Enchanted Tower, Socorro County, NM | Multiple Pitches
Though Justin and I tried to convince Eric to come up to Colorado again, he convinced us that it was our turn to drive down to New Mexico to visit him. After making the 6.5 hour drive down to Los Alamos, Eric asked if we would be up for a mini road trip down to another climbing area. Justin agreed right away; I was skeptical of the additional 4.5 hour drive. Never the less, we got in the car the next day and set off to Enchanted Tower.
When we arrived, it was raining and the dirt around the climbing area and campsite was flooded so we read in the car for a bit and were welcomed with a beautiful sunset when the sky cleared up and a colorful first view of the Enchanted Tower.
We were also welcomed with reabsorbed pools of water and WORMS.
The next morning, we set out to climb. The first bolts were so high that the stick clip by itself wasn’t long enough.
Justin took first lead, and Eric suggested a 5.10b (Prima Donna) to warm up. About halfway up the climb, Justin started power grunting and Eric looked over at me and said “oops, this might be the 11a”. Sure enough, Justin warmed up on Ooey Gooey (5.11a).
After climbing Ooey Gooey and getting flashpumped, we moved on to Prima Donna.
Then we climbed one of the coolest features in the area Pogue’s Arete (5.11a/b) in Pogue’s Cave. Followed by The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck (5.11a).
We then moved on to the tower itseld and climbed Golden Stairs (5.11c) and Technowitch (5.12a). I certainly struggled a lot on top rope…
After a solid day of climbing, we settled back into camp.
Eric captured some incredible star photos of the tower. He set his camera up on a tripod and sprinted up the hill to the tower to shine his headlamp up the tower to illuminate it. He ran up the hill at least 5 times trying to get the shot.
The next day, my hands were cooked from the sharp rock. I got on Grendel (5.11b) and called it a day. After we wrapped up the climbing day, we made the 4.5 trek back to Los Alamos, and then switched cars and made the 6.5 hour drive back home. Couldn’t ask for a better weekend.