(L1) John Nichol's Wall
John Nichol's Wall in New Mexico has 14 climbing routes across 11 grades in mixed, sport, and trad styles.
- 14 routes
- 5.7 – 5.12
- Sport · Mixed · Trad
Best time to visit (L1) John Nichol's Wall
Best months: May–June and August–October. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.
Jan
42° / 12°
3 wet
Feb
46° / 19°
3 wet
Mar
55° / 25°
4 wet
Apr
63° / 31°
4 wet
May
73° / 37°
5 wet
Jun
84° / 47°
5 wet
Jul
87° / 53°
8 wet
Aug
84° / 51°
10 wet
Sep
78° / 45°
6 wet
Oct
67° / 32°
5 wet
Nov
53° / 22°
4 wet
Dec
42° / 14°
4 wet
Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Taos, NM, 8.1 mi away at 6,965 ft. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
John Nichol's Wall is a climbing area in New Mexico on Bureau of Land Management land within the Taos Field Office. It sits among a cluster of other climbing areas, with Utopian Vista Upper Tier, El Grito Del Norte Wall and Hopper's Hangover Wall all about 0.1 mile away, and Panorama Wall about 0.2 mile off. The area is managed by the BLM. The climbing here is sport-oriented, with 14 routes in total, and the grades run from 5.7 up to 5.12. The hardest route listed is TR2 at 5.12, and the median grade is 5.11a. Among the sport routes are Writing Down the Bones at 5.7, Treadwell at 5.10b and Wizard of Loneliness at 5.11a. For timing, late spring and early fall are the most comfortable. Typical averages from a nearby weather station in Taos show May highs around 73°F and September highs around 78°F, while July and August bring the most wet days and the warmest highs, near 87°F in July. Hikers can find the West Rim Trail about 1.1 miles away and the Power Line Trail about 1.5 miles away. The Rio Grande, about 2.2 miles off, offers river fishing.
Routes (14)
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