Final Days in Mendoza

San Rafael turned out to be the place where we climbed the most in Argentina. Despite that fact, I still wanted to head back to Mendoza to hang out with some of my friends for a few more days before heading to Peru. Who knows when I'd see them next! There were still plenty of things to do in and around Mendoza. After calling up Diana, we took our rental car and 2 of her friends up towards the mountains to a place called Potrerillos. 

Potrerillos has a giant lake that feeds the Mendoza river where many tourist activities flourish; rafting, kayaking, sailing, wakeboarding, etc. We brought our food up there and hung out for a few hours, taking in the scenery and the sunshine; such an awesome rest day activity! The wind was pretty chilly so jumping into the lake would have been quite chilly. There were mountains surrounding the lake in every direction. In my head, I knew Aconcagua was out there somewhere to the west... we'd have to find it with our 3 days left.

The lovely ladies at Portrerillos; Diana, Clara, and Karen

The next day was a climbing day and we went to a place recommended to us by a guy in San Rafael called 'Escarabajo' which means 'beetle' in Spanish. We convinced Diana to come with us and try out climbing for the first time. She was a natural! Escarabajo was near Potrerillos so getting to the area shouldn't be too bad... so we thought. Finding the right turn off seemed to be super difficult at the time. We ended up bothering this poor man because we accidentally went up his driveway thinking the climbing area was there. He was super nice though and told us where the differenet spots were. We ended up finding the right place after 20 minutes or so. The rock was pretty crumbly and didn't inspire much confidence. Diana climbed a couple 5.10's, her first climbs ever! Pretty solid of you ask me... Alex and I also found a giant roof to climb; something around the 5.12 range.

Cacheuta Hotspring; No entry fee here!

Our rest day consisted of going to 'Cacheuta,' an area where there are natural hot springs. A spa has been setup around a portion of the hotsprings, but that would have cost around $30 US and we didn't want to do that. Diana mentioned that there were some other hotsprings that didn't require money so we definitely were into that. We parked on the side of the road and hiked down to the hotsprings, wine bottle and snacks in hand. The water was perfect temperature; not too hot since it was pretty warm outside and definitely not too cold either. Seemed like we stayed there for almost 3+ hours!!! I could have stayed there all day; hotsprings, wine, and good company. Oh, I forgot to mention that NO one else was there too!

Christ the Redeemer, border of Chile and Argentina near Aconcagua

Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas and it's only 2.5 hours from Mendoza. I was hoping to do a short trek and see what the terrain was like but permits were not given out at this time of year since the climbing season is over. Pretty sure we missed it by just a few days... Luckily, we were able to drive out to the start of the trek and get a glimpse of the mountain in person. We picked up some hitchhikers along the way, Auriane Marsan and Franco Mariutti, current students in Chile. We found out that Auriane is from France, in the same town that Petzl is based out of; we spent the whole day together, sharing mate, talking about climbing, skiing, and where to go in France when we will be there. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up!

We all drove up to a monument dedicated to a peace treaty between Chile and Argentina over where the true border between the countries should be back in 1904. This statue is roughly at 12, 572 ft high above sea level; we could feel the altitude for sure. To the east of the statue, you could barely make out the peak of Aconcague hiding between some other peaks in front. After dropping our 2 friends off along the road back to Santiago, we headed back to Mendoza, stopping one more time to gaze at the beautiful mountain. Maybe sometime I'll be able to come back and give the mountain a shot!

Aconcagua, tallest mountain outside of the Himalayas

We had one more full climbing day before we had to leave the city so we went to this placed near Potrerillos again called El Salto. This place really reminded me of climbing at Bishop's Peak at San Luis Obispo during college. There were about 20+ routes or so varying in grades from 5.9 up to 5.14. Diana came with us again and rocked it like a champ! Temperatures were perfect and there wasn't a cloud in the sky; climbing couldn't have been better. We climbed maybe 5-6 routes there, including a 5.12 that I almost flashed. Got to the last bolt but fell!

El Salto climbing near Mendoza, Argentina

That night, we went out to dinner with Diana, Clara, and Tamara. We ordered plenty of beer to go around and had a great time singing songs at the bar. We had to go dancing since it was our last night there, so we headed to this place called 'Por Aca.' Alex was feeling a bit sick so he went back while Tamara and Diana and I went in. It was a righteous time, dancing and singing until 5:30am when they kicked us out. I couldn't have asked for a better last night, not to mention month in one of my favorite places!

Our flight was the next day around 5:30pm but I had to get up at 10am to pay a parking ticket that I got a couple days before (you have to keep your lights on while driving in Argentina at ALL times). I also ran to the market to buy an Argentinian flag; everyone in our hostel who had helped us out over the past month signed it and gave Alex and I their best wishes. It's definitely going up on my wall or maybe in my van when I get back to the States! :)

I definitely want to thank everyone who helped us out over the past month in Argentina for making it such an unforgettable experience. Rodrigo, Macarena, Cyril and Nicolas in Arenales, Tratamundo hostel, Celina for the beta at La Frazada and for making a bomb topo, Tamara, Mailen, Franco, Santiago, and Sophia for being so welcoming and helpful, and most of all to Diana and friends Clara and Karen for spending so much time with us and giving us memories that we won't ever forget. I miss all of you already!!!

Movil Tour buses in Huaraz

Alex and I spent a night in Lima before we planned on taking a bus the next night to Huaraz, Peru. By some random stroke of luck, we were able to share a beer 1 hour before this bus with David Kaufman and Zach Land-Miller, 2 friends who I had NO idea where down in Peru. Like David said, the world is super connected; we couldn't have met up with it being so!

We boarded our bus at 10:30pm and had a restless night sleep traveling to Huaraz, getting there around 6:30am. Luckily, our hostel knew that we were coming at this time so they had a room ready for us when we get there. It's time to see what this true mountain town has to offer; multiple peaks 5000-6000+ meters tall, the best sport crag in all of Peru (at 14,000+ ft no less!) and amazing boulder problems established by some super strong locals and some of Americas own, Matt Wilder and Jason Kehl to name a few.

I hope to get up some of the beautiful peaks here, along with acclimatize and climb some hard boulders and sport at over 10,000 ft. :) I'm so very sad to have left Argentina but a new country awaits with plenty of climbing to be had. Let's see what happens in the next 4 weeks while I'm here!!!!!

Missing Argentina and feeling the altitude,

Top-Rope