Doug wants to show off his new routes, so we head across the canyon to the Sandinista Wall. I’ve walked past this cliff countless times while approaching the ice climb Stairway to Heaven, but it never caught my eye for its rock climbing potential until today. Enthused by Wolters’ motivation, Byerly recently put up over twenty routes here. One day after the spring melt another local climber, James “Bobo” Burwick, came waltzing by on the way back from a booty hunt below Stairway to Heaven and ran into Byerly. Excited to contribute to the cause, he offered up the gear he’d found. “Bobo was holding up these ratty slings, busted ice screws, and jingus biners.” Byerly says, laughing. “They were useless, but it was a nice gesture.”
Climbing up mirror-polished bulges onto a steep face peppered with hidden pockets, I bask in the quality of the Sandinista’s Washington Bullets (5.10d), Rock and Roll Animal (5.12a), and Mass Wasting (5.12c). “The winter is when you realize who the true locals are: the folks who can stick it out for the cold.” Rex laughs. “In the summer it’s a flood of tourists, in winter you get to know the hardcores, and the ice climbing.”

Later, I’m standing above the crag, near the headwaters of the Animas River. I can make out the river’s path through the canyons, past town, and down into the gorges of the Weminuche Wilderness south of town on its way to Durango and New Mexico.
Taking in the view, I make out a visual roadmap of the crags I’ve visited on this trip, and I can almost trace my path over the passes and valleys in front of me. I never realized how lucky I was to be a rock climber living in the San Juans until I made this road trip and saw firsthand what was up here, and the new lines that have gone in since the turn of the millennium. Having climbed all over the world, I’m now returning home way psyched about how much untapped stone and new-route potential still exists in my backyard.

Jared Ogden is a Contributing Editor at Climbing, and lives in Durango, Colorado, with his wife, Kristin, and son, Tobin. He’s the author of Big Walls: Elite Technique.