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 :)