Alpine Rock @ Frey (Northern Patagonia)

This blog contains some of the highlights of climbing in the area known as Frey in Argentina.
Climbing in Patagonia had always been something I had thought of since I started climbing many years ago. Seeing pictures of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre and hearing about epic climbs in the area deffinitly peaked my interest in the region. Since this would be my first trip down, my expectations or goals were minimal with a focus on checking out the area, logistics and having a little adventure with some climbing thrown in the mix. I took an all night Flight from DFW to Santiago were I would link up my climbing partner David. We decided to head to the climbing area of Frey outside the ski resort town of Bareloche in Argentina, which is located in Northern Patagonia. The weather forecast for Frey was the best for all the areas we had considered going to and we were pysched to get in some quality climbing. We took an all night bus ride from Santiago to the town of Onsorno, then a 6 hour bus ride accross the border to Bareloche. We arrived late enough to miss any busses to Catedral where the hike to Frey begins. We hired a taxi to drive us up and began the long hike in the early evening. The trail up to Frey is a nice one and is very gradual or flat at first but with a 70# pack on it was still brutal. Suffering from lack of sleep and heavy loads we stopped about 3 hours into the hike, I was bonking hard, it was dark and we bivied in a rock shelter about an hour from the Refugio Frey. The next morning we finished the last hour of the hike to the Refugio and set up camp. I was quite tired and took a nap and a break and later that day we climbed the Aguja Frey, which the tower nearby the Refugio Frey which offers quality cragging near the camping area. We climbed the classic route Sifuentes Weber, a 4 pitch 5.9 up the distinct features on the face.

Aguja Frey in the Distance with the Refugio Frey in the Foreground

Summit of Aguja Frey

The rock at Frey is quality granite on cool towers and spires. The climbing is steep and well featured which took me some getting used to. Alot of the routes follow discontinous cracks connected by steep face climbing, sometimes the climbing can be runout or well bolted depending on the route. I spent the next few days trying to get a feel for the rock and was quite conservative on what routes I would get on or take the sharp end. Those that know me well, know that I am not as comfortable on steep face climbing, so it took a while to get comfortable on the rock here.

One of the first big towers we climbed was the Campanile Esolveno on the route Buch Goyne (sp), a moderate crack route on the spire.

The Campanile

Nice Splitter Crack

Campanile Summit

The next major objective for us was Sinestro Total on the Torre Principal. The Torre Principal is the major tower that stands out above all the towers and spires of the area. The route in my opinion was the best one we did in the area, 8 pitches up to 5.10+ or 11-, steep and sustained  crack systems for most of the way. I led the odd pitches and the first pitch was a wake up call with a steep bulge thin crux that left me fully pumped and flamed, lots of rope stretching pitches on the route. We made good time up the route and got to share it with a couple of nice French guys. After a couple stuck ropes on the rappel we made it down, a great long day.

Me leading the 200' 5.10+ Fist Crack Pitch

Phillip and Michelle (AKA Frenchies)

The Travese Pitch High on the Route

Last Pitch

Torre Principal Summit

Setting Sun on El Piramidal

The next Frey classic we would climb was Objectiva Luna on the El Cohete Lunar tower. This route involved a mixture of splitter cracks and face climbing, 8 pitches up to 5.10c. I thought this route was very good, it had some wild steep climbing and interesting moves involving crack and face climbing.

On the approach to Objectiva Luna

The Steep and Varied Pitch 2

The Arete Pitch

The Crux Roof Pitch

There was one more high quality route that we wanted to climb before we left and that was Imaginate on the Campanile, a 5 pitch 5.10 route. The route climbs up the steep side of the Campanile with some overhanging climbing on huge features that you normally don't see in granite. A lot of the climbing is runout but the features are so big that you feel secure and what a blast to be on such a steep climb. After hiking to the base of the route the wind was absolutly howing, we decided to climb the route anyway taking extra care to not get blown off the face. Another great route at Frey and our last.

STEEP 2nd Pitch

More Steep Face Climbing

Last Pitch on Huge Huecos

Windy Summit

Summit View

Summit View

Sunset at Camp

The next day we decided to head out for the town of Bareloche. The night before the wind was incredible and nearly destroyed the tent, we had to get up and resecure it a couple times during the night. This would be another windy day that would blow you over if  you were not careful. It made it very difficult to pack up in these conditions but I was happy to be heading down and out of the wind. Once in Bareloche staying in a hostel, we checked the weather forecast and it did not look promising for the next 10 days. We had planned to head to Cochamo next but it look like it would be raining there for the next week and Chalten looked even worse. So in the end we decided to head back to Santiago where I would try to fly out early. After many hours riding on a bus and spending the night on a bus then spending a night in the airport trying to fly on standby the next night I got lucky and a spot opended up at the last minute and I was able to fly home.

 Overall it was a great experience to head down to South America, the climbing in Frey was  great. The steaks in Argentina were amazing along with the beer and other street vendor food. The dollar deffinitly goes far in Argentina. The only regret was not being able to check out Los Glaciares National Park or Torres de Paine in Southern Patagonia, but all the climbers I talked to in Frey who were there said they spent weeks just sitting in their tents or hanging in El Chalten and were not able to climb anything this season. And now that I am back and checking the weather I am glad I decided to come back early as the weather has continued to be horrible down there. Even Frey has not had the best of weather since I left, and Cochamo has rained every day.

I am currently recharging and resting up for the next bout of climbing. I am planning on heading to Red Rock or Zion next towards the end of this month depending on where the weather is best. I would like to spend most of March in Red Rocks, April in Indian Creek and May in Yosemite. Thats it for now.

The Towers of Frey

After an all night bus ride from Santiago to Onsorno and an all day bus ride from there to Bareloche and a 3 hour + hike with 70 # packs we made it to the climbing area of Frey. the rock here is really good featured granite. It's steepness and discontinuous crack systems have taken me a while to get used to. We have climbed several towers so far with the highlight being the Slovenian Tower. The weather has been decent with only 1 day of rain, but there has been lots of wind, at night it feels like the tent is going to blow away. Today we are back in the town of Bareloche to get more supplies and plan to spend 7 more days at Frey to try and knock off the most classic routes of the area. I will try to add pics later of the amazing summits.

Hola From South America

I have made it to Santiago,Chile and met up with my climbing partner David. It was a long night flight from DFW and long process going through the Chilean customs. David's parents live here in Santiago so it has been nice to have a home base to opperate out of. As of right now we are planning on heading South to Bariloche in Argentina to climb at Frey, which will involve a full days of travel or more. The weather for Frey looks to be the best right now of anywhere, so I am excited to get it some climbing. Today we will be doing some shopping at gear organization to head out sometime on Tuesday. I will try to post updates when I have time and access to internet.

By the way temps here in Santiago are nice and warm!

Indian Creek

Last Day of Cragging at the Creek

North Six Shooter at Sunset

Matt on Generic Crack (5.10-)

Me getting the onsight on Quarter of a Man (5.11++)

Me Redpointing Scarface (5.11)

Will onsighting Annanaki (5.12-)

Kathy and Will at Reservior Wall

The Incredible Handcrack (5.10)

Kathy on Slice and Dice (5.12)

Dan onsight attempt on Layaway Plan (5.11+)

 

Swedin Ringle (5.12-)

Desperate Clip to the Anchors on Swedin Ringle

Made it back home to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with the fam after spending the last few weeks in Indian Creek, Utah. Indian Creek has to be the best crack climbing area in the world, and having only climbed there once before, this is now definitely my favorite cragging area. We had a great group of climbers to hang out with in the creek as many of the people I met in Yosemite were there as well. Lots of fun, climbing long splitter cracks on great sandstone rock, with good friends and excellent camping, what more could a climber want. After climbing the "Lightning Bolt Cracks" on the North Six Shooter Tower on my last day, my body was completely destroyed, I had climbed 5 days in a row and my body needed some rest. So I am back in Texas for the month of December, then I will fly out to Chile on January 9th for some Patagonian adventure. Then back to the Creek in the Spring!

Zion

                                                    Iron Messiah            

                                            Kathy jugging on Space Shot

                                     Kathy loaded up on Space Shot

Steep Jugging on Space Shot

At the end of October I left Yosemite to make my way to the Utah desert for the remainder of the Fall. I stopped on the way to Indian Creek in Zion where I met Kathy and we spent a few days climbing in this area. On the first day we climbed Iron Messiah, a multi pitch route with lots of chimneys and interesting climbing on soft sandstone. On the second day we cragged on some single pitch routes and on the 3rd day we attempted a big wall route: Space Shot. Next onward to Indian Creek!

Update

Sorry for no updates, but I have been busy climbing. I need to do a huge update with trip reports on the latest climbs I have done in the Yosemite Valley like the Steck Salathe on the Sentinel. The next big rest day I will post an update. Today I will be leaving the valley and heading towards Zion National Park in Utah for a few days, then I will be spending most of November in Indian Creek and the canyonlands of Utah. I plan to be camping at the Creek Pasture campground in Indian Creek, look for my white van if you happen to be in the area.

Steck Salathe

Sunrise in Yosemite Valley                                                           

Dressed for Success

The Narrows

Double Armbar

Strenuous!

Glad I am not Claustiphobic

Valley Sunset

El Cap Sunset

Happy to be on the Summit

I was wanting to do one last big route in Yosemite before I left. I had been climbing with Kathy from Seattle, doing some long moderate routes and cragging. We knew Derrick and Ari were going to do the Steck Salathe and I suggested that we should do it as well. Kathy was a bit skeptical but once she found out it was one of the 50 Classic Climbs of North America, she was on board. I had wanted to do this route for many years but could never find a willing partner, luckily Kathy had no idea what she committing to.

We got an early start and began hiking in the dark, following the guidebook info which suggests the climbers trail leaves the 4 Mile Trail after .5 miles we stumbled around in the dark trying to find. Finally we decided to keep hiking up the trail til we hit the creek crossing which was probably 1.5 miles up the trail. After that the approach was straightforward and involved some exposed terrain and scrambling to get to the base. To my surprise there were 2 parties at the base of the route. We knew Derick and Ari would be there but there was another team that just beat us to the base of the route. This concerned me, and I was not looking forward to being stuck behind another party, plus they were hauling a pack which inevitably would be knocking rocks down on us.

The route was burly from the first pitch on, no real easy pitches on this route, it would be 16 pitches groveling, strenuous climbing. After about 5 or 6 pitches the party in front of us decided to bail, they had had enough. We quickly caught up to Derrick and Ari as Ari was stuck in the narrows. I got to lead the narrows pitch, which was very interesting and a bit spicy on the exit. Kathy started up the next pitch as the sun was setting. I would then lead the next 2 pitches in the dark to the summit where Derrick and Ari had waited for us. We topped out at around 9:30PM which was pretty good considered we had a late start waiting on the party in front of us and having to wait for them early in the climb. The decent was epic in the dark and took considerable time with the tricky route finding. Overall this was a huge day on an amazing route that I will never forget. Lots of chimneys and wide strenuous cracks with an alpine feel, that left us fully worked.

Everyone should do this one!