After Rio we had three good looking climbing destinations before our return to Argentina.The first was Serra de Cipo. This was reputed to be the best climbing in Brazil and on my native limestone so was pretty excited.After a huge drive day leaving at 8 in the morning and not arriving till 11 at night we set up camp in a random field after failing to find the refugio. We woke up to torrential rain so was gutted not to be able to climb. This weather pattern continued without stopping for four days solid. It was gutting to make such a big effort to come here and not be able to climb. Even if it had actually stopped raining the nature of the rock meant it would have taken an age to dry out. Days were spent eating lots of pancakes (i had 11 one morning), praying for sunshine and walking to town to use the internet. I found a great game installed on one of the computers called UK truck simulator. I once drove from sheffield to Plymouth in my big truck, it gave me much amusement. Fancy that, a Uk truck simulator installed on a Brazilian computer in the middle of nowhere! We also watched about 3 James Bond movies. We have decided to start from the beginning and by the end of the trip we must have watched all of the Bonds, amusingly I have been put in charge of organising ´Bond nights´. My official title is JBOO (James Bond Organisation officer). One highlight of the stay at Cipo was walking through the forest up to a gorgeous waterfall and taking a bath in the pool above the fall, this also allowed me to do my only climb at Cipo, down the small rock face into the pool! During the rain I was disappointed to find out my tent is no longer the force it once ws as every night before bed i took a cup to bed and scooped out the pool of the water that had leaked in through the bottom. Boo.
Although we were due to stay at Cipo for 6 days after 4 we gave up on the weather and left for the next crag Cuscuzeiro which none of us knew much about. All we knew were that the approch trails were infested with rattle snakes! After a two day drive were the only incident was getting refused entry to a service station for being topless we arrived at the rock which we found quickly. In fairness you could see it for miles around as it stuck up out of the flat plains. We camped in the grounds of a small farm right under the rock and enjoyed a short walk across fields and then up through forest to the fantastic sandstone crag. On the approach trail was a sign warning of cobras on the path which I found exciting. The climbing was sport and on the best rock ever. Solid vertical red sandstone with good crimps and flat holds to swing around on, the climbing was mostly face but also some aretes and overhangs! Kirsty and I spent some great days climbing the classic routesand reaching the summit which felt a bit like a Tepui like the ones in Venezuela. One day I had a day with the boys and we climbed a 7a and a 7a+ which had some great climbing.Half way through the trip we went back to University in a nearby town for a mountain festival. It was a bit weird gatecrashing their festival as all the lectures were in portugese which none of us can speak but we did get some translation and a free lunch so it was probably worth it. We also got to mess around on the Universities climbing wall which was most fun.
On the 6th we left Cuscuzeiro a little bit wsishing wed had more time as the climbing was so fab and there were some harder routes I would have liked to have tried.But new rock beckoned and we were off to Sao Luis, a harder more compact sandstone and according to the Brazilians more good climbing but with disastrous access! We camped roadside just a short distance from a peage on a busy motorway and walked through lush forest to get to the crag.The rock was a bit like gritstone being quite rounded in places and with great friction. Sector 1 gave great sport face climbing and overhanging routes.
The second day we went to sector 2 mainly for the draw of the classic route Via de Totem. The access was a disaster. It took us hours to find the crag having run across the motorway. Eventually we found some bolts and abseiled in. This was very grit like, it was weird thinking I was on a gristone edge doing smeary moves and holding on to slopers whilst clipping bolts. Today the dreaded rain returned and we only got a few routes done before a slippery soaking walk back through the jungle to camp.The rain continued into the next day giving us a forced rest day. The fourth day continued to rain but by afternoon had cleared giving us that satisfied feeling of rescuing some climbing from a day that looked doomed. Turned out to be a great day of clocking up mileage on 6cs, should do wonders for the stamina. It was a fitting end to some wonderful climbing in Brazil, one day I vow to return in the winter when the conditions are slightly less hot and and a lot less wet!
On the 11th we made a 3 day epic journey back to Argentina where we were promised dry conditions and awesome rock climbing at La Ola
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