Squamish with Chloe

Having to renew my visa was a pretty good excuse to go climb in Squamish with Chloe.

Saturday started out raining but we got lucky with the weather in the afternoon. We started out warming up with 1 pitch climbs in Shannon Falls. Chloe and Michael did a 5.7 crack and Will and I a 5.8. We then did a fun 5-pitch climb called Skywalker. The climb was pretty easy, the hardest part being a 5.8 up a weird crack corner. Arriving at the summit, there was a great view of the falls.

After the climb, we managed to shock the waitress with our order of 8 entrees for 4 people (3 of them belonging to Chloe).

On Sunday, we went to the famous Burgers & Fries crag for some slabby action, then straight to the airport to fly back to SF.

Traversing

This weekend I went on a climb called Passagem dos Olhos (translated, would be Passage of the Eyes) a classic climb on one of my favorite mountains in Rio, Pedra da Gavea. The climb goes through a face in the mountain known as Head of the Emperor - well, because it looks like a pointy head I guess, with two big caves that look like eyes from a distance. In this climb, you go under the left eye and then finish up inside the right eye (a badass huge cave) then there is a cable sideways and downwards from there.

The climb is easy, beautiful, but very much in the air and traverses scare the crap out of me. Its so much easier to lead this climb than to second it. My friend and I lead different parts, but in many parts the climb sort of goes down, so although leading you actually feel kind of on top rope...

To get to the climb you hike 1.5 hours up the steep normal trail to get to the summit of Pedra da Gavea, then veer left once you see this face. Pretty easy to find, and it was the first time up there for both of us. We took some time in the shade trying to figure out if we waited, if the climb would get more in the shade or not... we ended up climbing at the worst time (11am) but the sun, when climbing, actually didnt feel as bad as in the trail (it was close to 90 and a gzillion humidity that day).

The summit of Pedra da Gavea is really look - its HUGE, super wide, like 4 soccer fields or something.

Jojo mojo

Our favorite South American itinerant is back in town! On her continuing adventures, JK finally arrived in NYC this week after cliffdiving in the Brazilian jungle and skiing in the wilds of Quebec. This time of year, a girl this tan is either from Rio or Jersey...

Lots of climbing last night, B and I worked a slew of routes while waiting for Joana to show up in the downpour: V1,V2,V2+,V3,V3,V4,V4. Brian hasn't lost any form at all, working through the grades and onsighting V4. When JK finally arrived, she warmed up and quickly worked her way to V3/V4, and we jumped on a bunch of different problems in the V2-V4 range. Joana has been climbing hard in Brazil, and it really showed, especially in her endurance and stamina. Nice, hard session.

Finished too late for food at Sheep Station (kitchen closes 10:30 on weekdays, BTW), so we cabbed it back to the LES and headed for one of my favorite local hole-in-the-walls: Le French Diner. Mussels almost as good as G makes, cheap red wine, crispy fries (no ketchup!), and steaks with eggs on top, all served in a tiny room by the owner himself.

Good to see you again JK!

Dedo de Deus

Last weekend I climbed a mountain called Dedo de Deus (translates to "finger of god"), which is in a mountain range called Serra dos Orgãos, 2 hours from Rio. Its close to a region that was recently devastated by rains, and from the summit and the drive you can see the traces of it, its impressive - huge tears in the mountain sides...

This climb meant a lot to me because its a very iconic mountain here... its the mountain that "started" climbing in Brazil (was first summited in 1912).

The route we went up is pretty easy, and was conquered in 1944 (the route we did is called "Leste"). Its hardest pitch is maybe a 5.7-5.8, and other than that its a lot of chimneys... the thing is, it feels so exposed. Some pitches you go, go, go, and there's like, no bolts. Or one big chimney with a bolt only on the top of it. Ok, its pretty impossible to fall, but still... as I tried leading some parts of it, it felt really really scary. I'm not used to lead on this type of climbs... which actually feels like you are in a real mountain and are certainly more remote then most 3-4 pitch routes I'm used to doing smack in the middle of Rio. I felt confident because I was with a really experienced friend. And it was an easy route. He'd actually just soloed(!) it one week prior to us going.

The crux is actually on a variation of the original climb (to avoid a nasty chimney called blackout which is dark, damp, and filled with bird poo).

We got to the summit in 4 hours (the first 1.5 hours were just the approach. The approach is a real bitch - steep hike under thick canopies (no sun but no breeze either) then pulling yourself up these cables for maybe 100m (this part is in the sun. Sun+ steel cables=blisters).

Via Leste - Salinas, RJ

Saturday I climbed my longest route to date - a route called Leste in Três Picos National Park, in a region called Salinas, 3 hours from Rio.

The route goes up 700m in the East side of a granite mountain called Pico Maior. To get to the base - 30 minutes on a bumpy dirt road, 1 hour hiking fast through cow pastures and a steep trail up.

The climb is 18 pitches long, and not too hard - 4° V A1 E3 in brazilian ratings (something like 5.8 with 5.9 crux). A lot of slab, a lot of face climbing with good holds, two chimneys and a part done in aid. The bolts are faaaaaaar away from each other.

Most people start the climb at 6am in the morning - the guide book says to count 4-7 hours to do it. I went however with a friend who knows the route well, and, has a light and fast philosophy for climbing. We took two small packs, 1 liter of water each (which we filled in a creek in the hike up), a little food, climbed together for most of the route (except for the chimney parts) and made it up in 3.5 hours. I thought that was pretty good but there are badass climbers who do it in like, 1 hour.

Except for an altercation with a thorny tree in the beginning of the route, things went well. What happened was, the route hits a little plato with some vegetation (thorny underbush and some trees) and you are supposed to go right of it, up a more vertical wall, and then it goes back left again. We were climbing simultaneously at this point, so my climbing partner was 60 m and because I was under the little vertical stretch we couldn't see or hear each other. The rope got stuck in the tree... in a way that I couldn't move out right to do the climb. After some moments of indecision, I thought I might as well try "climbing" up the tree to free the rope... which turned out to be completely ineffective. The only way I was going to be able to free that rope would be by untying myself and pulling the rope from the other side...My friend finally climbed down to see what was up - I untied myself (I was in a big plato), and he pulled the rope from the top.

After that, the climb was pretty chill. The hardest parts of the climb were two chimneys. It had been a long time since I'd climbed a chimney and I had to remember the technique, but it is kind of like riding a bike I guess, it came back fast.

Getting to the summit was awesome. The day was perfect and the visibility as amazing, you could see the whole valley, the different mountains... its a beautiful region. We rappelled down the other side (many, many, many rappels) as you need two ropes to rappel down Leste.

In terms of cardio, it was pretty challenging - if you count 7km to get up + 7km to get down plus approx 3km hike each way, thats 20km to cover in a day. The amount of water was ok but I could probably live with carrying (and drinking) and extra half liter next time.

After the climb, a little trip to a river to soak my scraped legs...

Serra do Lenheiro, MG

There was a holiday last week in Brazil which made for a 4-day long weekend, and I went to Serra do Lenheiro (in the state of Minas Gerais), a 5-hour drive from Rio.

This climbing area is controlled by the brazilian army - its where their mountain division practices. Its close (a 15 minute drive) to a small town called São João Del Rey, and a bit further from a beautiful colonial town called Tiradentes.

You have to ask permission to the military guys to climb there and pay a small fee to access the camping grounds. Despite the long weekend, there were very very few people there... around the mountains, there is a stretch of valley with a few farms and lots of cows... very bucolic.

The climbing there its super fun, and reminded me a bit of the Gunks. A geologist friend that I went with actually said its the same type of rock as the Gunks, only ours has more iron or something and we have more plants growing on it. There are lots of cracks and some overhanging stuff and roofs (like Gunks), ans the majority of climbs are not bolted, you have to place gear (like Gunks). Also, like the Gunks, most climbs are pretty short - 1 or 2 pitch max.

The first day we started with an easy crack - probably 5.8-9ish? We then went to an even easier route - maybe a 5.7 (which I lead, yay! with placed gear though). We then went to a harder very balancey yet beautiful climb, probably 5.10b), and then, went to a small waterfall. In the afternoon, it was pretty windy and looking like it might possibly rain, so we did a top rope on a really amazing route, a 5.10c called Alta Tensão (High Tension). That's because there's not protection until after the crux move... which is pretty high up... and protection remains shitty after that. Top roping it was great though.

The next day we started on a climb called Lucifer. However, in a key point, there was an owl nest... and the owl was not very happy to see people climbing past. My friend who was leading had to downclimb (and lose a piece). We tried climbing around it and made it to the first stop, only to find the crux wet... wasn´t meant to be. On the rappel, I forgot about the owl and went way to close to it. She freaked out (and so did I, a little). I closed my eyes and went down as fast as I can. After that we hiked across the valley which was absolutely beautiful. There was this super overhung cliff with some routes. My friend lead, I remain not very good in very overhung climbs and didn't get too far on it though.

It then started to rain heavily and the military guys said they needed the campground, so we went to Tiradentes for the night. The next day it continued to rain, so we drove to Friburgo (state of Rio, another 4 hour drive) to this beautiful region called 3 picos. There is a big climbing community there, lots of climbers who set up sort of bed & breakfasts for other climbers.

It continued raining a lot so we couldn't climb :( but did some hiking and drinking which was great as well.

More pics in flickr!





ps: crazy looking hair in pictures due to intense wind :)

Return to Infrared

Sunday afternoon, went to Urca for some climbing in Morro da Urca (mountain next to Sugarloaf). Lots of climbs looked wet, so ended up returning to the climb I did with Ju & Dave (called Infravermelho), that looked a bit drier. This time I lead it!! Felt great. Turned around before completing the last pitch which looked pretty soaked (as I remembered Dave's ordeal getting through the totally soaked slab to the top...)

Some friends were climbing the route next to mine, called Arco-Iris, and then traversed to my route to rappel down.

Was neat to see the full moon rise up over the water, and then do a few rappels in headlamp light. We miscalculated slightly the last rappel, we were already super close to the base but had to down climb a bit (rope too short!!) was a weird feeling to "let go" of the rappel and just slide off the end of the rope. Was fine though.

Have been using a marchand knot to back-up my rappels...

Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

On Sunday morning, went for a climb on the buttress of Corcovado (mountain that has the Christ statue on top). The climbs in that face all are named after movies (thus blog post title). The day and the setting were beautiful - you see Corcovado's main summit to one side (through a weird angle, with just one hand of the Christ sort of waving out at you), a view to the lagoon straight ahead, and a great view of the bay and the Sugarloaf on the other side.

The approach hike is interesting as well - around 30 minutes up a steep hill, passing a small spring and bordering this fence that boards off some millionaire's property (full of scary 'beware aggressive dogs' sign, made scarier by the distance sounds of barking and some dog-sized holes in the fence).

The climb itself was so-so... as slabby as a slab could be. It was pretty positive, thus pretty easy... but there was NOTHING to hold on to. After a two-pitch smear-fest, we turned around as the third pitch looked totally wet and with a weird greenish mold tone in the rock right around the crux.

I didn't feel like leading this one at all. The bolts were FAR... like 10-15m apart.

Rapelling down, the rope got snatched in the weirdest way (see picture)...