chossclimbers

Go back to Mexico.

The Spray

Until late November of 2011, our combined experience with Mexico consisted of my one pre-marital road trip with two friends in the mid 90s. The three of us took a 15-year old Oldsmobile and drove it from New York City to Acapulco (a 3K mile stretch) in a nearly non-stop push of 55 hours. The car had some overheating issues that were kept in check by blasting the heater full bore while flying down the freeway at 85mph with the windows rolled down. In January, this meant that one was comfortable but only in the average sense. I don’t recall much else about that trip. Ancient history and a different universe for all, including – I think – Mexico .

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Shirley and I have known that we’d eventually get around to going to the famous El Potrero Chico but had until now come up with excuses to postpone on the execution. The stream of news regarding the violent war with/among the cartels was our latest excuse (and in my mind, a pretty solid one). I think what finally did us in was reading Chris and Kristin Winter’s blog entry on their first trip to EPC. “Holy shit this looks great!” was our reaction. Plane tickets were purchased before the coolaid effects wore off and Magic Ed was contacted. Not only did Ed put our (my…Shirley is blessed with a more f-it attitude) minds at ease, but he made all the arrangements painlessly for us. When we finally arrived at the Monterrey airport, Ed and Tami were there to pick us up and to drive us to our own rented house. For the price of a shitty NFS campground by Sedona ($30/night), we had a very comfy casita all to ourselves.

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Those seven days we spent in EPC seem like a happy blur of fun moves on gorgeous limestone hundreds of feet above the deck interrupted only by drinking beer, making guac, and enjoying the company of other climbers over dinners. Unlike our last bolt clipping outing, the climbing in Potrero was low stress (no 5.10 moves 20 feet above bolts) with a seemingly endless supply of sub-7a (as the Euro’s say) multi-pitch routes. With only a handful of climbers (Mexican, Canadian, Brazilian, Italian, American etc…), there was no crowding. We had our first pick routes all to ourselves despite our less than alpine starts. Seven days, seven wonderful routes and a big bucket of ideas for future trips. Some day-by-day and route spray follows.

1. Yankee Clipper (11 of 14P, 5.10b)

On the morning of our first day, we hiked into the Potrero without a solid plan. Jungle Wall was close to the road and as we wanted something longer than Jungle Mountaineering (4 pitches) and easier than Space Boyz (5.10d), we started up Yankee Clipper (14ish pitch 5.10b) with the idea of quitting before the 5.12 15th pitch. In retrospect, this was not the brightest idea as we started late in the morning (10ish) on what would turn out to be the hottest day of our stay. We swung leads linking most pitches into ~60 meter couples and were cooking nicely by pitch 5 or 6. By the time we hit the vegetated bowl on pitch 9, we were becoming well done. Above the bowl, any hint of a breeze seemed to die away and we were climbing in a limestone oven. Topping out on the 11th pitch we felt cooked and bailed (one more long pitch would’ve put us – reportedly – at the “summit” register). Oh well. We needed to be resuscitated with 2 ice cold, liter sized Carta Blancas.

2. Dope Ninja (6P, 510b)

On day 2, we headed in the direction of the Mota Wall but the view of the sunlit face scared us off (Yankee Fryer was still fresh in our minds) and we ended up on Dope Ninja– slightly less sunny and just around the corner. I led pitch 1 and Shirley started up pitch 2 but at 5’3” had some issues reaching a critical pocket at the start of a “headwall” section of the pitch. As we were doing the traverse pitch (#4), two military trucks full of soldiers did a slow drive through the canyon below. We topped out and enjoyed the views from the top of the gendarme. That evening we headed over to Posada for dinner where we met a group of fellow Portland climbers (as well as a couple we had met a year before in Red Rocks…small world and of course Frank, who’s an EPC regular). The beer and the climbing conversation flowed into the night. Indeed, this would become our routine for the rest of the week: climb, drink, eat dinner and occupy Posada along with fellow PDX-ers.

3. Estrellita (12P, 5.10b)

On the third day, we headed for the Estrellitaroute, hailed as one of the easiest multi-pitch outings in Potrero. Fun stuff! The only thing better than the crack pitches above the Aztec Lounge (a vegetated bowl three pitches up), was the route summit with its one lone palm tree. Took photos, lounged around, and slowly rapped our way down into Los Lobos Canyon seeing that the military had set up a checkpoint at the entrance to the Potrero. All agree that the presence of the soldiers is reassuring and a great benefit to the area but we figured that a combination of our imperfect Spanish and the heavy artillery might be something to avoid (if it could be helped). By the time we were hiking out, the soldiers had packed up and left.

4. Pancho Villa Rides Again (5P, 5.10c)

Back to Mota Wall on day four. The start of Pancho Villa Rides Againlooked good and so we got on it. It turned out to be our favorite route of the outing. Small package but super fun climbing. We might however be biased as this is a crack route. Every pitch offered some fun moves and at least some crack sections. We got back early and since we were low on essentials (cash), we hiked to Hidalgo in search of an ATM & a supermarket.

5. Space Boyz (11P, 5.10d)

With the memories of being cooked alive on the Yankee Grill fading fast, we headed back to the Jungle Wall to do the (modern day American classic line) Space Boyz. We combined the easier four pitches into two and swapped leads most the way. Shirley got to lead the first 5.10 pitch of the day, #5 and reportedly only 5.10a…though I thought it seemed harder. The 5.10d pitch was a spectacular dihedral and the great climbing continued above on a prow-like formation all the way to the gendarme summit (I guess the last pitch was not that spectacular but not too bad especially since it was Shirley’s lead). A great route! That night we had the pleasure of Ed and Tami’s company for dinner.

6. Satori (7P, 5.10c)

We were beginning to feel tired but unlike on most of our trips (granite or sandstone climbing in particular) the finger tips were not very shredded or painful. And so without that excuse, we headed up to Satori on the front side of the Potrero (the only easy route on the front side?). Two nondescript pitches led to a narrow pillar-like structure that we then followed for 5 more beautiful pitches to the top of the wall…truly a wall (or fin perhaps) as one realizes the thinness of it once at the top.

7. Jungle Mountaineering (4P, 5.10a)

We wanted to do something else on the Mota Wall on our final day but alas I was feeling out of it…my fingers were aching, my ass felt particularly heavy and I just wanted a beer. Fortunately, Shirley felt great and led us up the four pitches of Jungle Mountaineering on the …ready for this…Jungle Wall. Nice limestone edge and pocket pulling interrupted by smeary slab moves. According to Ed, this was the first bolted line in the Potrero and one that has been declawed since its inception (no more 30 foot runouts).

The End

And so our first outing to the amazing El Potrero Chico came to an end. The following day Ed picked us up in the morning and we were once again driven to Monterrey airport and were safely back in Portland later that evening (where several gang-suspected shootings were the talk of the local news channels). Will we be back? You bet your ass! So many more great looking multi-pitch lines. Gorgeous (& to us, exotic) limestone walls. Easy access. Great climbing vibe in the area. Cheap food and alcohol.

Photos

Yankee Clipper

Dope Ninja

Estrellita

Pancho Villa Rides Again

Space Boyz

Satori

Jungle Mountaineering

Go back to Mexico.