I recently teamed up with Jonathan Thesenga, Brittany Griffith and Kate Rutherford for 3 weeks of jungle adventure down in the Gran Sabana of Venezuela. We set our sights on the overhanging east face of Acopan Tepui, a formation that has been climbed a few times but still has plenty of potential. The trip couldn’t of been more successful! After 9 days of effort we were able to establish a ground up, grade V free climb that went free at 5.12c. And to my surprise we were able to do the route without any lead bolts, though we placed 5 bolts at belays to facilitate the rappel route. Definitely one of the greatest adventures I’ve ever been on.
After almost two months of being gone Kate and I have made it back to the States. We had a great time while gone, with ok success. We pretty much got skunked in Patagonia this year but still managed to have a good time. Venezuela was the real highlight of the trip. We had a great time and even managed to do a first ascent, which you will hear more about very soon.
But for now it feels good to be back home and not living out of a duffle bag!
More pics and stories to come real soon.
Acopan Tepui
Nothing like a cold beer after two weeks in the jungle!
The southern part of the Fitzroy group (click on the photo for a much cooler large version)
Sadly after only one month of being in El Chalten Kate and I had to leave. We sure didn’t climb much this trip due to the poor weather but that just makes us that much more hungry for the next trip!
And we can’t be to sad that we left because it means we are off to another great adventure in Venezuela. We’ve got a month planned here of climbing on the Tepuis located in the Grand Savannah. No updates from this trip as we will be completely out of touch will gone. But I’ll be sure and post some pics once we return.
After waiting in El Chalten for close to a month for good climbing weather Kate and I were finally able to make it up to the mountains. We didn’t set our sights to high given the last month of poor weather thus the poor route conditions. We choose one of the smaller mountains in the Fitzroy range, Aguja de la ‘S’, but it turned out to be just the right amount of mountain for us. Here are some pics from the climb.
Approaching can be so miserable
I can't think of many things as "FUN" as wading an icy river while it is snowing!
What can I say but it really sucks down here in Patagonia. Of course that is only the weather I’m talking about! Everything else about Chalten is great. Plenty of good people to hangout with, good climbing in town and no lack of food to eat. We’ve only been here ten days but it seams like much longer, it also feels like we have to leave in no time at all (though we really have till the 6th of Feb).
I spend a lot of my time staring at my computer looking at every different available weather forecast on the internet, hoping that one of them is going to show good weather. Right now they all show bad weather. In a recent NatGeo Magazine article by Kenneth Brower I came across of very fitting quote describing the weather down here.
“…for these far southern latitudes circumscribe the entire globe almost without interruption by land. Low pressure areas are free to chase one another eastward around the bottom of the planet like a howling dog in pursuit of its own tail.”
The above quote is entirely true but occasionally the dog does get dizzy enough that he can’t find his tail and there is a moment of calm weather. Here are some of the charts we look at to figure exactly when that is going to happen:
The low pressures system are completely free to roam at 60S
The bags are packed and passports are in hand… and we are stoked.
Sitting in the LAX international terminal waiting for our 1:35am flight outta here. We’ve got a brutal schedule ahead of us is the next few days but every hour sitting in the airplane , dealing with security and checking in is going to be worth it. No US soil for Kate and I for two months.
We’ve lined up a pretty sweet schedule, one month in El Chalten trying to climb the granite needles of Patagonia and then one month in Venezuela bushwhacking through the jungle to try and climb an unclimbed sandstone tower out in the middle of nowhere. I can hardly wait!
After a few days of work Kate was able to redpoint the long and burly Indian Creek testpiece, The Optimator. It was a proud send. She clipped the anchors just as the skies let loose a torrential down pour of rain.
Kate and I have been hanging in the Moab/Indian Creek area for a few weeks now keeping plenty busy climbing. I haven’t been to psyched to hang much in the Creek in the last few years as I don’t really feel like it does much to improve my climbing anymore. That being said I have had a great time hanging there lately with good friends and good scenery.
The iconic North Six Shooter
I do have a few things in Indian Creek on my tick list. One of them being Learning To Fly, a short but burly overhanging finger crack. Originally it was rated 5.13+ by Didier Berthod but it seems the grade has settled to a more realistic 5.13b. I managed to convince our posse to head up to the Wall to check it out. Much to my surprise I almost got the onsight. I fumbled one short section a half move before a rest but pulled right back on and went to the top. I didn’t give it another try that day as I was scared I could hurt my finger on it. A week later I rallied another group of friends to head back up to the Wall so I could give it another go. This time things went perfectly and I cruised it. Didn’t even get pumped which was pretty cool!
Learning to Fly at the Wall. Photo by Sinuhe Xavier
Kate’s dad, Mark, came to visit us for a week allowing us a little rest and relaxation…. sort of…
