So this was the venue Id really been waiting for. A chance for some super big walling and to test out any improvement in my jamming ability. This venue rivals Yosemite as one of the biggest granite walls in the world with walls reaching up to over 1000m meaning some climbs have to be completed over 2 days.
We stocked up in the small coastal town of Puerto Montt which was a bit of a dive, its main function being a hop off point for travellers taking the ferry down to the fjorlands of Patagonia. Still it was nice to be back on the pacific ocean and all the bobbing fishing vessels and seafood reminded me of my dear old Swanage! We spent most of our time here eating steak off the bbq and preparing bags for the trek into Cochmo valley. Despite government plans to build a road linking Chile to Argentina at present there is no road so instead a beautiful 3 hour walk up through forest and along the Rio Cochamo is necessary. As we were staying a while we hired some mules to carry our climbing gear up to the valley while we lugged up tents and food. On arrival the view took everyones breath away. Huge granite domes surround the lush flat valley floor where we set up our camp.
On checking out the camp we headed up to the refugio by crossing the Rio Cochamo. Someone had done a proper job of setting up a traverse on this river. The rope had a little basket hanging underneath it and via a two way pulley your friends could haul you across to the other side as you sat in the basket and enjoyed the view - magic!! The refugio was charming and a great set up for climbers with guidebooks to climbing all over the world. I knew id be ok if rain stopped play. The topo was also kept at the refugio, a huge folder full of ahnd drawn diagrams of all the climbs in the area.
On the first day Oli and I set off to climb the easy but classic finger crack Apnea (5.9) It gave great jamming (fist on the first pitch and finger on the second) and filled me with optimism for the remainder of our stay. As Oli topped out the mother of all rain storms dumped down on me and the rock. Fortunately the rock had so much friction it didnt really matter. In the afternoon we checked out the steep Pared Seca which stayed dry in the rain and did some fun sport climbing, nothing too memorable though.
The next day Oli and I trekked up through the jungle and past the huge Trinidad crag and into the Valle de Trinidad which had heeps of climbing and a team of Americans living under a boulder. We climbed the 5.10 route Tatonka which had a good write up in the guide but unfortunately after a 4 hour walk in was a big let down. Only 2 of the 5 pitches had any real interest and one was particularly dirty. Never mind, i had the real business planned for the next day. As Oli descended back to camp I stayed up under the intimidating 1000m of Trinidad and was joined by Tom and Dave. Together we planned to climb the classic 20 pitch 5.11 Bienvenidos a mi insomnia so named because the first ascentionist got no sleep as he felt intimidated sleeping under the big wall! We slept at the foot of the route. At 530 am with our headtorches lighting up the rock I climbed the first easy pitch. The first 3 pitches flew by as we moved efficiently. Then we came to the crux and I drew the short straw of leading it. A 6c offwidth crack was right at my limit and it took me far too long but I got up it without falling so was happy, probably my hardest sustained trad lead on granite. We completed annother 4 pitches before we decided we had to retreat as there was no way we would reach the top before dark. The last 2 pitches had also been very trying with the heat, swollen feet and those infuriating horse flies which in Toms words are the Devils work!! Slightly dejected we completed 6 50m abseils back down the face to our packs and the sanctuary of the forest.
The next day was to be an enjoyable rest day. I had left all my climbing gear up at Trinidad the previous day as Oli n I planned a return to climb EZ does it, a slightly easier alternative to the summit of Trinidad. Unfortunately the weather forecast was not favourable so in the morning I ran up to the base of the crag and recovered my gear from a hollow tree where I had stashed it! On return we had a lovely chilled out session in the refugio eating the best pizza and I poured myself into the Yosemite and Squamish guidebooks, venues im now super psyched to go to. In the afternoon we visited the famous water slides where a natural slide had formed into a lovely turqouise pool. My first slide was a shambles unfortunately. The water seemed to not want to carry me and instead dispensed me onto the dry rock where I carried on sliding down into the pool. Granite I can reasure you is not the best rock to slide down bare legged!
On our final day surprise of all surprises it didnt rain. Instead of bemoaning the unreliable weather forecast the whole group gathered at Pared de la luna and enjoyed a mixed day of sport and trad in a lovely setting with no horse flies just above the refugio.
The final day it did rain. This was not ideal as it was our packing up and walking out day. Everything got soaked. The trail which was a series of mossy grooves working its way up the forest had turned into a muddy deluge. As the others hopped from bank to bank in order to keep their boots dry I abandoned this tactic from the very start as my now holey boots had already let in enough water to soak my feet. So i just walked right through all the mud and the rivers. Part way down adrenaline surging I remembered back home it was tough guy time of year. In honour of the great race I decided to run down and get as muddy as possible. It was so much fun and made the whole experience a whole lot less drawn out and painful. I watched from the warmth of the truck and clean clothes as the other came in soaked to the skin!
The next few days the truck turned into to drying room for 14 peoples wet outdoor gear and was thoroughly unpleasant and smelly. It was only after two days the rain finally stopped and we could hang our gear outside and prepare for our border crossing into Argentina and a trip to surely another highlight - Frey!!
Monday, 13 February 2012
Valle de los Condores Climbing 13th to 19th Jan
A new venue that offered lots of climbing. Bouldering, trad and sport it was reputed to have it all. The drive in gave typically stunning mountain scenery and rock formations. We passed a workers camp at the top of the valley who were most welcoming and pointed us down a steep track towards a fast flowing river and lots of rock. As the track got steeper it also got narrower. The newer members of the truck screamed as parts of the road started falling away. The old timers like me and Huw just carried on reading. Halfway down the track our first driving problem for quite a while. A huge boulder had clearly fallen down the hillside and was just in the way enough to not allow Ernie through. Shovels out and all hands to the pump. Some suggested moving the boulder but instead we dug out the hillside to make the road wider and allow Ernie through. We really should charge the governments for all our road improvements! Boulder passed we made it down to a nice flat camp by the river with oceans of volcanic rock all around us.
In the morning our first mission was to negotiate crossing the river as the climbing was on the other side. We all had our heart set on establishing a tyrolean traverse whereby a rope is anchored to either side of the river allowing one to hang on your harness from the rope and pull yourself over. While the locals rode across on their horses and their dogs heroically swam acrossDriver Chris got to work on building our traverse. Believe it or not our only problem was we didnt have enough old rope to reach across. To solve it lots of random bits of tat were tied together to make it from one side to another.On the first crossing the line was nowhere near tight enough and chris ended up dragging himself through the water to the other side, highly amusing. By this point several of us had got bored and found a suitable spot to wade across as the water was not so high. We went climbing while others faffed with the traverse!
This crag was bouldering and trad climbing. We potentially led some previously unclimbed routes as the records available are very incomplete and the lines were quite dirty. I completed an overhanging corner crack with a swift bit of laybacking and jamming and then 2 other climbs at about Very Severe also very dirty. On return I felt a bit disillusioned with the crag and was not sure how to spend 5 days here without a lot of cleaning. On the plus side the boulderers had come back with favourable reports on the quality and quantity of the areas bouldering.
The next day shock horror I had a rest which was my first at any crag since Hatun Machay back in September. It was an enjoyable and productive day. Washing clothes and body in the beautiful river and going on a run to check out the other crag on our side of the riverwhich no one seemed that bothered about. How glad I was I went on that run. Line after line of quality looking sport routes, about 30m high on perfect rock. There was also locals climbing a 7b so I chattted to them in my best possible spanish and got lots of beta on the crag. All grades were here and they told me it included ´the best route in Chile´ which was quite some statement. The overhung line of flakes aand big roof traverse to finish did look pretty impressive to be fair though. I vowed to retrurn the next day fresh from a rest day and with all my gear. The locals were very hospitable, they gave me mate (kind of tea drunk through a straw) and some of their pasta meal and we chatted about climbing (in English!)
The next day I returned full of enthusiasm and warmed up on the easier lines before struggling up a glassy and slippery 6b+ arete (which im not great at). Warmed up, a rare dose of rock warrior flowed through me and I decided to hop on the beautifully named 31 metros de chocolate, the 7b I had seen the locals climbing the previous day. I got to the top clean onsight and actually felt rather disappointed, it was too easy and as it turned out the crag would turn out to be massively overgraded. Still Ill take it, my first 7b onsight, woop!!
I returned to this crag every day after and managed to onsight a 7a and complete two other 7bs including the best route in Chile. This amongst many of the other easier lines on this fantastic crag. A fantastic few days climbing after my initial pessimism.
After making progress through the Bond collectiob by watching On her Majesties secret service it was time to leave. On leaving we again had to dig out more of the road to allow Ernie up pass the big boulder. The time had come for us to make our way to the venue that had got me most excited before venturing out on the trip: Cochamo the yosemite of South America and our last climbing in Chile.
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| No Stu, i dont think we can shift this with our bare hands! |
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| First view of our camp for the next 5 days |
In the morning our first mission was to negotiate crossing the river as the climbing was on the other side. We all had our heart set on establishing a tyrolean traverse whereby a rope is anchored to either side of the river allowing one to hang on your harness from the rope and pull yourself over. While the locals rode across on their horses and their dogs heroically swam acrossDriver Chris got to work on building our traverse. Believe it or not our only problem was we didnt have enough old rope to reach across. To solve it lots of random bits of tat were tied together to make it from one side to another.On the first crossing the line was nowhere near tight enough and chris ended up dragging himself through the water to the other side, highly amusing. By this point several of us had got bored and found a suitable spot to wade across as the water was not so high. We went climbing while others faffed with the traverse!
This crag was bouldering and trad climbing. We potentially led some previously unclimbed routes as the records available are very incomplete and the lines were quite dirty. I completed an overhanging corner crack with a swift bit of laybacking and jamming and then 2 other climbs at about Very Severe also very dirty. On return I felt a bit disillusioned with the crag and was not sure how to spend 5 days here without a lot of cleaning. On the plus side the boulderers had come back with favourable reports on the quality and quantity of the areas bouldering.
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| Me climbing the mossy but good overhanging crack up the detached flake |
The next day shock horror I had a rest which was my first at any crag since Hatun Machay back in September. It was an enjoyable and productive day. Washing clothes and body in the beautiful river and going on a run to check out the other crag on our side of the riverwhich no one seemed that bothered about. How glad I was I went on that run. Line after line of quality looking sport routes, about 30m high on perfect rock. There was also locals climbing a 7b so I chattted to them in my best possible spanish and got lots of beta on the crag. All grades were here and they told me it included ´the best route in Chile´ which was quite some statement. The overhung line of flakes aand big roof traverse to finish did look pretty impressive to be fair though. I vowed to retrurn the next day fresh from a rest day and with all my gear. The locals were very hospitable, they gave me mate (kind of tea drunk through a straw) and some of their pasta meal and we chatted about climbing (in English!)
The next day I returned full of enthusiasm and warmed up on the easier lines before struggling up a glassy and slippery 6b+ arete (which im not great at). Warmed up, a rare dose of rock warrior flowed through me and I decided to hop on the beautifully named 31 metros de chocolate, the 7b I had seen the locals climbing the previous day. I got to the top clean onsight and actually felt rather disappointed, it was too easy and as it turned out the crag would turn out to be massively overgraded. Still Ill take it, my first 7b onsight, woop!!
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| Slow but steady progress up the arete |
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| On my way to first 7b onsight |
I returned to this crag every day after and managed to onsight a 7a and complete two other 7bs including the best route in Chile. This amongst many of the other easier lines on this fantastic crag. A fantastic few days climbing after my initial pessimism.
After making progress through the Bond collectiob by watching On her Majesties secret service it was time to leave. On leaving we again had to dig out more of the road to allow Ernie up pass the big boulder. The time had come for us to make our way to the venue that had got me most excited before venturing out on the trip: Cochamo the yosemite of South America and our last climbing in Chile.
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