Go back to Brazil II.
Go back to Pancas.
In the morning, we headed towards our next objective, Pedra Riscada near the town of Sao Jose do Dovino in the state of Minas Gerais. On the way, we checked out the town of Pancas and did a nice detour to see a viewpoint of the formations. That latter serves as a launch point for parasailing. Once in Sao Jose, we were met by Eddie who owns and operates a pretty unique climbers’ refuge at the base of the mountain. After procuring some supplies, we drove out to Eddie’s place via a rough track that circumnavigates the giant monolith. Eddie gave us a tour of the various aspects of the Riscada including routes established by some famous climbers. We also checked out our route from afar and got permission from the farmer who owns the land to cross it the next day. The highlight of the evening was running into a 1.5 meter long jararaca (a flavor of South American viper) warming herself on the dirt track as we stopped to admire another route. Eddie’s house (and climbers’ refuge) turned out to be pretty wild. Built just above a stream that was damned up to form two swimming pools. The house itself sits on ~20 degree granite slabs and the first floor rooms feature some class 3 slab scrambling to access the beds. Though not a climber himself, Eddie is a musician and a cool dude in his 70s with some interesting stories and a deep love of rock music.
Photos
Go to Pedra Riscada.
Go back to Brazil II.