Mexico Trip report part 1

Arrival

This past christmas, Cory Hall and I went down to Portrero Chico for two weeks of climbing.  This was my first trip outside of Canada/the U.S.  We started planning the trip in October, threw a few routes on our ticklist, and set off.

Initially, the trip started off poorly.  Our first flight was delayed, resulting in us landing 45 minutes after our connecting flight was scheduled to depart.  Magically, the flight hadn't left yet.  The attendant re-opened the doors for us and we narrowly avoided missing the flight (after sprinting a mile through the Houston airport).  The unfortunate result of our tight connection was that our bags couldn't sprint as fast as us and we were going to be arriving in mexico with our carry-on only.

Arriving in the Monterrey airport, we immediately bumped into a fellow climber from California.  He said his name was Daniel and that he was heading to Portrero as well.  He offered to split a cab with us and we gratiously accepted.  We lounged around in the Monterrey airport for a while waiting for our bags to arrive, while military personnel equipped with fairly large weapons milled around us.  When we realised that our bags weren't going to make it, we bid farewell to Daniel (who had his bags) since there was no need for him to hang around.

A few more hours pass, and the staff tell us that we should head to where we're going before nightfall, since our bags weren't going to make it to us that day.  We were told to expect our bags to be delivered by car.  Seeing no alternatives, we walked through customs and into Mexico.  At the taxi area of the airport, we were approached by a man asking us if we needed a taxi.  After informing him that we were indeed in need of a taxi, he told us it would cost $40 and that we were to pay upfront.  We gave him the money, he mumbled something about getting a receipt, the disappeared.  Dismayed, we spent the next 5 minutes thinking that we had just learned our first lesson about Mexico.  To our surprise and great pleasure, however, he returned with a friendly smile on his face.  He handed us a receipt, and pointed to the nearest taxi.  We piled in, spent a few awkward minutes with the driver, attempting to explain our destination.  It is important to note that we spoke extremely minimal Spanish.

The taxi sets off through rural Monterrey, and we drive for about an hour.  The entire time, we have no idea if we are headed to the right place or not.  Our faith was placed entirely in this driver we could not communicate with.  To our relief, he takes us right to the Posada campground, where we immediately meet Daniel again.  His taxi had gotten lost and we arrived at the campground simultaneously. 

We sorted out our camping arrangements, and teamed up with Daniel for our first venture into Hidalgo.  Hidalgo is a 1 mile hike from the campground, but often locals will pick you up and drive you into town.  Our first trip into town is the only trip we weren't picked up.

Daniel was smart enough to have brought a phrase book with him, which proved infintely useful.  We strolled into a deposito (convenience store) and asked the clerk about a poilot (chicken) place we had heard of.  Excitedly, he exclaims that the food is great, but a long way further into town.  As we're leaving, he calls to us that he will drive us there.  He closes up his shop for us and motions to his car.  As we're piling into his car, he tells us his name is Pedro, the spanish version of Peter.  We travel with him to the chicken place, and each order ourselves an entire chicken for about $4 a piece.  Assuming we have seen the last of Pedro, we bid farewell to him, but he had other plans with us.

In true Mexican style, he drives us back to his house, and welcomes us to his kitchen.  We sit down at his table and begin eating.  He continually brings us various spices, herbs, drinks, and other condiments.  I was blown away by his friendliness.  He had just welcomed 3 dirty travellers, who he just met, into his home, without being able to fully communicate with them.  After regailing us with a tale about his UFO sighting out in his backyard, we bid farewell to him once again.  He told us we were welcome in his store and home any time we liked.

That night Cory and I slept on the ground, since we were without tent, sleeping bags, or sleeping pads.  Cory made a bed out of a borrowed rope and used his pocket rain coat as a blanket.  I managed to borrow a pad from a fellow climber for my bed. 

Yankee Clipper

Cold and sleepless, Cory and I rejoice at the sight of the sunrise.  We hooked up with Daniel again since his partner had not yet arrived from California.  Our bags were still nowhere in sight.  We set our sights on Yankee Clipper, a 15 pitch 5.12a (only one pitch of 12a though).  Between the three of us, we had two harnesses, one rope, 10 quickdraws, 1 helmet, and 2 semi-complete anchors.  We started out and simul-climbed much of the route with Daniel in the middle, Cory and I swapping leads.

Cory's homemade harness

Daniel Leading the 14th pitch (We stopped simuling here)

Me following the 14th pitch

Cory didn't have a belay device either, so he had to munter hitch all the way down

The next day, we decided we should head back to the airport to find out about the status of our bags.  We arranged a taxi (not an official one, but an unmarked car.  If the police stopped us, we were told to claim that the driver was our friend).  Outside of Hidalgo, the car pulls over in front of a house and a man walks out to greet us.  He opens the door, tells us to get out, points to another car, and tells us to get in.  Confused and a little scared, we get into the other car, thinking we are about to lose all our money as a best case scenario.  All works out for the best though.  We are taken to the airport, informed that our bags are already on their way to the campground, and head back.  At Posada, we are greeted with our bags and our gear.

Time Wave Zero

Resolved to make up for the slow start, we set our sites on Time Wave Zero, the longest route in the park.  It consists of 23 pitches, with the crux clocking in at 5.12a.  We decide to do it the next day.

We wake up at around 9 a.m., cook breakfast, and head for the climb.  We arrived at the base around 10 or 10:30 a.m and started up.  I took up the sharp end, and Cory and I simul-climbed to the 3rd class ledge.  Handing over the gear to Cory, he took the lead and we simul-climbed to pitch 21 in a single push.  At this point, I took the lead again and led pitch 22, which took us to the crux pitch.  On the crux pitch, I made a silly mistake and ended up falling.  Cory followed the pitch cleanly.  The final pitch was a 4th class scramble up the summit ridge and then we were on top around 2:30 p.m.  We simul-rapped the route and arrived at the base around 3:30 p.m, and we were back in the campsite at 4:00 p.m.  Our second climb in Mexico had gone smoothly.

Simuling the upper pitches

The final summit ridge

Cory and I on the summit

From here on out, I forget the chronological order of events, so the stories may not follow each other linearly. 

Black Cat Bone

One of the routes on our list was Black Cat Bone, 5.10.  Since Jungle Wall is perennially busy, Cory and I decided to wait until evening to run up the climb.  We left Posada around 4:00 p.m and started up the climb.  Unbeknownst to us, the climb needed a 70 meter rope, and we only had a 60.  We only realised this on the 3rd pitch, when I noticed that Cory had gone way past the halfway mark on his lead.  We knew that rappelling would be a problem, but figured we might as well continue to the summit and deal with the descent afterwards.  The climb went smoothly, with many more pitches being over 30 meters in length.  Once at the summit, we devised a plan to make the rappels. 

We would simul-rap to the end of the rope.  Cory would then walk back up the wall on his strand, which would lower me on my strand.  I would clip the rope into bolts as I was lowered.  Once I was at the anchor, Cory would find a stance, or clip into a bolt.  This would give enough slack in the rope for Cory to tie into my strand of the rope.  I would then put him on belay and he would take himself off rappel.  From his stance, he would pull the rope through the anchors, then downlead to my anchor.  Repeat this process a few times, and we were safely on the ground.

I'll type part 2 up Sunday night.  Hope you enjoyed Part 1

Kamouraska

I went to Kamouraska, Quebec for the first time yesterday. It was a one day trip with John, Shawn, and Liam. I can't believe that I had not been to this place before. It's got fantastic climbing, enough to keep you busy for a few weeks, and it's close to home.

We drove down Friday night, and stayed in a motel for the night. In the morning, the general consensus was that it was cold. However, since we love suffering, it was perfect. The first few climbs of the day were brutally cold, with insanely numb fingers. Luckily, things started to warm up later in the day and everything became progressively better. There were certainly highlights for everybody. Shawn redpointed a 5.11d in good style, in only a few tries. Liam gave everything he had on every route he got on, refusing to give up. I managed to onsight a 12a and experience a place I had never been to before.

The trip was well worth it, and the company was fantastic. I'm looking forward to many more.

overdue

Haven't had much time to update the blog recently. My life is consumed by school, homework, and climbing (mostly climbing). I haven't accomplished a lot over the past few weeks, but there have been some memorable moments.

just yesterday, i got on Solstice (5.13a) and got hardcore shut down near the crux. However, it's a fantastic route, and I will send it in the spring.

Cory and I also put up a new variation to catholic girls yesterday. I am tentatively giving it the name protestant gentleman. It goes at 5.11d (unconfirmed, im the only one to climb it yet). It will need 1 bolt to make it safe, which we will install next weekend. It's a fantastic variation, and with some scrubbing it will probably be the more popular way of doing catholic girls.

On that same note, I led Catholic girls for the first time yesterday. A little bit spicy, but not too bad.

To finish off the day, I led up waterwalk, cory continued up Astroboy, and then I leapfrogged on to DDT (5.9) . DDT is as new route put up by Fred a few weeks ago. It's a little contrived, but on the whole its quite fun, and gets you to a spectacular spot in welsford.

On the rap down, our ropes got stuck, so Aimen and I tried to walk around a free them. We were unable to make it to the rap station, so we had to go back down. Cory jugged up the ropes and used a different rap station, and the ropes were free.

A few weeks ago I got on Serenity (5.13a) for the first time. This route is HARD. Harder than 5.13a for sure. This one doesn't inspire me like Solstice, but regardless I will send it by the spring.

That's all I can think of for now, just letting you know I'm still alive, just nothing major to report.

Pat and jack's pinnacle and buffet brutality

Author: Peter Adamson

Moved down to Camp 4 today. Our sitemates consist of two older hippy-type folks, and a father/daughter group. We just finished teaching them how to play cribbage.

After we finished the move, it was time for a reconnaissance mission. We headed up to the parking area at the longest tunnel on highway 20, looking for a climb known as seperate reality, given a grade of 5.12a. It is a 20 foot roof crack which goes from hands to fingers. We think we found the top of it, but we aren't sure.

Next, we went to a cliff known as Pat and Jack's pinnacle. It is characterized by large knobs sticking out of the cliff. First, Dad led a bolted 5.10b near the right of the cliff. I also led it. Dad then toproped it again to clean it, and to train.

We then moved one climb to the left. It was all trad. It started out in a 20 foot layback corner, then traversed underneath a roof, and finished up an easy corner to a tree. I'm not sure what the grade or name was, but I would give it 5.10a.

Luckily, we met some really nice French guys from France, who lent me some big gear, and some extra small gear for this climb.

Dad then followed the climb without any difficulty at all.

It was then time for some easier climbs. We moved 40 feet to the right, to a bolted 5.5. Both Dad and I led it.

Then along came some guys from SAR (search and rescue). We chatted with them for a while. One of them had broken his ankle 6 weeks earlier and was just starting to climb again.

Climbing time again, one route to the right. I led the first pitch, which was 5.8. I couldn't link the pitches since I didn't have enough draws. Dad cleaned the draws and I headed up onto the second, 5.10 pitch.

I was under the impression that the second pitch was entirely bolted, but as it turns out, you are supposed to place a piece between every bolt. Since I only had quickdraws with me, it meant I was in for some massive runouts.

I did get to the top clean, but only after scaring myself witless doing 5.10 mantles 15/20 feet above my last bolt.

Dad followed the pitch.

Then the intensity level was turned up a notch (not by choice). We decided to do a route named knucklehead, 5.10b.

The guidebook said that this climb was a little runout, and had spit off 5.12 climbers. However, I figured it would be fine. I was wrong.

The third bolt was placed 10 feet to the right of where the actual climbing went, with a hard move with huge pendulum potential into a ledge.

Once you got 5 feet above the third bolt, you had to pull an extremely hard mantle, with a ledge to hit if you blow it.

The climbing then becomes better protected until the end, where there is a 30 foot runout. It remains consistently hard. I will not get on this one again. Dad followed it.

To add insult to injury, this 5.10b is more like 5.11c.

Two climbs to the left of this climb are beautiful twin cracks, given 5.,10a, but more like 5.10d.

I ended up aiding and leapfrogging gear through parts, since I did not have the gear to safely free it. Next time I will take up a double rack (only one set of nuts). Dad followed and cleaned it, nearly getting the climb clean, only falling once at the crux.

The day was ended by going to the buffet at Curry Village. I ate too much and suffered for it dearly.

I ran into the guy that we met at Bishop's Terrace yesterday, this morning. He was headed off to do the East Buttress of El Cap. I will have to find him and see what he thought of it.

Sorry, no pictures from this day either, but here's a view of the valley.

The valley, as seen from 300ft up on glacier point apron

Knobby Wall/church bowl

Author : Peter Adamson

We are currently in Tuolumne, getting ready to move down to yosemite valley. We have been staying at yosemite creek campground. Tomorrow we will go to camp 4.

Today we climbed and chilled in the valley. We woke up early, in order to ensure that we would get a spot in camp 4.

We met a great group of people while in line for our site. One couple was 6 weeks into an 8 week road trip. They started in Massachusetts and had driven to Yosemite. Another father and son team were up from Southern California, and were going to hike up half dome.

Then it was time to climb. I found an area in the guidebook known as Knobby wall. It was described as very steep and very hard. Perfect.

It turned out to be a bit difficult to find. we drove up and down highway 140 trying to find it, to no avail. By pure chance we stumbled upon a traveling hermit climber named Joey.

Joey was indeed a character. A very odd, but very nice guy, he showed us the way to knobby wall. It was everything i had hoped for. Ridiculously overhanging and hard.

I decided to warm up on one of the easier routes there, a 5.12a known as Shaft of the Penetrator. After 3 tries, I pulled off the redpoint. Dad also tried it, and could redpoint it with a little work.

I then moved one route to the right, an unnamed 5.12a. A few hard moves led to a huge rest jug. I then moved up and back down to the jug a few times finally committing to the moves. Another series of hard moves followed, but I pulled through, and got my second 5.12 onsight. Once again, Dad could get the route with a little work.

The next climb we tried was supposedly a 5.12b, but it was harder than Access Denied, 5.13a. That route didn't go so well for us. I think it was called something like Hastings hole.

After that, we tried another, slightly easier 5.12b, although I didn't get this one either, due to an unnerving runout at the end. I think it was named Chongos Cabrones.

We said goodbye to Joey, and went to do some laundry. Armed with an arsenal of clean clothes, it was off to Church bowl for more climbing.

Dad recalled a very nice "5.8" crack, known as Bishop's Terrace that he had climbed 20 years previous. After a rock, Paper, Scissors war, I won the right to lead. I would later wish I had lost.

The first bit was tame enough. 5.6 jugs and crack led to a slightly harder, but still not bad 5.7 corner. At the end of this corner lay a gorgeous 5.7 finger crack for 60 feet, which took bomber pro the whole way. Naturally, I chose to step right at the top of the corner instead, into a 5.8/9 offwidth variation, rather than take the beautiful finger crack.

Unfortunately the crack was at least 7'" wide, and my biggest piece of protection was 3" wide. I stuffed a tipped out #3 camalot in at the bottom, and that was all I would get for the next 50 feet.

After groveling up 20 feet, looking down at my last piece a long ways away, I was feeling a little scared. Luckily, the crux was still ahead of me. Oh, joy.

Smearing my right foot on the edge of the offwidth, I tentatively stood up to a small left hand crimp on the face. I smeared my left foot above my right. Very scared now. I reach up and up, waiting for my feet to skate out from under me, sending me for a career-ending 50+ foot fall.

Instead, my hand latched onto a jug. I pulled up and slotted in a #5 black diamond stopper at the first opportunity. Safe, at least for now. Near the top, I started to run low on pro, but no problem because it was easy right? I put in a tipped out #1 camalot, my only piece for a long ways. Also, the last piece of protection I would get until the top, 30 feet away. Luckily, the jams were solid. Not quite so lucky, fate had another twist in store for me.

15 feet above the cam, I put in a jam with my right hand. As I went to weight it, I felt a pop from my fingers, which sent extreme pain throughout my hand. I unweighted the jam, and something popped back into place. The pain was blinding now.

Somehow, I made it to the anchor, and clipped myself in. At this point I had broken into a cold sweat, and all I could see were stars. The pain started to subside, and I belayed dad up using my ATC-guide in auto-blocking mode in case my hand stopped working.

Once down at the bottom, we met another climber. We didn't get his name, but we chatted and swapped stories for a while. We may meet him again in camp 4.

I put 5.8 in quotations, since it was really more like 5.9 or 5.10. However, it was still phenomenal, and I would do it again, but without the offwidth.

Sorry, no pictures from today, but here's a great view of el cap.

Charlotte dome fiasco

Author : Steve Adamson

The campsite that we stayed at the first night in the high sierras was also the trailhead for Charlotte Dome, which was one of the climbs we had on our 'to do' list. Therefore, we decided to head into the backcountry and try this climb rather than go into Whitney.

At the trailhead

The guidebook listed the approach time as 6 to 9 hours. It is a 13 mile hike that goes from 8,000' over a pass at 11, 700' and back down to 10,000'. We later figured out that approach times are for someone with a climbing pack only. If you have camping gear & supplies you should double these times.

The hike into the dome was beautiful. The High Sierras have some magnificent lakes and meadows. The climb to the pass was long and hot, but we reached 11,000+ feet in good time. The rest of the hike was downhill.

At the kearsarge pass

Just after the pass we were hit by a thunder storm. The clouds were very black and the temperature dropped. Luckily we were not on a high point at the time. It started to rain, and at one point we were hit by hail stones. One cut Peter on his knuckle.

After about 1 hour the storm passed and it cleared up again. We kept on trekking and trekking.

We reached charlotte lake; A beautiful deep blue lake that was too far from the climb to stay at.

According to the guide book there was a perfect campsite near the dome. We followed the directions, and we know we were close. However, the directions were not very specific, and we were sore and tired. We found our own spot and set up camp. We were in bear country so we had to take precautions to save our food.

That evening our shoulders were in agony. Carrying heavy packs without any training was not a good idea. We had also seriously miscalculated how far it was to the climb. We had originally planned on climbing and hiking out the next day. However, we realized that was not realistic. We changed our plans to climbing the next day, and hiking out the day after. Unfortunately, we did not bring food for 3 days.

Big packs

We reorganized our food allotment, and figured we could squeak it out for an extra day. One supper consisted of a pop tart each and a granola bar. We slept painfully that night as the body ached every time we turned over.

We woke at 6 a.m. and had a quick breakfast before heading to the climb. It was another 1 hour hike to the climb with some scrambling over slabs to find the start. We located the start of the climb, roped up and started at 8 a.m. The climb is 12 pitches at 5.8

approach

Peter started up the first pitch, and I leap frogged through. The climbing was straight forward, although we had to be careful with the route finding. I was not feeling great. We were at 10,000' in elevation, and the hike the day before was brutal. However, I kept quiet and we continued to climb.

Charlotte Dome

Pitch 5 put us just below the crux of the climb, and this was the last chance we would have to retreat. I had led the last pitch, and when Peter reached me, he said he did not feel too good. When I suggested we retreat he agreed. The retreat was not straight forward since there were no fixed anchors.

The first rappel was from a single nut jammed in a crack. It was a solid piece, but rappeling off a single piece, 500' above the ground is quite exciting. We finished the rappels only losing 3 slings and 2 nuts. We made our way back to camp for a cup of tea and a granola bar.

Sicne it was still early in the day, Peter wanted to start the hike out and possibly get over the pass before night fall. This would make the next day all downhill. We packed up camp and started off. The hike was a constant game to try and minimize the pain on the shoulders and back from carrying the packs. We again encountered a thunderstorm just before the pass, but we decided it was not too bad so continued on. We pushed on until 7:30 p.m when we arrived at a small lake. Again, our shoulders and back were in agony.

The next morning we slept in til 7 a.m. It was a great location for breakfast; A package of oatmeal each. That was the end of our food with the exception of a few gummy worms found in the bottom of the pack.

Even though it was downhill back to the car, it was a tough trek. We finally reach the trailhead at noon. Sore, tired, but we had a good adventure. We did not reach the top of the cimb, however we had retreated in good style. After a quick change of clothes, we drove down to 100 degree heat in Lone Pine where there was a subway.

Leaving

Author : Steve Adamson

How many times have I been in this situation, sitting at an airport waiting for a plane to arrive? Peter (my son) and I are waiting to see if our plane will be able to land given that it is very foggy.

We are hoping to fly to Toronto and then onto Los Angeles. We plan to climb in the High Sierras for a week and then onto Yosemite for a week.

Back to my first question, I think the number of times I have been sitting, waiting at an airport hundreds of times. This is tough part of any trip. We have the apprehension of starting a new trip; Will we lose our baggage, will we make the connection, will the weather be good or bad, so many questions waiting to be answered.

Peter is now 17 years old, and climbing much harder than me. We are hoping to climb long routes in the High Sierras. 1000' 5.8's that top out at 14,000'. We will definitely feel the altitude, but the climbing difficulty should not be a problem. Peter just red pointed a 5.13 the other day, and I have climbed many mountain routes.

We are hoping to try the Nose route on El Cap in Yosemite. This is a 3000' route that will take 4 days to climb. This route should be more of a challenge, especially if the weather is hot. We will be hauling 8 gallons of water up the route, along with sleeping bags and climbing gear.

10 minutes until the plane is scheduled to land. If it can land, then it will be no problem for it to take off again. Here's hoping.

The past year has been a good one for climbing trips. At christmas 2008 Darlene, Jon, PJ, and I went to Las Vegas and climbed at Red Rocks.

Then at March break 2008 we flew to Joshua Tree.

Then in June 2008 PJ and I took my Mum and Dad to Yosemite. We climbed and hiked while Mum and Dad explored.

Then for March break 2009 Jon, Pj, myself, and 18 others went back to Joshua Tree.

-5 mintues till the plane arrives!

These trips were possible because I was working 2 jobs. 1 at Pt. Lepreau nuclear plant, and 1 at the community college. The extra income paid for the trips. However, I am now back to 1 job (at the college) so this may be the last trip for a while, especially considering that Peter is going to UNB in the fall.

For the nose route we have 2 haul bags, 1 large and 1 small.

-The plane landed, so it looks good for getting out to Toronto.

-Toronto Airport. We made it this far. Saw our bags at customs, so hopefully they will make it to L.A. We split the gear between the bags so that we would not be screwed if one of them does not make it.Starting out