Long weekend in Sierra de la Ventana

Near the start of the hike in to the climbibg area

Argentina celebrates a buttload of long weekends. In fact, it's the country with the most holidays in the world. I don't know if that´s good or bad in some absolute sense, but I´d be a lot happier with the situation if we´d get a break with the weather. This has been an "El Niño" year and that means instability, humidity and rain. I miss the cold, dry south winds.

At any rate, there was a four day holiday weekend in September and we decided to head out to Sierra de la Ventana. These sierras are the highest in the province of Buenos Aires, rising up to more than 4,000 feet. They are also home to one of the few existing provincial parks. The province of Buenos Aires is a huge region, bigger than the country of Italy, and essentially devoid of public lands. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats who run the park don't want any rock climbing and the access problem there is at least as complicated as with the almost exclusively private lands around where I live. 

The local climbers from Bahia Blanca have put up a small area of bolted routes, tucked away in a picturesque, hidden location. With a little discretion it is possible to climb without being harassed by the park rangers. I'd climbed there one time before, but only a couple of routes, so I was excited to return and try some new stuff.  

Sierra de la Ventana is about a four and a half hour drive from Balcarce and since Analía and Martin had to work on Friday (in their gymnasium) we didn't leave until Saturday morning. By the time we finished the drive and got settled down in the cabin we were renting, there really wasn't much time left to take advantage of the climbing area, so Martín and I decided to do some hiking instead and save the climbing for Sunday (and hopefully Monday). 

For me, the approach to the climbing area is one of its special charms. The hike in starts out in a beautful, wide valley and then crosses the high ridge to the left, with views of Sierra de la Ventana, before dropping down the back side to the hidden and remote climbing zone.  

To get to the climbing area, we will need to cross that high rigde behind

Ceci on the hike in

Gaby and Ceci on top of the ridge with Sierra de la Ventana behind

The first two routes we did were 5.9s. 

Ceci climbs one of the 5.9s. 

Rafael takes a rest higher up on the same 5.9

Next we climbed a 10a, a 10b and then another 10a.

Martín starts up a 10a

The old fat guy climbs 10a

Higher up on the same 10a

Ceci starts up the 10b

Ceci and Dad simul-climb

The last climb I did was was easier, maybe steep 5.8 or easy 5.9 and I managed to finish just as it began to spit rain. The rain didn't interfere with my climbing plans, because I was already so pumped that I could barely finish the last route. This had been a most satisfying day but it was time to head back and enjoy the comforts of the cabin we were renting. 

When we woke up next morning, we were greeted with antarctic blasts of very cold wind. Since the climbing area was exposed to the wind, we decided to go on a hike instead of climb. We hiked up a small mountain called Cerro Bahia Blanca and got an early start back home. 

Starting up Cerro Bahía Blanca 

As if she might confuse up with down, signs point the way for Gaby

The group on the summit

Rafael and Ceci by the summit sign

Six months and beyond

The six month check-up: De Smet says the x-ray looks perfect

The six month check-up came and went. I sent the above x-ray to De Smet and he wrote back saying: "the x-ray looks perfect". "Perfect" sounds good.

The weather hasn't been very cooperative this spring for weekend climbing, although I've gotten out some. We've climbed in the bosque, Paredes Naranjes and another area on La Barrosa that I established called the Matrix (I hope to write up a report on the Matrix when we climb there again latter in the spring). Highlights include my first redpoints of 5.11 in more than two and a half years (an 11b and an 11c in the bosque) as well as climbing a few interesting new routes I'd never done before.

One of the new routes we tried was a nice crack squeezed between two bolted face climbs at Paredes Naranjas. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first time the crack had ever been lead. 

The old fat guy placed gear in a crack right next to bolted faces

Here are three shots of Martin flashing the crack, using the gear I placed:

Martín flashes the crack using the gear I placed

No problem here

Go Martín

El Groso, Gaby and Matoco, down from the Himalayas to climb at Paredes Naranjas

Another highlight was Cecilia redpointing the 5.8 crack to face route en el bosque (her first serious redpoint  in Balcarce). This is the same route where I reinitiated my climbing in the fifth blog post.

Ceci redpointing the crack to face route in el bosque

Ceci looking strong before a tricky move on the face

I went bouldering a couple of more times, but I haven't really been able to get into an outdoor bouldering rythmn yet. I hope to put in some nice reports on some of the local bouldering areas once I get my mojo working, Meanwhile, by supplementing my outdoor climbing with sessions in the home gym, I have been able to maintain about three days of climbing per week. I also try to go on hikes at least two of my non climbing days. Typically these hikes range from 4 to 6 miles, but today, for example I hiked around 8 miles. The highlight in this category was hiking the length of the sierra, La Barrosa from end to end on top and then returning along the base. This is a fairly intense three hour hike which I hadn't done for several years. Now I've done it three times since the revision.

How I spent my winter vacation - part 3

The last installment about our winter vacation climbing trip to Capilla del Monte during the second half of July.

Analía climbing on Nasca, on our last day

We only had three days left in Capilla del Monte, when Gaby finally came to join us. She had been staying at her parent's house in Rio IV, helping with her father, who was recovering from a head injury he had obtained from a fall. Unfortunately, she would be unable to climb on these last three days. For almost a year now, Gaby has been suffering from a chronic shoulder injury. She's gone to several doctors and worked with physical therapists, but to no avail. I have my doubts about the abilities of these doctors (look what happened to me with my hip!) but we're hoping Gaby can find a surgeon who knows what to do, when she returns to Córdoba, later in the spring. Meanwhile, her shoulder is not improving.

The day Gaby arrived, we had been climbing four days in a row, so we needed a break. Martín and Analía wanted to hike up Uritorco. The kids, as well, seemed psyched to go. However, I felt my hip could use a rest day and since Gaby and I had hiked up Uritorco a few years back we decided to spend the day loafing together.

The next day we were back to climbing. We went to a steep, outlying slab called Nasca. The first route we did was an elegant and technical 5.9 crack.For me, this route. along with Empotradictos (described in the previous blog post), were the highlights of the whole trip. Not only are both routes excellent and challenging climbs, they were also the most difficult (albiet only 5.9) trad onsights I've done in several years.

Rafael starts up the 5.9 crack.

A series of four shots showing Cecilia styling the technical moves in the crack:

For the next climb, I set up a top rope to work the challenging 5.11 face to the left of the crack. I was hoping to work the moves and then, perhaps, red point the route, if not today, then tomorrow. I took three different tries on top rope and on the last go I finally linked the thing without a hang. The problem was, by then, my fingers were toast and there would be no more climbing that day.

Here are three shots of Ceci top roping the 5.11 slab:

Smaller hands actually help for these holds

Ceci sticks a key hold on a crux move

For our last day of climbing we returned to Nasca where I was hoping to get a shot at redpointing the 5.11. Because there were some climbers on the easiest bolted route (a 10a/b to the right of the crack) I decided to start with a 10c just to the left of the 5.11 slab. However, the start had me a little worried. I had actually onsighted this route some years back and I remembered the start being a bit of a thrill, with some slippery footholds, but today it was looking more like a terrifying ankle breaker (or I should say a terrifying hip implant breaker). Had something about the route changed, or had I just lost my nerve? In the end I decided to rappel the route and preclip the first bolt. Good thing too, because when I tried the climb it became apparent that at least one key hold had broken off, making the route considerably harder than 10c. I ended up hanging a bunch and even tensioning past the first bolt. When I tried the route on top rope for a second go, I still couldn't link the thing cleanly. In fact, I couldn't even do the move at the first bolt without a bit of tension. In the end, this route finished with me before I could finish with it, and I had absolutely nothing left for a shot at the redpoint on the 5.11 to the right. After six days of granite, the points of my fingers had deteriorated to painful, little red circles and I was  ready for a break. And so was everyone else. So we ended up finishing off the afternoon in a local bar, eating an enormous "picada" (a shared plate of salami, meats, cheese, olives, etc.) and drinking beer. A fine end to a fine vacation.

Analía climbing what used to be a 10c

How I spent my winter vacation - part 2

The second installment of my trip report on the climbing we did in Capilla del Monte during winter vacation, July 14th through the 29th

Rafi and Martín in juxtaposition at T-Rex with Uritorco rising up behind

A visit from the Fantastic Mr. Fox

Our third day climbing we decided to give T-Rex a try (this is were we'd seen the No Trespassing sign on our first day). We figured the worst that could happen is we'd get kicked out. At any rate we parked in the canyon (a note to potemtial visitors: use common sense and PLEASE DON'T park your car right in front of a No Trespassing sign).

We started with the easiest route: a goofy 5.7. Despite the fact it's a beginner route, oddly enough, it starts out with an unprotected boulder move on friable rock, after which there are very closely spaced bolts on the easier terrain above. When I got to the top of the route I found that the anchors had been smashed. Apparently the same landowner who was pissed about climbers parking in front of his fence to climb at T-Rex had scambled up the back side of the giant boulder and hammered the anchors flat. I sent down one end of the rope to retrieve some extra gear and I was able to rig a reasonable top rope, fixing some stoppers to what was left of the anchor.

Ceci ties up at the base of the 5.7

The first few moves are a little tricky

Cruising the easy slab above

The next route we did was a short but elegant crystal-studded 5.8 face just to the left, reminiscent of the climbing in Los Gigantes.

The old, fat guy climbs 5.8

Go old, fat guy

Ceci climbs the crystal-studded 5.8

We finished the day with two more routes: first we climbed the 5.8 (or maybe 5.9) located just to the right of the 5.7 and then we top roped an unbolted face (5.10c or maybe even 5.10d), more to the right. This was Cecilia's big day: not only did she do all the routes cleanly, first try, but she was the only member of our group to send the 10c/10d on the first go (it took me two turns on the top rope to climb the thing cleanly and Martin never did make it without hanging). Way to go, Cecilia!

The next day, Analía and the kids decided to take a break from climbing and spend the day doing the standard tourist activities in a nearby town called Los Cocos. Meanwhile, Martín and I headed out to explore the trad climbing area known as Los Paredones. This area is located in another canyon about 5 kilometers further down the Rio Dolores. It turned out to be an extremely nice area and I definitely hope to return someday. 

The first route we did was called Empotradictos and when I first took a look at it, I was afraid we were getting sandbagged. The start looked hard, slippery and kind of run out. Higher up, there looked to be a difficult, overhanging bulge, past the half-way mark. And I couldn't see any indication of the top anchors shown in the guidebook (although we we could see some slings on a rather precarious looking bush at what appeared to be the end of the climb).  Even though I started out with some trepidation, the opening moves went surprisingly easy, and the 90 foot long route ended up being one of the best pitches of 5.9 trad I've done in my 30+ years of climbing. My only complaint is that some confused climber had smashed the anchors at the top (I suppose under the misconception that this destruction was somehow a valuable act), so we ended up having to rappel from slings around a sketchy little bush. But even with that unnecessary risk, this is still a five star route and highly recomendable. Unfortunately I didn't get hardly any pictures. I guess we were just too busy climbing.

Martín sorts gear at the base of Empotradictos

After finishing up Empotradictos we went to a nearby wall called La Placa del Arbol. It turns out this area actually does have one of the biggest sandbags I've ever come across. The center route on the wall (which also showed a variation) was rated 5+ in the guidebook. This should be about 5.8 or 5.9 in the YDS grade. But in fact, the start of the route is a highball, unprotectable. V3 boulder problem (the left hand variation is protectable by a hard to place stopper, however the moves are at least as difficult as the V3 boulder problem to the right). Since this level of climbing was completely out of the question in my current condition, I opted to try the 5.10c/d thin crack that traversed in from the right. The crack turned out to be quite nice, although I ended up using tension to traverse past the hardest move. I hadn't brought a lot of small gear and I was nervous about pulling the lone #2 TCU I had used to protect the crux. At this point I didn't want to take any chances hitting the ground. At any rate, the route was so good that I ended up repeating it on top rope with the gear clipped, although I still didn't link it cleanly.