A new year and lots more climbing to come. Our first stop was just north of the Chilean capital Santiago where we had spent New Year. We were destined for a conglomerate rock climbing area called Las Chilcas. You could not miss it as the Pan American highway cut right through the middle of the climbing area. This was a single pitch sport climbing area on quality conglomerate, that means fun pulling on pebbles stuck in solidified mud!
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| View from up high. Las Chilcas and the Pan American highway. You can just see Ernie in the layby. |
The climbing was mostly steep and on pockets and rounded pebble holds.We spent four days in total in Las Chilcas where I managed to get a lot of mileage in doing 30 routes. I onsighted a lot of 6cs and 6c+ which made me happy but kept getting shut down on the 7as. It was not until the last day with no expectations that Steve n I managed to easily climb a lovely steep 7a.
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| Wonderful pocket pulling at sector Diabolico, me on a 6b+ called Capeta. |
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| Jug!!!! |
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| Train!! |
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| Slightly weird climbing up a wedged boulder in a gully. |
Curoiously there was a man living under a boulder with his two dogs. I could think of better places to live rather than next to a motorway. A friendly man but his real gem was in the two dogs he owned which provided us with much entertainment. Black puppy was uber friendly, big dog got jealous if he wasnt getting any attention and jumped up and scratched. I usually ran away from him for fear of the dreaded rabies!!
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| Post climb attention from the dogs |
During the day the temperatures must have been close to mid 30s and with little wind and no shade it was impossible to climb. Unfortunately there were no nice water holes in this location so we had to find entertainment for about 4 hours in the middle of the day.
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| Mid day cards to alleviate boredom. |
Our stay was nearly up but on the last night Steve and I were hungry for more climbing. Due to the short drive the following day we were not going to leave until 10am. Opportunity. In the guide I had spotted a 6 pitch route called San Pateste, mostly easy but with one 6c+ pitch in the middle. At 5 am on the drive day Steve and I awoke from a sleepless night and trotted half an hour up to the big150 metre high cliff. To speed up Steve led the first two pitches in one before I led a lovely 6a up to the crux pitch. On joining me the curry from last nights dinner seemed to have caught Steve short and he had to make a dangerous traverse to a ledge on the right to relieve himself! Absolutely hilarious but i have not included the photos here. Steve fell off the crux pitch which was overhanging which meant I had to do it to get a clean lead of the climb. Luckily it was just my style of climbing and I managed to get through it. Victory was ours after another 6a. 4 abseils later and a sprint back to the truck we were back just in time for departure and a plate full of pancakes!!
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| Steve finding his way through the vegetation on the way to the route. |
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| Looking down to Steve from the 3rd pitch (6a) |
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| The bulging 6c+ crux pitch |
We were on our way to the next stag of our jourmey. To the mountains of Cajon del Maipo, south of Santiago.
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