Cobble Pulling on Superslab

El Rito is a sport climbing area north of Espanola in central New Mexico. This compact area offers lots of small cliffs and big boulders composed of a strange conglomerate filled with rounded cobbles, boulders, and pebbles. The climbing, similar to that in Maple Canyon in Utah, is strange until you get used to it. You're grabbing rounded holds or the holes where the now-liberated cobbles once lived. Once of the most fun routes at El Rito is "Superslab" (5.9+), a long bolted route up the south end of Pirate's Wall. Besides good climbing, El Rito offers quiet camping among ponderosa pines.