The main draws for climbers are a locally owned grocery store, and a bar in which wearing a cowboy hat and chaps will help you blend in. Nobody Gets Out of Roy Alive, a V4 that involves climbing just the first half of the V7. Even so, the potential is staggeringthe number of climbs here could be doubled or tripled. Fewer people come here than to Colorados Front Range, which is crowded thanks to Denvers booming climbing scene, says Penner. Bison anchored an ecosystem of grassland that was the foundation to the previously nomadic lives of multiple tribes including Comanche, Apache and Kiowa. Roy reminds me of the pleasure of climbing outdoors. Together with the huge number of quartzite boulders in the Ortegas, it is hard to believe that no one thought there was quality bouldering in New Mexico. Keep your dogs under control whilst in cow pastures. We had been driving for what felt like hours, following a whisper ofa two-track in the dark. There used to be seven bars in Harding County. In 140 miles, the unassuming town of Roy appears, encompassing about two square miles and just over 200 people. Will Sharp on a steep V6 during an extended morning warm-up. Summerscales recommends a good set of thermal underwear for wearing around camp and for morning climbing. And in 1932, a road crew unearthed spear points within the matted masses of wooly mammoth bones. He returned a year later with this line as his sole objective. Penner, 46, a well-traveled all-rounder with a thirst for new climbing, had first seen the boulders in Mills Canyon in 2000, and returned for a stint working here as an archaeologist with the Forest Service in 2003. To find the rest, you have to know where to look. 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. Streambed rock, meanwhile, sports a deep, uniform water polish that creates stellar sloper and compression climbingeven better when a Merlot boulder receives river weathering. 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. Not to say that Roy is better, Ellis explains. The rock was amazing. I really like finding new places and the development process the bestthat process of beginning.. Of discovery and bushwhacking, of climbing rocks without names. 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. On an early foray into one of the side drainages, he found the Bear Boulder, an enormous chunk of dark, iron-varnished stone with a perfect overhang cleaved to fifty degreeshome to the now-legendary Bear Toss (V11). A lone building leans away from a century of wind near the historic town of Mills, New Mexico. In recent decades, it moved from the fringes of the climbing world into a popular discipline within the rapidly growing sport. Penner was impressed, but convincing others to visit was another matter. They feared the worst, but it turned out that Mr. Middle of nowhere? He had Googled the name on the crashpads, figured out the origins of the chalk, and was just holding onto the pads for safekeeping. I told him we should go down to the streambed, which was right there, and lo and beholdit was full of huge, incredible boulder problems on great stone! Penner just rolls his eyeshes heard this one before. Stay up-to-date with what's happening in New Mexico. While the Wild West feeling of freedom at Roy draws many, I keep coming for the sheer variety. Read More:The sprawling grasslands of Harding County anchor those who believe in community, a positive outlook, craft beer, and Lonitas classic pies. Everything we make has an impact on people and the planet. 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. John Kuphal, a Gunks climber and good friend of Elliss based in New Paltz, New York, demonstrated possibly the highest level of dedication. Its Hard To Argue Otherwise. Stumps and his ruined hotel remain on the land. This essay was featured in the 2019 Patagonia September Catalog. Id been in Roy for a month, climbing and taking photos with my partner, Jane Jackson. Roy pioneering developer Tom Ellis on Mamma Jamma (v6), World Wide Wall, Mesteo Canyon. Ellis remarks that Penners self-confidence, which some confuse for arrogance, has enabled him to consistently top out new highballs. Youll find over 100 problems here of most difficulties and styles. Its why an arrowhead removed from its resting place holds little insight into the story of its owner. The Recon offers a plus-sized landing area, with 4 inches of triple-layered padding. After a day of try-hard in the twisting canyons, the arid emptiness of the windswept flatlands hits you on the hike out. The prevailing view at the time in New Mexico was that the state was tapped out for bouldering potential, and you were better off driving to Hueco. In those early years we chased bread crumbs left by William Penner and Tom Ellis, the climbers who first dedicated themselves to Roy. But the associations of a place create meaningful experiences. Start by exploring the Jumbles, a condensed zone of boulders in a dry riverbed. 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. Ellis, a highly energetic early-riser, often scopes new potential before youve even had breakfast. 230). But the giant Dakota sandstone blocks, scattered through the Kiowa Grasslands, are very real. Unsurprisingly, Keenan Takahashis daunting first ascent has yet to be repeated. Photo: Eric Bissell. Aesthetic, independent lines of oval-shaped, sloped pockets reach juggy topouts just when you need themenough to make even the most risk-averse boulderer into a highball junky. On this trip, I watched a college outdoor club spread out in the overflow camping on their first trip to the grasslands and wondered what their reference point will be for this place. High-elevation swells harbor green forests and snowy peaks. And second was Roy, nestled in the cattle-ranching high plains of northeastern New Mexico near the eponymous farming village (pop. Long Ass: This V1 warm-up is located in the Jumbles, a popular section of Middle Mesteo Canyon with a high concentration of climbs. Read More:Finding perspective in northeast New Mexico, home to some of the best bird-watching in the nation. Records indicate that humans have lived here for 13,000 years. Before climbers arrived in the area around Roy, this was, and still is, ranchland. The following six years were a blur of constant discovery and excitement. Follow Leave No Trace ethics. Weve pledged 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. Sign up for exclusive offers, original stories, activism awareness, events and more from Patagonia. Upstream by several miles is an area of cliffbands, highballs, and horizontal roofs with a grasslands approach over moonscape terrain. But on any given weekend, an unexpected group of tourists drops in, so many that they sometimes double the areas population: rock climbers seeking the thrill of new challenges in bouldering. Boulderers simply pack in crash padslarge cushions that they set up below the problem, or climb, that theyre working onand spot each other. 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. Two free Forest Service campgrounds at Mills Canyon with picnic tables and toilets (no water), and dispersed camping near climbing trailheads. The rock there just demands being climbed, Penner says. He was working off the recommendation of a friend who had tracked it down based on a few images on an obscure climbing blog, with just a few rough directions to get them to the right trailhead. Create a free Patagonia account. 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. To an outsider, Roys bouldering may look like its been discovered. Mills was named after Melvin Mills, who established an audacious orchard along the Canadian River. The Mills Canyon Rim Campground is accessible with 2WD, but you may want a high-clearance vehicle with 4WD for some of the more rugged roads (nmmag.us/millscamp). The tallest, Hokusais Wave (V12), is one of the boldest hard problems this side of the Buttermilks, a 30-foot wave of sidepulls and pockets with a compression crux at its crest. Thats where we got the greatest enjoyment. We spent nearly every weekend during the climbing season exploring, breaking in trails, and sending new lines, eventually putting up nearly 1,500 documented problems, says Penner. I keep coming back because the canyons are complex to hike, New Mexicans are tough on egos and quick to share beers, and the climbing is bold but joyful. Just looking at the pastoral grasslands, you might not believe her. Campfires burned and whiskey spun around the circle while one friend told stories of growing up in the tiny mining town of Madrid, south of Santa Fe. Roy is known for highballs. Still, he doesnt worry about crowds. From I-25, turn off at Wagon Mound (from the south) or Springer (from the north) toward Roy. There were no secrets, but locations and boulders werent revealed until you could be there in person with them. The place felt different than when I first started coming here in 2013, after moving temporarily to New Mexico for a relationship. Dont trespassget the guidebook or a Forest Service map that shows property boundaries. Dont miss Funbags (V5/6), an ultra-classic line of sloped scoops with 120-grit texture up a tilted, cross-hatched wall. The tiny village of Roy, on the high plains of northeastern New Mexico. The relationship drifted apart, but during that time I discovered a tiny, adventurous, laid-back climbing community and that rock is everywhere in the state. Snow takes advantage of the cold morning to cover the rolling brown. Before cows, the plains were covered in bison. Mills planted as many as 20,000 fruit and nut trees, but a flood wiped out the orchard and he died penniless. We were definitely exploring and discovering it for ourselves without any kind of guidance. The sky bursts into color at sunset unlike anywhere in the world. Late fall is ideal, after the first freeze has dispatched the mosquitoes and put the rattlers to sleep. A couple of climbers from Taos had established sport routes on a cliff band near the rim campground in the 1990s. 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. We lay on crashpads to watch the lunar eclipse. 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. As a footnote, those 13 miles are but a postage stamp on the larger geological map of Dakota-sandstone distribution in northeastern New Mexico: The Canadian River winds its way southward for another 90 miles through a bewildering number of privately owned canyons, and drains another 60-mile rift to the west, a combined area the size of Rhode Island. Stay up-to-date with what's happening in New Mexico. Which means that two experiences of the placeone for the out-of-towners and one for the diehardscan exist in tandem. He raised his eyebrows when he heard we were camping at the canyon rim where the temperatures dropped into single digits. Roys last remaining bar had recently closed its doors. It still kind of feels like that, says Summerscales, who was overwhelmed by the volume of rock. I first came out to this middle of nowhere to see if the rumors of good bouldering were true. In some ways, bouldering is the simplest way to climb. Youre like, Huh, this is weird. At the same time, two startled Colorado climbers found themselves visiting the Flowers ranch after finding their stashed pads missing from Middle Mesteo, in their stead a note instructing them that Flowers had their gear.