La Ola Climbing (15th to 20th December)

Kirsty preparing for La Ola with some lakeside training.

 We returned to Argentina and the lakeside town of Villa Carlos Paz to prepare for 6 days in La Ola which was one of the climbing venues I was most excited about since seeing videos on you tube. We chilled in VCP, did lots of cook duty shopping, personal shopping and as stores was exhausted a big stores shop for honey and dulce de leche, mmmm! In the evening we treated ourselves to a meal out for some argentian steak and a bottle of red wine.

Steak and red wine night in Villa Carlos Paz, another essential part of preperation.

Seb talks through the moves on the very steep, very good Thor (7a+)

 On arrival at the crag the overhang above was the first to come into view and SEb and I got very excited and a little bit daunted by the steepness of the rock. After establishing our camp in a small field behind a goat farm we went straight out climbing on the steep rock. I jumped on a steep 7a similar to an indoor route as it was full of jugs apart from a last move which involved mantling over the lip of the roof a fair way above the last bolt but with a big fall into open space if the move failed.

On my way to completing Historias veridias (7a) on the wave, La Ola

I was torn between working a hard route on the wave or checking out the other areas on offer. In the end the explorer in me got the better and I spent the next 5 days checking out the many different areas La Ola had to offer and the fantastic variety of climbing from slabs to vertical climbing and overhanging routes. The scenery around the area was also fantastic, very similar to Los Gigantes were we had been previously but with less far to walk which was a relief. After 3 days continous climbing on the sharp granite my fingers were suffering so had a rest day and spent the day bathing in the sun and dipping in the pools formed down one of the spectacular gorges.

Beautiful La Ola scenery, waterfalls, granite, clear pools and pampas.

Rest day activities, a dip in the refreshing water. A chance to soak aching muscles.

During the evenings we stretched and conditioned our bodies for the next days climbing and I spent a long time treating my tent in preparation for Patagonia after the leaking in Brazil. I did an awesome cook duty with Hannah where despite the meager budget we cooked up a masterful macarone cheese and vegetable curry.We were also treated to many lovely sunsets over the rocks which stretched for miles

Beautiful sunset over the farm.

One of my favourite things about La Ola (and south america in general) is the awesome leafcutter ant trails that occur. I spent a long time studying the ant trails and following individuals on their little journeys, quite fascinating!

See more photos following the link below
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150443480708780.366304.501123779&type=3