On top of Southern Comfort Wall with Lesser Spire and ORP in the background
One of the nice things about the desert southwest is that you can climb year round. Hueco Tanks in particular is famous for its winters. However, planning a trip in February is still a dice roll. It could be 75 degrees and sunny or it could be 20 degrees and snowing — or both!
After a fantastic weekend of climbing at Hueco in January Blake and I decided to return for more. This time our plan was to climb two days and Hueco and spend one day checking out the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, NM.
Day 1: Hueco
We decided not to repeat any of the routes we had done a month earlier (although we made one exception). We didn’t tick as many pitches as usual but it was still a solid day.
- Return of Cakewalk (2p)
- Head Fox
- Show Me
- Short Hands
- Window Pain
Day 2: Organ Mountains
The Organs aren’t well known but contain many fantastic routes on high quality granite. Neither of us had ever been to the Organs so we decided to start with Southern Comfort wall, which contains a dozen or so one and two pitch routes. When we got to the wall, the scope and quality of the place dawned on us. We’ll be back for more.
- Black Velvet
- Margaritaville
- DWI
Day 3: Blown away
The forecast for Sunday was chilly with high winds – and by high I mean gusts reaching 50 to 80 mph. Forecasts are often wrong, but not in this case. By 9am the wind was already blowing a steady 30 mph and the entire town of El Paso was enveloped in a cloud of sand. So we decided to head home early, and I’m glad we did. We had to wait on the tarmac for a break in the wind before we could take off.
[...] February Blake and I spent one day climbing in the Organs. We were so impressed with the little-known mountain range that we decided to go back for more. [...]