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Peak Mountain 3

Mexican Breakfast Crack

FA Doug Bridgers, Wayne Taylor: June 1974
CREATED 
UPDATED 

Description

Mexican Breakfast Crack is an excellent, clean crack with a wild crux traverse under a big roof. The name is a spin-off from Yosemites's English Breakfast Crack. Certainly, trad climbers in both NM and California eat cracks like this for breakfast!

Pitch 1: Follow the clean left-facing corner under the right side of the big roof as it widens from big-hands to fist to offwidth. Sustained 5.8 to this point, but since there's so few OWs to practice on in the Sandias (or elsewhere in NM), the wider section "feels" harder. Look to layback and stem unless you need to prove you're tough. When you reach the roof, suck up your huevos and traverse out the right side with unusual memorable moves (5.9) providing the crux of the route, placing pro in the crack just underneath the roof. Some may consider this a sandbag at 5.9. Belay at a stance about 6' up after traversing out from this roof, as the rope drag starts to become muy heinous.

Pitch 2: Continue up wide crack 5.8 over a big block, then follow the same wide crack up and right over easier terrain to top of the formation to reach aspen trees for anchor.

Done with Breakfast and still have an appetite? Should be plenty of time to find Mountain Momma for lunch..

One rope would reach from ground to top, so you could do the whole route in a single pitch, but rope drag would give you indigestion unless you didn't place any pro protecting the crux.

Location

This climb is the right side under the big roof on Mexican Breakfast Formation.

Protection

2 ea. cams from #1-#4 camalot (1.5"-4"), plus a few smaller cams. A #5 camalot might fit, but isn't needed (#4's work ok).


Routes in Mexican Breakfast Formation


  1. 2
    Mexican Breakfast Crack
    5.9+
    Trad