideal spot to quench it. Highly recommended.

The Las Conchas area sits in beautiful meadows amidst the Jemez Mountains. The rock here is volcanic rhyolite, offering superb friction and a variety of interesting holds. Despite much of the surrounding area being ravaged by a forest fire a few years ago, the destruction of the dominant pine forests have opened up a niche for new-growth Aspen, making for spectacular autumn colours.

Happily the presence of the river and the work of the fire services mean that the environment surrounding the crags is unscathed.

There was a team already in situ on Drive-by Shooting, 10b, on Gateway Rock…

… so Helen warmed up on Garden Wall…

… while we waited, before doing that and Road Rage, 11a.

Further downstream, the Love Shack area sits immediately above a side-channel of the river, making for slightly precarious belaying. Luckily the routes are so steep that you lower off on the dry side. We enjoyed Love Handles, 5.9, and The Other Woman, 10b.

Our base for our visit was the Bandelier National Monument’s Juniper Campground, which was such a lovely spot that we allowed ourselves the luxury of a first rest day in almost a fortnight.

Just a gentle wander to see the cave dwellings of the Pueblo settlement. They certainly picked a location with some great climbing potential…

Sadly now off limits 😉

Just up from Las Conchas, Upper East Fork is a little less explored, and a real oasis of tranquility. Time for a bit of log-bridge yoga!

We climbed on Spaghetti Western Wall and did a whole bunch of routes. Here’s Helen on Toy Gun Show, 5.7.

I had an ultimately unsuccessful tussle with Bareback, 11c, which takes a stonking arete.

… but had more success on Smart Cowboy, 11a, Ned Flies a Stick, 10c, and perhaps the best of the lot: Demanda, 5.9+. A shame to leave but evening was drawing in.

Area 37 is an unassuming roadside sector, largely hidden by trees, but has some great featured rock. Here’s Helen on Frosted Mini Wheats, 10a

I did a monster pitch, linking Cyclic Loader, 11a, with its 10b/c extension, the well-named Fatigue, for 50m of full-on fun. That took us nicely up to Elk-viewing hour in the Valles Caldera National Preserve – a huge meadow encircled by the remnants of a gigantic volcanic crater.

It would take an eagle eye to spot this herd in the photo above – this shot is on 100x zoom…

Magnificent sunset from our Bandelier base.