chossclimbers

Go back to Mexico.

Summary

Despite weather forecasts calling for rain, we rolled the dice and found ourselves in a cab heading for El Potrero Chico late on a Wednesday night. Knowing that we’d get there well past the closing times of Hidalgo markets and even La Posada’s eatery, we brought along some basic dinner ingredients from home: tortillas, canned beans and chicken…much to the astonishment of the Mexican customs officers at Monterrey airport.

After a predictably late wake up on day one, we finally made the base of Pitch Black at 11ish. A spectacular looking line (6 pitches, 5.10+) that is almost as fun to climb. Crux comes on pitch two. Bring a single 70 meter cord but not an inch shorter. We rounded out the afternoon with some post climb margaritas (& puppies – which go well with margaritas it turns out) at Edgardo’s trailer.

.

An uncharacteristically early wake up on day two and a pre-dawn hike up to Timewave Zero, a 23 pitch line that clocks in at 5.12 or a more reasonable 5.11- with about 30 feet of A0(ish). This arguably is the moderate line to do in EPC. Despite having scouted the approach three years earlier, we screwed up near the base long enough for another party to arrive. We were hoping to time our start so that we’d hit the 5.11- section on pitch two at daybreak but the two guys were eager to launch and so we let them go first. They eventually figured out a way through the crux and were kind enough to provide beta from above as I struggled through the same section also by headlamp (summon your inner sporto for the gently overhanging moves).

Above, we found a long section of 5.9/9+ climbing that sort of blends together in my memory but it never really seemed monotonous. The daybreak revealed cloudy skies but with little wind and much humidity conditions were sweaty. Somewhere below the route’s midpoint we met a team rapping down the route after their post-Thanksgiving dinner, all-nighter climb. Now that’s a fucking drive (and what have you done after eating turkey?). Our two teams were linking pitches and moving mostly at a steady pace when our companions ran out of water and decided to bail just above the midway mark.

.

We were left alone with a steepening route. The two 10+ pitches were not too bad but we were getting pretty tired. Then came the 5.12 pitch – we knew it was not a bolt ladder per se but the mandatory free climbing felt as hard as anything on pitch two. I took an airy fall before figuring out how to exit the ladder. One more pitch and we topped out on the windy ridge socked in thick clouds. It took us about 3 hours to rap the route – a long but smooth process and we finally pulled the ropes on the ground at 6 pm (happy not to need the headlamps). We were down in the canyon early enough to enjoy some margaritas at Edgardo’s along with one of our route mates. We tried to climb something the next day but our fingers and toes were hurting too much; not to mention the conditions had become cold and wet. Instead, we drank the remaining day away and went home satisfied.

Video

The EPC of four or even three years ago is no more. Very sadly, our friend Ed is gone. Fortunately the violence seems to have abated for the moment (no army patrols in the canyon, no checkpoints at the gate) and so the Potrero is once again a “scene.” We are happy that with this trip we have gone through the bulk of our (doable) EPC wish list since we’ll probably take a little siesta from the place for a while.

Photos

Go back to Mexico.