Bolivia

La Paz

Aranjuez

Minutes away from La Paz and in the valley below Oberland (the popular overlander’s hangout) is Valle de Aranjuez. It is composed of about a dozen sectors spread out on both sides of the river. No need for gear, it’s only sport here including the cracks. The rock is… interesting. Lot’s of mediocre sandstone mixed with pretty smooth conglomerate. That said, there’s enough well equipped, thought provoking routes on good rock to keep you busy while you’re in the area. Also nice is the parking situation. There is a park stretching through the base of the valley that is quite safe for leaving a vehicle (or stealth camping). The approaches are short and the fins tend to have routes on each side which makes it easy to chase or dodge the sun.

DSCN1105 — On the road side of the valley. Best crag we climbed at – both sides

DSCN1110 — Opposite side of the previous pic

This is on the opposite side of the river from the road. We were rained off after only a few routes but we thought the side of the valle with the road had better rock, routes, and bolting. — This is on the other side of the river from the road. We were rained/hailed off after only a few routes but we thought the side of the valley with the road had better rock, routes, and bolting.

South of Laguna Colorado – Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa

(-22.2929380000, -67.7815280000)

This is a good place to camp just South of Laguna Colorado. When we pulled into the canyon to camp we were amazed at the quality of the rock. There are endless lines to be done. Not the tallest, but high quality and SPLITTER! The most limiting factor that prevented us from doing more new routes was only having doubles with us. Having three, four, or more in whatever size you’d like to climb would go a long ways. The rock is very good volcanic stone with some features to use outside of the cracks as well. Also, if you boulder, bring your pad – the bouldering potential here is probably better than the climbing, which is also excellent. You can do FAs for as long as your supplies last at 14,000+ feet!!!

The entrance to the canyon. It gets bigger a bit further in. We never even got near the end, it goes a long ways

Huaraz

Los Pinos – Right off the road between Caraz and Huaraz is a little bolted crag hosting 8 easy routes. Nothing to write home about, but if you’re driving by and want to clip a few bolts you can climb all 8 routes and have lunch in an hour or two. The rock goes into the shade in the afternoon which would be the time to swing by.

The little crag is behind the van by the bushes. Six ~5.9s, two 10s

Los Olivos – We walked over to the crag from Huaraz (about a 30 minute walk west of town) to take a look. “Nothing to see here… move along.”

Hatun Machay – 40km South of Huaraz you will find paradise. I wish I had known just how awesome the place was so we could have spent much, much more time there. At kilometer marker 111 you will see a little rock cairn and a dirt road, nothing more. Take the rutted dirt road up and over the hill and you will run right into the incredibly badass refugio just for climbers. It’s 20 soles to camp, 30 if you want a dorm bed. They have everything you need to be comfy at 14,200 feet: excellent solar shower, full kitchen, fireplace, and they even provide quality topos for the routes. The rock is excellent and well bolted. Bring as much skin on your tips as you can, you’re going to need it.

The refugio. Plenty of tent spots, solar shower, lodge with fireplace, kitchen, and dorm beds.

100s of routes, tons in the 5.10 - 5.12 range — 100s of routes, tons in the 5.10 – 5.12 range

Complimentary topos provided by the refugio

Cusco

Pachan

This spot is mostly for tour companies to take people out for their first time. There are about 5 or 6 bolted lines mostly 5.9. I wouldn’t bother. There is a better spot close to town that we’ll list next.

Sector Patacancha

This has some short, but fun lines on it. It’s well bolted. The crag is at about 13,000 feet. Around 4-5 5.10s and 3-4 routes in the 5.11 range. To reach this spot continue past the Quinta Lala overlander spot, hang a left on the dirt road across from the ruins and drive about 10-15 minutes till you see the formation on the top of the hill. Alternatively it’s about an hour-and-a-half walk from town.

The Cordillera Blanca

August 26, 2014February 2, 2016 Eric 2 Comments

Just a quick update from Peru. I’ll let the pics do most of the talking here with the exception of some “interesting” stats I’ve included at the end of the post.

After riding the porcelain throne through the long, muddy streets of Shitsville for nearly two weeks we had to bail on our Huayhuash Circuit plans and settled for a few rounds of antibiotics mixed with some rock climbing, camping, and alpine hiking. Actually, who am I kidding, porcelain thrones would be a treat around these parts! Huaraz is kind of a dump but the Cordillera Blancas easily make up for it! (more…)

Ticklists, Raindances, and Shredded Tips

July 31, 2014February 2, 2016 Eric 1 Comment

Banos: it’s one of those towns that’s toted as an action-adventure, extreme sports place… We really dug Banos, but the extremo part was a bit flaccid. They have a rope jump off a gigantic bridge, but based on the size of the jump compared to the bridge, I imagine the bridge was a bit embarrassed. So sad. Had Chip been with us I think I might have been motivated enough to go show them how things are done! We did do a little climbing while we were there. Nothing to write home about, but fun to get back out on the rock. It had been a while. We parked next to a nice hostel, made some friends up on the balcony overlooking the town and the church, visited the famous hot springs, and consumed many a cerveza while enjoying the beautiful steep hills and numerous waterfalls cascading down them. (more…)

Quito

There are several places to sport climb and boulder around Quito. We didn’t go to any of them but the info for them can be found at mondedo.com

Banos

There were two obvious spots in Banos to climb. One below the zoo and the other directly under the bridge where the puenting takes place. The puenting by the way while still likely to be a good time is so small a rope jump for the size and potential of the bridge that I was a little embarrassed for them, though at $20 a jump I hardly think they care what I think. The climbing is grid bolted sport on short basalt. Something to do if your bored but nothing special.

Cuenca

Paunte – Sport climbing about 40 minutes from Cuenca. Good sport routes. Well bolted but not over bolted. Sharp, positive volcanic rock. Many routes from 5.10 up. Both the description of how to get there and the topo provided on monodedo.com were pretty bad. I’ve added a better description on how to get there and where to camp on Mountain Project here. As for the routes, we never had much luck with the topo, but it’s sport, eyeball and jump on it!

Climbing