Popurri

Santiago Valerga en Dulce Duro, Piedra Parada.

It´s been a little bit of everything. It was good to spend more time than usual in Argentina,  get to climb in the local spots and get to share with local climbers. Definetely, spring, is the best time of the year to be a climber in Argentina and Chile. Since the ski resort shut down at the end of september, it´s been kind of a non stop road trip for us.  Headed to Santiago de Chile, to climb with Martina, Carolina Fritz (my wife) and Camilo, for a week. Climbed mainly in Las Chilcas. Drove all the way to San Martin de los Andes and spent some days there, climbing and bolting some new routes. A few days later we drove to Bariloche and enjoyed the unseasonable warm weather, climbed a little bit on each area and laid down at the beach by the beautiful lake on the rest days.  Drove to Piedra Parada, before the Petzl rock trip madness and enjoyed most of the routes for ourselves. Got to climb the Piedra Parada with Martina, up the most amazing line on it, Chocolate Profundo, 9 pitches, 8a / 13b.

After that we went back to Bariloche hoping to hike up to frey and do some trad climbing, but the weather got bad and we drove back to San Martin, for some more bolting and climbing in the sun.  

Every weekend drove to bariloche, to climb at Paredes Blancas, definetely an amazing laboratory of hard sport climbs and sincerely my favorite wall in Argentina, so far. 

View of San Martin de los Andes, with the full moon.

One week before the Rock Trip in Piedra, my frind Mariano Tome, flew from Buenos Aires and it was great to share the rope with him again, after many years. We climbed in San Martin for a few days and then headed to Bariloche for another 3 or 4 days. He flew back to Buenos Aires and I drove with Carolina to Piedra Parada, to find that the peaceful and quiet place we´ve been at a couple of weeks before, was hosting about 2000 people now. The event was rad. Great organization from Petzl, everything was perfect and despite the amount of people, we were able to climb at will almost every day. 

After 5 great days out there, it was time to head back to Bariloche to pick up Ian and July, friends from the States, that will be climbing in the area the next month or so. Climbed in bariloche for 2 days and drove to San Martin with them. Packed and took a bus to Santiago. Tomorrow we are flying to Aspen, back to winter times and psyched to ski and train for the next months. 

Life is great. Enjoy the pictures.

Tick list of this past month.

- Sauron 8a+, Covisal. 

- Dulce Duro 8a, Piedra Parada.

- Emocionado 8a, Pared Blanca.

- Corsario Negro 7c+, Pared Blanca.

- Anhilator 7c, Pared Blanca.

- Al Abordaje 7c, Pared Blanca.

- Forza Makita 7c, Ventana.

- Sin Nombre 7c, Piedra Parada.

y muchos 7b+, 7b y 7a.

Pared Blanca, Bariloche.

Said Beljah trying Osho, 8b+. Pared Blanca.

Refugio Cordillera, bariloche, the best place to stay.

a view of Bariloche.

Caro, Santi, Ian and July

French climber on Corsario Negro, 7c+.

Gerome Pouverau trying Osho, 8b+.

Santiago Valerga before entering the crux section on After Hour, 8b.

Said sending Emocionado, 8a.

BARILOCHE & PIEDRA PARADA

This past month, has been pretty busy. Our friend, Martina, from Austria, came to climb in south america and we had no other choice that traveling around some of the best climbing spots.
We started the trip in Chile, with some climbing days at Las Chilcas.

After some days in this sunny and hot  climbing spot, we decided to move down south, closer to home and with better climbing temperatures. We arrived in San Martin, were super pleasent temps and sunny skies welcomed us.  After showing her around our small but cool local spots, we continued down south to Bariloche. We spent almost a week in Bariloche, climbing at different spots and alternating between single pitch sport climbs and multipitch mix climbs.
After Bariloche, we headed to Piedra Parada, place where the next Petzl Rock trip will be held in november. We spent about 7 days here, testing some of the new routes bolted for the rock trip and also did an ascent of an amazing route on the Piedra Parada, called Chocolate Profundo, which is 260 mts long, 9 pitches and it goes like this: 7c / 8a / 7a+ / 7c+ / 6c / 6b / 7b+ / 6a / III.
Really cool climbing so hard pitches, so high off the ground.
That´s been our busy and fun month. Now we are back in San Martin, climbing and bolting new routes. We will post some info soon.

Climbing adventures

Winter is over. Spring weather set in couple of weeks ago and our minds turned into rock climbing mode, full time.
We´ve been leading many events, such as climbing clinics around town for experienced climbers that want to get better and also for beginners that want to learn.

Wen also organized a slideshow to collect money for bolts and hangers, so we can continue developing an amazing spot close to San Martin, that promise to be a great climbing area.

In between all this, we´ve been climibing as much as possible and working at the ski resort during the weekends.  

As soon as we got some rock contact and our heads were ready to work hard, I started working on a route that is called SAURON, situated in Covisal, about 10 min drive from my house.

This route was bolted by Pere Vilarasu, about 7 or 8 years ago. 

It was first climbed by Diego Marsella, probably the strongest argentinian climber. This route was first graded as 8b / 13d.

I always looked at the line with respect, till last year when i decided to give it a go for the first time ever. I remember it was a catastrofic effort.  Almost fell down on every move, couldn´t even clip from the holds and had to grab the draw to clip. In the upper section of the route I was unable to figure out two moves and actually had a very hard time getting to the anchor. I dirt and took a flight to Kalymnos. Didn´t get on the route again, till this fall.  

This year, with new eyes, some more power and also renovated motivation, I got on the route again. 

First day, went up pretty smooth till the 3rd bolt, were the first mini crux section is. Figured out the move and kept climbing for two more bolts. That´s were i found the hardest move. Up to this move the route could easily be a 7c. 

It took me a couple of days to figure out how to do this move and build some strength. But one very nice day, I find out the way and got super motivated. Now every move was possible for me and i just needed the specific power endurance to reach the anchors with out falling.

A couple of tries more i was one hanging on the route. I was falling right after the crux since I was losing a lot of strength clipping a draw from a very bad hold. So i decided I had to skip that bolt if I wanted to send. Next go, fell after skiping the bolt and took a very airy whipper of about 8 to 10 mts.

I gave it a couple days rest and came back with very low expectations.  It was a hot day and we were kind of in a hurry. I only had 1 hour to warm up, and give it probably just one go. 

After the warm up and a proper rest time I went. Passed the first crux without not even noticing it, got up to the second crux and found my self not even tired, passed and suddenly, ooohhps !!! My feet slid and I went down. 

As soon as I felt, I went down to the ground. Looked at the watch, I had at most around 15 more minutes. rested for about 5 minutes and went back up. Climbed super focused, and found my self clipping the chains. It was a great moment, specially when I look back and remember that first time I couldn´t even do most of the moves on the route. Is amazing how our bodies adapt to each move and our minds evolve.  Climbing is an amazing sport and all this experiences are why I love it so much.

Certainly, being consistent and trying time after time, fall after fall is the most difficult part, but if you can do that, then you can climb anything you want !!!

You can watch a little video about this route here : http://vimeo.com/48625611