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.

No Stu, i dont think we can shift this with our bare hands!

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.

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!!

Slow but steady progress up the arete

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.