Last Gringos Standing

Our second sunrise on the Torre Group

Joel nearing the true summit with the first summit behind

Joel leading another perfect handcrack...

Neil following another greak handcrack high on the route!

more photos from Jesse and Toby´s FA...
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/lastgringosstanding/

Viva la Patagonia!

We´re back in El Chalten after a week at our high camp in the Torre Valley! We had some great weather opportunites and excelante granito fissura escalanda...during a short okay window we climbed about 200 meters on El Mocho, a small square peak below Cerro Torre. The Salvaterra-Cavalerro route takes a huge red dihedral which is really more of a water runnel as we found out, the cracks were wet and had some challenging moss formations. Still, it was a great day to be outside and climbing!

After a day of marginal weather and relaxing with a few amigos at our camp, more and more climbers began showing up, always a great sign! The forecast was perfect for two and a half days, so we began eating, resting, and preparing gear to climb ´Last Gringos Standing´ (V 5.11- C1 600m) on St. Exuprey...this route was first climbed March 2008 by two Americans, Jesse Huey and Toby Grohne and reportedly has pitch after pitch of excellant 5.10 hand and fist cracks.

We left our tent at 12am on Sunday morning and began the approach to the base of the route. At first light we powered up watching the first alpenglow on the Torre group and began climbing! Sure enough, we found awesome, strenous cracks and made our way up to the ´unlikely traverse´, 60 feet of bad black dyke at 5.9+. This pitch got our attention, as all holds were loose and finding the right sequence involved tapping on every piece of rock! Next, we had problems deciphering which perfect crack system to take, but eventually got it right; Joel led the crux corner on aid due to ice, then into a difficult fist crack which left us both panting! Finally the sun hit us and we romped up a perfect hand crack, a very fun, memorable pitch. At this point, the hardest climbing was over and we joined the Austrian Ridge. After 300 meters of great ridge climbing, we topped the first summit, rappelled into the notch, and dashed up the the true summit; making it at 9 pm rounded out 16 hours of climbing. The summit was amazing at sunset and we waited for Julian and Manuel to top out and begin the rappels. Since the rappel route (Kearney-Harrington) is somewhat obscure and very loose, we descended with the two other teams who summited Exuprey through the night, and made great friends! Finally back on ´firm ground´ to watch our second sunrise on the Torres, we began the deliroius stumble back down to Nipo Nino, wrecked but totally content! We collapsed, drank lots of water, ate and napped until the evening, then trudged back to El Chalten before the window closed. We got back just as our friends Felix and Eric arrived from the summit of Poincenot after climbing the Whillans route, similarly destroyed, and we all went out to binge on steak and pizza!

We´re very happy with our effort put forth on this huge route, and are not quite ready to think about more climbing yet. Thats okay because its currently blowing wind, rain, and snow in classic Patagonia shitstorm conditions with no more splitter weather windows in sight!

Feliz Ano!

Neil in ¨dreamland¨...perfect hands!

La Cumbre de Media Luna

Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, and Punta Heron behind

Good news from the Torre Valley! The weather was good for about three days, with one perfectly calm and sunny day, January 1; we brought in 2009 by summiting Torre Media Luna, a 400 meter climb with excellent cracks and stunning views of the valley. After weeks of waiting out the Patagonian wind and rain, it was surreal to be climbing perfect cracks in perfect weather! The energy in Chalten is great when the word gets out about a good weather window, everyone is super-psyched to climb and heading up to Nipo Nino, the high camp in the Torre Valley. We had a great New Years Eve with all our friends at camp, and went to bed early to get the alpine start. The forecast is optimistic for the future, another window on Wednesday, and more high pressure later in the week!! Until then, we rest, share stories with friends, and eat, eat, eat...mas carne! Hasta luego amigos!

El Chalten, Patagonia

Quality tent time in the Torre Valley...

Feliz Navidad from El Chalten, Argentina! Joel and I have been in this small town under the Fitz Roy massif in southern Argentina for nearly two weeks. As the national epicenter for Patagonia trekking, the town has seen many recent developments catering to international tourism; there is a new atm, paved streets, and a bus terminal on the way. It´s always hard to see a small place developing so quickly, however, the tourism industry allows for a high standard of living for the town´s many seasonal residents who operate small panaderias (bakeries) and restaurants, as well as local guide services taking people on glacier treks. Overall the town vibe is warm, friendly, and very positive! There has been no high mountain activity to report on other than our first hike to advanced base camp under Cerro Torre to stash gear about a week ago. We arrived at high camp under full on wind and rain conditions, Vive la Patagonia! Fortunately, El Chalten is on the edge of the mountains and recieves more sun than rain and clouds, however, there is always the viento (wind). Good sport climbing in town as well as a plethora of bouldering keeps us strong and occupied. We´ve also met many new friends in this small community, Argentine and others from all over the World! Our spirits remain high as we await the good weather window; we hope to climb a few smaller towers first, el Mocho, and Media Luna, formations below Cerro Torre. One of our larger objectives is Last Gringos Standing, a superb crack climb put up last year on St. Exuprey...we´ll see what happens. In the mean time we are enjoying the summer here in the southern hemisphere. Last night we had a great time with our Argentine friends who gathered for a traditional asado, a barbeque with pleny of carne and winos! After that we went to an awesome local bar ´Aires Patagonicos´where about a hundred people packed in for dancing and Navidad celebration. The Argentines party hard here and typically don´t start until 2am, lasting until the morning!
Until next time, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year filled with fun, friends, and great memories! Hasta leugo amigos!!

Joel and Neil at high camp under...
Fitz Roy, Poincenot, Rafael Juarez, and Exuprey

The view from our camp in town!

Frey

Rappelling off Cerro Principal
Lago Toncek and Refugio Frey behind

Completing the Clemenzo route (6a=5.10a) marked the end of our five day tutelage in the valley of Frey. We learned more about how to work together as an effective team. Pulling down on the granite is only part of the Journey. The friendships gained in the mountains are more important than the actual routes. After all, climbing is just another conduit for exploring inside oneself.
The difficulties encountered while climbing bring us out of our comfort zone and into character building mode. How we react to these challenges defines who we are. More importantly, what we learn from the experiences can be applied to the next, greater challenge. -Joel

Spires everywhere!!

The spires of the valley of Frey are formed by the erosion of a granite monolithe. Similar to the Bugaboos in Canada on a smaller scale, the surrounding rock is not granite. Not to be confused with Batholithe, which would be much larger intrusion.
Geologic time is now! We were reminded of this when an Argentine climber pulled a large block onto his belayer on the South Face of Torre Principal while we were on the East Face climbing Clemenzo. The Refugio caretakers associated with Club Andino de Bariloche conducted a commendable rescue. The climber was flown by helicopter to the hospital in Bariloche. The entire rescue took approx. 4 hours.

Looking across the Andes to Chile
Tronodor is the grande strato volcano! 3478m

This scene reminds me of the North Cascades of Washington. Tronodor has many of the same characteristics of the volcanoes we work and play on in the US.

Torre Principal Summit
The Biggest Spire Around...sick views!!!

La Vieja

Torre Principal Summit 2400m

Mini summit of Cerro M2

We climbed Del Diedro (5 plus, aprrox. 5.9 plus), a single pitch of finger locks and the occasional hand jam. Real ¨feel good¨ climbing. Once in a while it´s good for the psyche to climb something easy, especially in a new area. We found the crack grades to be close to the equivalent Yosemite Decimal System (YDS). However, it was hard to decipher just how runout the face climbing between, presumably hand drilled on lead bolts and pins, would be.

The weather in Bariloche Argentina has been amazing for the last week; we´ve been climbing in the Frey and soaking up the Sol! Frey is an awesome alpine zone with dozens of beautiful granite spires and very exciting climbing. Having not face climbed in a long time, the runout 6b (5.10) granite faces get your attention pretty quick! The rock is reminiscent of the City of Rocks ID, with lots of excellent cracks and golden patina...and every climb has a super summit! The climbing scene at Frey is very social, and we met people from all over the world; Brazil, France, Israel, US. There is a wonderful Refugio on the lake, a stone building with kitchen, dining room, and beds upstairs.
Bail! We got out just in time, today is rainy...we bought bus tickets to El Chalten, Southern Patagonia, leaving tomorrow night and traveling for 32 hours!!! We plan on staying there for 4-8 weeks waiting for the fickle Torre weather windows...wish us luck!!!
Hasta leugo amigos!
-Neil

Bariloche, Northern Patagonia, Argentina

Neil and I arrived in Bariloche after traveling for three days. We have been relaxing and storing energy for climbing. Tomorrow we head into the Frey for a week of Granite climbing before heading to the Torre Valley for the ultimate test. Buenos suerte amigos.

Indian Creek Utah

Joi on Ernie used to Box (5.11), Reservor Wall

Leighan on Rock Lobster

Go Sparky Go!

more photos on the way!

Lost Arrow Direct

Lost Arrow Direct V 5.8 C2+ was our last climb in Yosemite. An aesthetic line with great friends completed in style.

Last days in Yosemite

Neil and I finished off our time in Yosemite Valley with the Rostrum and Lost Arrow Direct. We climbed L.A.D. in true big wall style with four climbers. The Tyrolean traverse from the cumbre to the rim after dark was the highlight of the trip. We left the Valley the next morning after exchanging monkey calls with friends on Mescalito. Stay tuned for splitter cracks in Indian Creek, UT and Patagonia 08-09 climbing season.

Lurking Fear

Pete and I started our odyssey on El Cap with Joel helping us get established on the wall. We climbed Lurking Fear (VI 5.10 C2) over four days sleeping on the portaledge at night. The first half of the route is steep and exposed with sustained thin cracks and two great traverses, the second part of the route takes on a different character, mostly free climbing with a solitary alpine feel. We lucked out and saw no other people...hard work and an incredible experience!

Day 1, Pitch 3

Pete makes a pendy with Joel belaying

D2, P7

Pete traverses high over The Valley

D2 P5

Pete leads an amazing splitter crack!

D3, P10

Sending a tricky roof

D4, P18

Nearing the top of the climb

D4 Summit

1st Cap route for Pete and Neil!

Thoroughly addicted...

You've got to go down!

Still heavy...

Yosemite Valley

Valley sunset
The Capitan
Joel leading P3 New Diversions
Joel following P4 New Diversions

Whitney Portal and Incredible Hulk

Whitney, Keeler Needle, Day Needle
Cardiovascular Seizure follows the obvious right facing corner to chimney. At 14,000ft., the crux is garanteed to raise your BP.
Star Trekking, Mount Russel...
The Incredible Hulk sunset.

High Sierra Sendfest!

The weather remains awesome here in Cali and there's plenty of alpine rock to keep Joel, Tyler Jones, and Mark Allen occupied. We started off big, real big, doing Dark Star in a push, car to car, dusk til dawn...THIS is the longest technical rock climb (33 pitches) in California!!!

Temple Crag with Dark Star's first tower centered.
Nearing the summit!
Mark below the second tower

Tyler's psyched!
Me on the smokey summit
Not done yet, looking toward the top
Joel climbing above the first tower

Joel and Mark below the first tower