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Long Ass: This V1 warm-up is located in the Jumbles, a popular section of Middle Mesteo Canyon with a high concentration of climbs. Photo: Eric Bissell, The patchwork history of public lands that transformed the area around a small New Mexico town into a world-class bouldering area.

In general, the relationship with locals has been positive. As you climb on the smaller problems, these bigger lines loom overhead waiting for the right day. I pulled over to the north side of the historic main street in the aging village of Roy to get a photo of the iconic water tower, flushed with morning light.

In 2012, the owner of a nearby ranch reported commotion emanating from what was normally a desolate area. Ellis remarks that Penners self-confidence, which some confuse for arrogance, has enabled him to consistently top out new highballs. Stop at Lonitas Cafe on your way through town for homestyle cooking and a cozy atmosphere (275 Richelieu St., 575-485-0191). Above:Climber Tom Ellis takes a breather in Beaver Canyon.

Its a strange place to be looking for rocks to climb. The developers who establish climbing areasdefining and cleaning problems, clearing trails, creating safer landingsare after a combination of aesthetics, variety, and reliability when scouting new zones.

(Ellis jokingly says Cheney-Bush would be a better analogy.)

2,630/month, There's also a gas station and an opening-soon bakery/cafe next to Ma Sally's, Beware, though, Sundays in Roy are dead. The classic Lightline has 700 fill down and a windproof Drilite shell, perfect for the howling New Mexico winds.

Thats where we got the greatest enjoyment.

climbers bouldering

Unsure about the reach, I measured the distance with a stick and compared it to my max ability. Im so happy, because I see people go to Roy and theyre freaking out on the stars, and theyre having a version of that experience that we had early on.

"Owen Summerscales" Photo: Owen Summerscales. A five-mile gravel road leads to the rim of Mills Canyon and the main campsite, from where multiple roads split off toward the different climbing areas. Get the latest climbing news, videos, tips, and more every Thursday.

The place felt different than when I first started coming here in 2013, after moving temporarily to New Mexico for a relationship. ). The stone features the kind of gorgeous, textured, bullet-hard slopers youd find farther east, like in Arkansass Ozark Mountains. Fewer people come here than to Colorados Front Range, which is crowded thanks to Denvers booming climbing scene, says Penner.

For a second, nothing but the toe remained on the wall until my fingers just grabbed the top. I headed out there with my now wife, and it really felt like we were going to the middle of nowhere.

One day it belongs to the wind and a dusty history and youre the foreign object on the landscape.

In the background are a few remaining Osage orange trees from the Mills Orchard Ranch. High-elevation swells harbor green forests and snowy peaks. The Dust Bowl village of Roy has a colorful history, with its main street forming a sun-bleached, open-air museum of Americana, but has suffered constant depopulation since the 1940s; nowadays, it is predominantly composed of a small ranching and retirement community. Maybe we should camp here and figure it out in the morning? my girlfriend, Jamie, suggested.

Follow Leave No Trace ethics.

Alton Richardson figuring out the geometry on Try Angular (V6), the Jumbles, Middle Mesteo. Stumps and his ruined hotel remain on the land.

Still, there are days when its possible to have the place mostly to yourself. Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more. Its why an arrowhead removed from its resting place holds little insight into the story of its owner. Another friend told a story about getting a jump from a state trooper near Wagon Mound when their Tacoma shorted on the highway after multiple stream crossings searching for new boulders. Kuphal sent with just one spotter and a couple of pads. As a British expat, the amount of open space shocked methe population density in England is 1,070 people per square mile; in New Mexico, its 17. Emerging from the canyons onto the plains at the end of a day bouldering. Most climbers first impressions of Roy are its remoteness, its vastness, and its sheer improbabilitylocated east of the Rocky Mountains on Kiowa National Grasslands shortgrass prairie.

There are few established trails in the Kiowa Grasslands: lots of bushwacking, no cell service and not a patch of pavement once you leave the main highway. The orchard was destroyed in the early 1900s by a massive flood and never recovered. The color, texture and shape of boulders varies drastically from canyon to canyon in Roy. Someone else in the group once found a dinosaur bone by the Canadian River and held up a chalky hand to demonstrate the crooked claw. Sign up for exclusive offers, original stories, activism awareness, events and more from Patagonia.

Start on the arte and traverse across solid juggy holds to a top-out that offers big views of the canyon. incision betacache

Why not trade it in?

Icarus (V7) ascends a slightly off-vertical Merlot face with big lockoffs between slanting ribs, while One-Eyed Clown (V10), lauded as the best of its grade in the state, climbs a beautiful, arching, pocketed arte. After a tour of Mesteo Canyon, the octogenarian became impressed with their passion, especially as they promised to keep an eye out for meth labs (perhaps Flowers had been watching too much cable news). Finally, the Dave Graham Memorial Boulder project, close to Hokusais Wave, combines elements of all the above through an awe-inspiring overhung wall of washboard runnels. The bumpy drive into Mills Canyon descends through the colorful strata of the 800-foot gorge, cutting through 160 million years of sandstone deposits, and takes you to the Canadian River, where Melvin Mills attempted an enormous agricultural operation in the late 1800s. The accent is unique, the architecture is almost all adobe, and the food, most of it slathered in red and green chiles, is unbelievably good.

As word started to spread about this out-of-the-way gem, a new beginning took root. Springtime, meanwhile, can be notoriously windyeasily avoided by climbing in the sheltered canyons. It was empty and wild, the canyons were elaborate, varied and massive. His sinecure allowed him time to explore. When we stopped by on this trip, another group of climbers was already in a booth.

Reserve Deputy Sheriff Flowers, a local who lives at the entrance to the Kiowa Grasslands, was called in and found Penner and Elliss chalk at the base of the cliff.

Here, youll find the World Wide Wall, a 25-foot-tall band of streaked stone with a dozen or so high-quality problems in the V410 range.

Mega Roof: A lowball roof that tops out around seven feet from the ground, this spot in Upper Mesteo, about a 30-minute hike from the trailhead, is home to several fun problems.

When everyone else is tired, he keeps trying, somehow managing to pull off impressive ascents above his pay grade on a last-gasp effort.

But the giant Dakota sandstone blocks, scattered through the Kiowa Grasslands, are very real. The rock there just demands being climbed, Penner says.

We lay on crashpads to watch the lunar eclipse.

Mills was named after Melvin Mills, who established an audacious orchard along the Canadian River. Just dont expect anything to be open on Sundays. It was really hard for me to understand what I was looking at until I was shown.. A quiet slice of northeast New Mexico comes of age as one of the best rock climbing destinations in the countryyet few people know it. Eli Nogueira spots Scott Chapman on Coyote Sombrero, in Beaver Canyon.

Its a move, says Takahashi, that were you to blow it would see you slingshotting far left, probably past all the pads. Witnessing the FA was terrifying, Ill admit, but Takahashis fiercely focused send was flawless. Owen Summerscaless book New Mexico Bouldering (Southwest Bouldering Guides, 2016) is essential. A man walked up to me, stomping the cold from his feet, his palms showing through his worn wool gloves, his hood cinched so tight over his ears that I could only see the center of his face and the frost on his mustache. On one side of a boulder, you could find smooth, sloping handholds on pristine sandstone; on the opposite, a glossy patina on stone worn with age, presenting a different challenge. Bison anchored an ecosystem of grassland that was the foundation to the previously nomadic lives of multiple tribes including Comanche, Apache and Kiowa.

He raised his eyebrows when he heard we were camping at the canyon rim where the temperatures dropped into single digits. A complex trolley system brought produce from the canyon bottom to the surface of the plains where it was then shipped to towns around the Southwest. The wind howled and the pack of dogs barked at animals out of sight in the darkness. For other tips on lodgings, food, and special events, go to hardingcountymainstreet.org.

He brought his mobile coffee shop, Carabiner Coffee, and served fresh French roast to climbers visiting on the weekends. Now the campground at the rim, nearest to the climbing, reliably fills when the weather is favorable (usually between October and April, when temperatures are cool). We enticed Will to come out to Roy and spend a week with us during the winter.

We were definitely exploring and discovering it for ourselves without any kind of guidance. inflorida equestrian

A couple of climbers from Taos had established sport routes on a cliff band near the rim campground in the 1990s. Even now, compared with other popular bouldering areas in the country, Roy is blissfully quiet.

With the help of many local climbers over a two-year period, I put together the first bouldering guidebook for the state, including Roy and the Ortegas. When in Hueco Tanks or Brione, they wished they were back in Roy. Boulderers simply pack in crash padslarge cushions that they set up below the problem, or climb, that theyre working onand spot each other. I checked my phone again for a signal, toaccess a map. Research chemist Owen Summerscales is the author of New Mexico Bouldering and a forthcoming companion guidebook for sport climbing. Instead, use a softer touch with the Lapis Boars Hair Brush, with its soft, ber-cleaning bristles and supersized head. However, increasing numbers of climbers were arriving and getting lost anyway. Theres no running water in Mills Canyon, and town, where you can buy bottled water, is 20 minutes away.

granola coming In 2007, the Forest Service built one campground by the river and another at the rim of Mills Canyon to encourage and support more recreation. Bouldering is a type of climbing that involves scaling shorter routes, typically on freestanding boulders. With sandstone, it takes some time to understand the climbs. And in 1932, a road crew unearthed spear points within the matted masses of wooly mammoth bones. Photo: Eric Bissell.

Is This Our Best Bouldering Area?

Before cows, the plains were covered in bison.

Mills Canyon is a huge draw for both out-of-state tourists and New Mexicans, Navas says, which is all the more reason we need to invest in this area to protect the incredible natural resources and buoy the rural economies of Roy and Mosquero.. The gnarly crux comes above, with a one-of-a-kind mono-runnel-pinch and a committing highstep at 15 feetenough to repel most suitors.

Hike further downstream of the Jumbles and you will find four or five similar zones, so much rock that it can be a challenge to scramble through this tangled confusion of water-polished boulders piled atop bedrock panels. There were no secrets, but locations and boulders werent revealed until you could be there in person with them. We had been driving for what felt like hours, following a whisper ofa two-track in the dark. Photo: Eric Bissell.

Late fall is ideal, after the first freeze has dispatched the mosquitoes and put the rattlers to sleep. Middle of nowhere? Lost, in a cow field, in eastern New Mexico, and not a rock in sightcould this really be the Land of Enchantments best bouldering? Your average, brownish, bland-looking Roy rock is also quite variable: angular with clean edges in dry environments, slopey with more sculpted features in wetter locales.

On rainy days, young kids park here on their laptops and research climbs. While theres excellent climbing at every grade in this area, this V13 will present a welcomeand beautifulchallenge for advanced climbers.

But the main areas have more cars at the trailhead, and the chalk is now too thick to fully wash from the holds between seasons. Now amidst the porcelain lollipop holders and American flag paraphernalia, Ma Sally sells climbing chalk and tape. The following day yielded the crimper classic Flaming Liberty (V6), so-named after an accident that happened that trip when he put his gas lantern inside his rented Jeep during a windstorm and the car caught fire.

While the Wild West feeling of freedom at Roy draws many, I keep coming for the sheer variety. But the associations of a place create meaningful experiences. From I-25, turn off at Wagon Mound (from the south) or Springer (from the north) toward Roy. Summerscales recommends a good set of thermal underwear for wearing around camp and for morning climbing.

The 2006 trip sold Ellis on Roy. The rock was amazing. Development in Roy wouldnt really kick off until 2006. Takahashi, a Yosemite-based boulderer, first came to Roy in spring 2015. One of the best parts of climbing here is that the jumbled streambeds and canyons hide more than can be experienced in one trip. I really like finding new places and the development process the bestthat process of beginning..

Youre like, Huh, this is weird. To an outsider, Roys bouldering may look like its been discovered. Thats when I was first introduced to the canyons outside the town of Roy, two-and-a-half hours northeast of Santa Fe. Conversely, isolation and adventure are still preserved in the other 13 miles of public canyons, where the climbing is largely still free of chalk. Well give you trade-in credit and make sure your gear is in goodhands. I didnt realize it then, but my move timed perfectly with the wave of a nascent bouldering boom in northern New Mexicoword had gotten out about the discovery of not one but two major bouldering destinations. The climbing out there is as big as you want it to bea scale commensurate with how much you desire to actually go out and explore it.. We left the Mills Canyon Rim Campground, where wed been living for three cold January weeks, just before dawn on our last morning in New Mexico. But otherwise, the place was totally off the radar for climbers until Penner clued in a few friends. Communities like the Acoma Pueblo or Taos Pueblo have existed in the same location for centuries. And second was Roy, nestled in the cattle-ranching high plains of northeastern New Mexico near the eponymous farming village (pop. 2022 New Mexico Magazine.All Rights Reserved. Both Penner and Summerscales say they rarely run into other climbers while theyre out, because they head to side canyons, doing the work theyve always loved to do and leaving the established areas for the newcomers.

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