Go back to Mexico.
Summary
Hiking in.
Never say never I suppose but I do think it will be a while till we’re tempted to go back to the beautiful El Potrero Chico. After this last quick trip, we feel fairly confident that we’ve climbed all that interested us and that was within our ability. We sampled a couple new areas this time around including a hike up to Tarahumara Pass to climb the pretty decent 5 am Breakfast route (6P, 10b) and visited the sporto heaven of Virgin Canyon for the first time. We also climbed one of Ed’s more recent (?) routes called Access Denied (4P, 10c) and a fun shorty called Cactus Pile (3P, 10b). So until a couple new and long 10/11- routes go up or we magically gain the ability to do 12+ crimping, so long Potrero!
Video
Click photo for a quick “panorama video.”
Photos
Another trip to EPC, another supply stop at the MiniSuper (Nov. 2016).
El Potrero Chico (Nov. 2016).
View of the front side (El Torro) from the room of our casita (Nov. 2016).
Noon thirty in Mexico – things could go in either direction…
Hiking in on our day one – Thanksgiving actually (Nov. 2016).
Breakfast Club Peak (our objective) is on the left and Buzz Rock is on the right. Tarahumara Pass separates the two (Nov. 2016).
El Sendero Luminoso “pillar” – the route follows the nice and smooth looking face just right of the orange colored bowl (Nov. 2016).
Shirley on approach to the Breakfast Club Peak (Nov. 2016).
The final 4th class section on approach to the base of 5 AM Breakfast route (Nov. 2016).
Shirley topping out on pitch 1 of 5 AM Breakfast (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting the lead of pitch 2 of 5 AM Breakfast (Nov. 2016).
Higher on pitch 2 (Nov. 2016).
Shirley on pitch 3 (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting up pitch 4. The best pitch of the route follows the dihedral above (Nov. 2016).
More pitch 4 action (Nov. 2016).
Starting up the 5th and best pitch of 5 AM Breakfast (Nov. 2016).
Higher on the very nice pitch (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting up the aesthetic crux pitch of 5 AM Breakfast (Nov. 2016).
Fun fun climbing!
Click photo for a quick “panorama video.”
Panoramic view from 5 AM Breakfast route (Nov. 2016).
Topping out (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting up the 6th and final pitch. It’s a short one…could’ve combined with the previous but would’ve missed some photo ops.
So many new small operations have popped up all over the place that you’re never further away than 10 minutes from beer and margaritas (Nov. 2016).
“For a lot of food!!”
Another view from the rooftop of the casita (Nov. 2016).
Hiking in on day 2 (Nov. 2016).
The front side and El Sendero Luminoso pillar on a damp second day (Nov. 2016).
View down from high up in Virgin Canyon. The ridge at the center of photo is home to Estrellita route (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting up pitch 1 of Punto De Inspiracion (Nov. 2016).
Midway up pitch 2 I ran into this guy…after a brief but vigorous discussion, Shirley was not too thrilled at having to gingerly climb past him and we bailed (Nov. 2016).
Down we go…
Unknown climbers high on Estrellita route (Nov. 2016).
Shirley leading pitch 1 of Cactus Pile (Nov. 2016).
Following pitch 1.
View of the Spires from Cactus Pile (Nov. 2016).
Shirley following pitch 2 of Cactus Pile – quite nice!
Topping out on the pitch (Nov. 2016).
View back towards Hidalgo from Cactus Pile (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting up pitch 3 of Cactus Pile (Nov. 2016).
Higher on the same fun pitch (Nov. 2016).
The interior of the Potrero (Nov. 2016).
Varied, fun climbing (Nov. 2016).
Topping out on the route (Nov. 2016).
Time for a margarita (Nov. 2016).
The highways of the Jungle Wall (Nov. 2016).
Some curious geology in El Potrero Chico (Nov. 2016).
Scoping out future routes with a margarita (thanks Edgardo) in hand (Nov. 2016).
Another friendly pup of El Potrero Chico (Nov 2016).
Our casita came with a helicopter landing pad (Nov. 2016).
Starting up the 4-pitch line called Access Denied (Nov. 2016).
More of the same pitch (Nov. 2016).
Spitting rain and rainbows on Access Denied (Nov. 2016).
Shirley on pitch 1 (Nov. 2016).
Starting up pitch 2 (Nov. 2016).
Access Denied is on a ridge directly behind the pool complex (Nov. 2016).
Shirley higher on the easy pitch 2 (Nov. 2016).
Crux 3rd pitch of Access Denied – quite easy for 5.10 (a crack).
Shirley past the slight bulge on pitch 3 of Access Denied (Nov. 2016).
Panoramic view from Access Denied (Nov. 2016).
Shirley starting up the 4th and final pitch…actually you should step out right vs. following the bolts straight up (perhaps we should read the topo before climbing the route). But the position on the prow of the arete here was pretty cool (Nov. 2016).
A touch of oxidation at a belay anchor (Nov. 2016).
Shirley nearing the top of the last pitch (Nov. 2016).
Topping out on Access Denied with the overlook in the background (Nov. 2016).
Edgardo’s trailer is visible on the right…pizzas and margaritas await (Nov. 2016).
Some wildlife on the descent into Virgin Canyon (Nov. 2016).
The very nice Pitch Black route (the black streak just right of center) as seen from Virgin Canyon (Nov. 2016).
Unknown climbers on Pitch Black (Nov. 2016).
Some more cragging (Nov. 2016).
Hiking out and ready for a break from El Potrero Chico…for a while anyway (Nov. 2016).
Unknown climber(s) on Buzz Rock (Nov. 2016).
Vaqueros of El Potrero Chico (Nov. 2016).
Go back to Mexico.