Paul Has Fickle Fingers

Numerous cliffs, composed of basalt deposited in ancient lava flows, scatter along the west rim of the Rio Grande's White Rck Canyon near the towns of White Rock and Los Alamos. These White Rock crags include The Playground, The Y, The Overlook, Below the Old New Place, and El Portrillo. The cliffs, lined with one-pitch routes, offer both bolted sport routes on steep pocketed faces as well as excellent jam cracks protected with cams and nuts. The east- and south-facing cliffs offer year-round cragging, although summers can be too hot in the sun and winters are occasionally snowy and cold. El Portrillo, one of the oldest climbing areas in New Mexico, had many of its classic routes established in the 1960s by the Los Alamos Mountaineers and during a visit by the legendary Colorado climber Layton Kor.