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Bob tries to climb rocks
"Hey, this isn't bouldering! Ain't I at the top yet?" - Me whining as Andy snaps the blackmail photo.
Resources
Some online guides to Socorro climbing and bouldering:
Socorro Bouldering and Climbing Guides.
The
New Mexico Tech Climbing Club
is the largest organized group of local climbers. You can see what they
are up to by checking the
mailing list.
A good gym in Albuquerque is Stone Age Climbing
A new local forum and beta spot is at V.Crux, check out the forum
I am the
NMCRAG
vice president. If you are in New Mexico, join NMCRAG! It's the Climber's
Resource and Advocacy Group, and it's here to help keep your local
crag from closing.
Sign up form: nmcragform.pdf 19KB PDF
While you're at it, join The
Access Fund.
Local rocks
Peck and Rob warming up at Box
Socorro's a good place to be a boulderer. We have some good stuff spread
around, we're finding more regularly, and
Box Canyon is only
five minutes from my house. Almost all of the problems are 100% natural:
we don't have a huge problem with ego-centric lickbag chippers and gluers
yet, although some of the roped climbing has been ruined forever. The
climate and terrain around Socorro allow year-round bouldering. I like
Box so much that I wrote some
haiku about it.
Watch the dirty savage fashion a primitive tool to salvage his beer.
An historical account of Dave and Bob adventures at Spook Canyon, just
next door to Box. Written by the intrepid traveller and salvation of
many fine vehicles of medium vintage,
Dave.
a view of Box Canyon during the summer monsoon season
Watch for eccentric locals at Box.
The legendary and beautiful
Hueco Tanks is about 3.5 hours away.
I try to get down there a couple times a month.
Cliff cranks Hueco's 45 Degree Wall (now closed) while Spudboy spots
There is a nice-looking cliff on the North face of Strawberry Peak. Spudboy
and I climbed up there...
This stuff looks really cool, but it's only a third-class scramble.
As we neared the cliff, our excitement mounted as we found some really
cool columnar rock similar to Devil's Tower. But, we were
dissappointed when we reached the it. The rock is at such a low
angle that you could almost walk up it. Very pretty, though. You
could probably contrive some nice fifth-class routes if you were motivated
enough to carry a rack up there and avoid the huge ledges.
Activism
My letter to the BLM regarding the RMPR scoping:
RMPR_scoping.pdf 54KB PDF
My letter to NMT regarding the gymnasium bouldering wall:
gym_boulder.pdf 24KB PDF
The Tech Climbing Club solicited essays on beliefs, so here's a copy of mine:
beliefs.txt 3.7KB text
We have had many successful cleanups and projects. Eighteen
people showed up in October 2002 for the Access Fund adopt-a-crag, and we cleaned up a lot of trash. Some very
industrious people were dispatched to the far corners of Box on special
missions, and some insane people picked up pounds of broken glass.
Unfortunately, the only picture I have of the clean up. Post clean up
beverages and yakking before hitting the boulders.
We also helped the BLM erect the information signs and kiosk in 2003.
Since then annual cleanups and constant stewardship have kept Box wild and
beautiful.
Updated June 8th, 2006