Go back to Queretaro Finale.
Alas Del Viento.
A positively alpine start on Sunday. We were at the base of the formation by about 9am only to find a party of three on the opening pitch of
Alas Del Viento route (a new 13 pitch, 5.10b). The guys were very kind and let us pass. Climbing was better than we had expected. Yes, there were some sections of walking but there are enough quality pitches to make it a worthwhile outing. After about 7 pitches, we joined with the
Filo Noroccidental route (which we had climbed five years earlier) atop its third pitch. We continued up
Filo Noro and were on the summit before 1pm. We found a conga line of tourists being “guided” to the summit up some fixed hand lines (sketchy shit). Two short raps down the usual descent chute and a bit of scrambling down all while being yelled at by a “guide”. Anyway, thanks to a local cop waiting for us at the exit from the tourist trail, we learned that climbing was not allowed on that particular Sunday and, in fact, we needed to register at the entrance to the trail before climbing anything on the front side (including descending). Glad we’re done with that place.
Photos
Pena De Bernal as seen from our approach into Queretaro Airport (Feb. 2023).
Hello again, Bernal (Feb. 2023).
Fist afternoon after our arrival (Feb. 2023).
Shirley and the iconic view from town (Feb. 2023).
Bernal (Feb. 2023).
Bernal (Feb. 2023).
Bernal (Feb. 2023).
Gordita magic (Feb. 2023).
Pena from some rooftop place (Feb. 2023).
Some dingos seen on the morning approach (Feb. 2023).
Shirley on the morning approach to Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Pena in the morning (Feb. 2023).
The leader from the party ahead of us on pitch 1 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Shirley topping out on pitch 1 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Shirley starting up pitch 2 (Feb. 2023).
More pitch 2 (Feb. 2023).
Some dipshit following pitch 2 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Topping out on pitch 2 (Feb. 2023).
Shirley on pitch 3 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
More of Shirley on pitch 3 (Feb. 2023).
Below the crux on pitch 4 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Pitch 4 (Feb. 2023).
Pitch 4 (Feb. 2023).
Pitch 4 (Feb. 2023).
The crux section of pitch 4 and the route (Feb. 2023).
The bouldery crux (Feb. 2023).
Shirley arriving at the 4th belay (Feb. 2023).
Shirley leading pitch 5 (Feb. 2023).
Looking back on our route companions (Feb. 2023).
Views from the route (Feb. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 6 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Pitch 6 ends with a short hike (Feb. 2023).
Leading pitch 7 (Feb. 2023).
More pitch 7 (Feb. 2023).
Shirley topping out on (the nice) pitch 7 (Feb. 2023).
Hiking the ridge which is pitch 8 (Feb. 2023).
Shirley hiking pitch 8 of Alas Del Viento (Feb. 2023).
Shirley starting up pitch 9 of Alas Del Viento; which also happens to be like pitch 3 of Filo Noroccidental route (Feb. 2023).
More of Shirley on pitch 9 (Feb. 2023).
Pitch 10 which we sort of stretched a bit (Feb. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 10 (which we combined with another pitch on Filo Noro; Feb. 2023).
Views from the route (Feb. 2023).
Shirley on our pitch 10 of the day (Feb. 2023).
Shirley starting up our pitch 11 (Feb. 2023).
More of Shirley on pitch 11 (Feb. 2023).
Pitch 12 (Feb. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from the start of pitch 12 (Feb. 2023).
Crawling the plank on pitch 12 (Feb. 2023).
Shirley arriving at our 12th belay just below the summit (Feb. 2023).
Shirley at the 12th belay with the crux of Filo Noro just above. It’s no harder than 5.8 I think unless you were still drunk on mescal (not an unreasonable assumption; Feb. 2023).
Pitch 13 – this is the brief crux of Filo Noro, right below the summit (Feb. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from just above the crux (Feb. 2023).
Shirley topping out on the Pena (Feb. 2023).
The summit (Feb. 2023).
OK, this is the summit. Let the shitshow begin (Feb. 2023).
Bernal from the summit (Feb. 2023).
Post climb beers (Feb. 2023).
Nopales being grilled (Feb. 2023).
Gorditas and beer (Feb. 2023).
Love the bottle! Looks like a cleaning solvent…which perhaps effectively it is (Feb. 2023).
The kid is not impressed (Feb. 2023).
Back to the barn after our little day one adventure in Mexican bureaucracy (Feb. 2023).
Bernal (Feb. 2023).
Evening in Bernal (Feb. 2023).
Go to Espolon Central.
Go back to Queretaro Finale.