Patagonia, Part 4: The Momster Cometh

Photos

Strava - Waterfall

Strava - Climb

Strava - De-approach

Thursday, December 26th:

Sheri arrived today, so Derek and I spent most of the day cleaning the apartment…right? Well, no, but only because it wasn’t dirty. We did pick up the place and tried to make things look organized, though.

At 10 a.m. we headed north out of town on the trail to Chorrillo del Salto, a waterfall. The trail started out fine, but then descended and ended on the dirt road that also heads north. I consulted our map and, sure enough, the trail goes up the road for a ways. After a half mile the trail starts again on the east and then crosses back over the road to the west. The trail itself isn’t scenic or interesting and I figured I wouldn’t be recommending this hike to Sheri. Then we got to the waterfall. It was really cool and quite impressive. Lots of nice, grippy rocks in the water below allowed for some playful hoping. We hung out there for 15 or 20 minutes, just soaking it in.

We headed back to town and went to the Waffleria for breakfast of…waffles. Duh. They were pretty good. We had made friends with Fermin and Frederico on our first visit and they remembered our names. We have to go back. They are so friendly. And the food is pretty good.

We got back to the apartment at 12:45 p.m. Adrian was coming by to climb at 1 p.m. so we threw stuff into our packs. When Adrian arrived, he came with another partner, John. Since he was all set and Derek preferred to do a longer climb than to crag (always my preference), we went to climb the Karston Route, which ascends the Condores cliff directly above the bridge and heads for a prominent roof. We’d asked about this route before and heard that the roof itself was easy, but there was some hard climbing to get there. As we crossed the bridge with Adrian and John, we could see a party on the second, crux, pitch.

The Karston Route ascends straight up to the dark roof that is near the top of the cliff and just left of center,

Once across the bridge, Adrian and John went hard right, south to the end of the cliff, where Adrian and I had climbed before. Adrian was headed back to the 7c route (he would send). We headed up to the base of the route and flaked our new rope, which was tangled and quite twisted. It was good we were doing that here and not in the mountains. It was overcast and a bit breezy, but not too bad as Derek headed up the first pitch. The start is some neat climbing up these big holes. Some that ends, though, where Derek clipped the first bolt and then paused to work out maybe the crux of entire pitch. The holds got rounded and smooth and it wasn’t obvious how to proceed. After feeling out various options, Derek moved on up the pitch, pausing above at another tricky section that overhung.

I followed with similar difficulty at those two sections. The next pitch was the crux and relatively moderate climbing (5.8?) led up to the crux move. It was super windy here. We were both climbing with packs on our back and mine was really catching the wind here. I clipped a bolt right at the start of the crux, but the move was very difficult and a bit committing, as the fall wasn’t as clean as I would have liked. Not too bad, but there was a small stance you could hit if you came down right next to the wall. I fiddled with the moves for awhile. There are only two holds, both small and both bad. Off of these tiny holds you have to do a pull-up and get your left foot on a tiny edge. Below this edge was a more rounded foothold, but it was very bad. Also, the holds are at maximum reach, so it is very hard to start pulling. Both Derek and I solved this with a little hop, just to get the arms bent a bit. I did that and got my foot on the rounded hold, but couldn’t stand on it and couldn’t lock off. I slapped for this arete and came off. I was barely above the bolt and could sort of hop down and grab the draw. The wind continued to batter me. I decided to step in a sling rather than risk a nastier fall, once again erring on the side of caution.

Derek leading the first pitch (5.9/10a)

I stood in the sling and was then able to get my left foot on the small edge. I could then stand on it, barely, and move my hands up and then clip the next bolt. I rocked high onto my right foot and the climbing was then easy to a huge ledge. The woman in the team ahead of us was just a few feet above this ledge, dangling from the rope. I ducked low to make sure she didn’t land on me, clipped in, and started pulling up the rope. The wind really picked up now and with it came some moisture. Not a full-on rain, but a drizzle. The wind was the issue. I couldn’t pile the rope on the ledge as it would have been blown into the air and into a giant mess. I ended up flaking it over my tie-in, like at a hanging belay. I pulled out my gloves and zipped up my hood and sat down to belay Derek.

Derek paused at the crux for awhile as well, but then he committed to the moves. He was able to get his left foot high on the edge and did it! I was impressed. That move felt 5.11 to me. It was harder than the 6c route I’d done the day before. But it was just five feet of climbing.

At the top of the third pitch (5.9?) and just below the roof pitch.

I figured the next pitch was hard since the woman had dangled so much on it (she also had trouble with the crux, but so did I). Derek figured it out quickly and made it look easy. Above he stemmed and traversed left to a small stance, finding the woman there belaying her partner on the roof pitch. We felt very much like Patagonian alpinists, climbing in such weather. In winds and rain like that it wouldn’t even be a question of continuing in Eldo. You’d bail for sure. Yet, we never thought of that. We knew it was ideal training for the high mountains. Plus, the party in front of us was going up as well. They were slow, though. They were on the second pitch as we had crossed the bridge. We still had to hike up, take at least 10 minutes to flake the dang rope, gear up and we still caught them on the third pitch. We waited 15 minutes or more at our somewhat sheltered stance, as we didn’t want to crowd them at the small stance above the roof. Plus, it looked quite nasty at that belay and I wanted to minimize my time there.

Looking up at the roof.

We waited until we could see her start to follow the fifth and last pitch. Then I took off up the fourth pitch, the super cool roof pitch. Indeed, this pitch is spectacular, but probably only 5.7, as big holds for your hands and feet abound. The belay stance just above the roof is quite nice. Or it would have been if it wasn’t raining and blowing a gale. Derek followed swiftly and scampered up the last pitch, probably 5.6, to the summit. I followed and, once back from the edge, immediately started pulling up the rope from Derek at the lip and coiling it. Our Argentinian couple just huddled next to a rock, as if they were going to have a picnic. Obviously locals, out for a climb on a relatively nice day for the area. Derek and I packed up as quick as we could and took off along the top of the cliff, headed south on the trail I scoped out the day before.

Once off the top, the wind eased, but it was still spitting rain. We went by the cragging area and looked up there to see if we could spot Adrian. I didn’t recognize anyone up there, but that’s a tough task at that distance without knowing exactly what he’d be wearing and what color his helmet was. We just headed back to the warmth of the apartment where we made an earlier dinner,  already planning on a second dinner when Sheri arrived.

Sheri was supposed to get here between 7 and 7:30 p.m and I got worried when it got to be 8:15 p.m. The shuttle she was on was packed and they had to make a lot of stops. Plus, they made a lot of stops to take photos on the way up, just like we had done. These are nice only to stretch your legs, as the views on the drive up are nothing worth stopping for. Alas, she was here. After we got her gear up to the apartment we went out for a second dinner. Like hobbits do with breakfasts.