Rest Days... so much fun!

Alex and I were pretty beat after climbing in Switzerland for a couple weeks. Upon saying goodbye to Christina, we packed our EuropCar and headed south towards the Italian border. Our plan was to meet up with Lex, one of Alex's friends he knew from studying abroad in Germany. Apparently, Lex grew up in Croatia and happened to be vacationing on Krk off the main coast of Croatia for a few days and it worked for us to meet up. Along the way, we would go through Milan and Venice and sample some of the touristy things each place had to offer.

Duomo di Milano - 5th largest cathedral in the world and it took nearly 6 centuries to complete!!!

Our first stop was Milan! We heard that this city in Italy didn't have many tourist attractions. It's Italy's financial, commercial, and industrial center with a population of over 5 million! The one thing that we did want to check out though was the Duomo di Milano, apparently the 5th largest cathedral in the world. Luckily, we were driving through on a weekday so while everyone was at work, we could drive the streets with very little traffic. :)

We took our slew of photos, both inside the cathedral and in the main square just outside, and headed to a place for lunch. There I made sure to get some italian gelato and an espresso! So tasty! By then it was nearly 2pm and we needed to get going. The freeway that would take us to Croatia passed right next to Venice. I fortunately had been there once before with my family but Alex had never been so we made a short pitstop there around dinner time. We headed straight for the Piazza San Marcos after parking our car in the zoo that was the main parking area once we got there.

The Grand Canal in Venice, Italy

Since we got there during the late afternoon hours, the sun was creating quite the array of colors during our time there. The grand canal, the giant clock tower, all the gondolas floating in the water, everything seemed to glow. We walked the streets, looking in the different shops; I definitely tried on a jacket that cost more than anything that I own!!! We found a small little restaurant to eat dinner before heading back to our car to finish the drive to Croatia. Multiple stores were selling masquerade masks which looked super fun so we bought a couple. Who's gonna host the party?!

The view from our accommodations in Croatia; thanks Lex for helping us out!

The drive to Croatia took quite a long time due to the fact that we took back roads through Slovenia to avoid having to pay tolls for the highway. Apparently the navigation system on our phones took way more 'back roads' than was necessary according to Lex. We didn't show up on Krk until 2am!!! We were super fortunate that the lady who owned our place that we were renting actually got up to let us in and give us the keys! Luckily, we had a huge bed and got a great night sleep. When we woke up, we headed down to town center to get some lunch. There we met up with Lex and headed down to the beach for some swimming and to meet his family.

View from town across the coastline of Krk.

Lex informed us that a true beach according to him was one with rocks that you could jump off of. Being from sunny southern California, I definitely objected! Although it was awesome having rocks to scramble on and jump off of, it was pretty tough to lounge without a spike of limestone sticking you in the ribs through your towel. Regardless, the water was super calm AND super warm. The limestone sometimes jutted right out of the water so we were able to climb up the cliffs. The rock was super sharp though so we had to climb delicately if we didn't want to shred our hands and feet. We brought Bavarian beer with us to drink while lounging; always a great rest day activity.

Lex, Alex, and I chillin' along the coast of Krk

We met Lex's father, sister, and her boyfriend at the beach that day. We had dinner with them at a pizza place they all recommended. It was super legit; thin crust with lots of toppings and not overloaded with cheese, something that I can't stand! In general, the food in Croatia was great; everything from seafood, to pizza, to noodles, to soup... it was all great. The portions were perfect too. You never were left wanting more or feeling too stuffed at the end of your meal. I definitely could see coming back here at another time; everything was super cheap!!! Once they join the Shengen countries though, we'll see if that remains the same. Our next stop would be Frankenjura, the famous climbing area in Germany so we headed back late after 2 great days relaxing.

Luckily, Armin has many conveniences near his flat so we were able to do our laundry and get cleaned up before heading to Frankenjura. While our laundry was going, we headed to the Hirschgarten, a great place to drink beer and eat great Bavarian food in the middle of a park. They even have a pen full of reindeer! (random I know...) We got an entire fish to split including some giant bretzen (pretzels) and liter beers. After hanging out here for awhile, we went back to get our laundry, then headed for Frankenjura. Let the pockety fingery climbing begin! Luckily, Armin came out for a long weekend to climb with us AND David Lam flew out from the States to climb with us for over a week as well!

Sponsorship shot... Petzl & Black Diamond gear, and Edelrid clothing

Armin new of some cool places for us to check out since he lives close to the area compared to us. The climbing was so different than anything else that we had climbed before. Super pockety, not super intuitive at times, and spaced out bolts. We definitely took our time warming up and working up in the difficulty of climbs. Alex and I only planned on staying here a week or so because we planned on meeting his parents in Paris so our window was short. The thing that boggled my mind when we showed up was that I didn't see a single rock on our way to the region of Frankenjura, near Nuremberg. There was nothing to see except rolling green hills and groves of trees. Our GPS told us we had reached our camping area but it had to be wrong since there wasn't anything visibly to climb on right?!... WRONG! The crags in Frankenjura are super hidden, in the groves of trees, behind the rolling hills, etc. It was super magical feeling walking through the bright green forest wondering what the crag would look like right around the corner.

Armin about to head up into a 5.12 classic

On Sunday, David flew into Nuremberg so I drove the van to pick him up from the airport. Even though he was jetlagged, we went straight to the crag to climb. In between passing out inbetween climbs, we were able to get him on a few starred routes. It took him a couple days to snap out of the jetlag phase. Armin had told us of the place to camp where there were free showers (awesome!) and a restaurant right nearby that served amazing food for cheap! Armin told us that we had to try the pork shoulder that they serve, apparently on thursdays and fridays. Since we were there for the full week, we would be lucky enough to try it.

David crushing a hard 5.11 overhanging route in Frankenjura

Our last day in Frankenjura, we chose a crag that was nearby our campsite to aid in a speedy departure towards Paris. The crag had LOTS of overhanging climbs, including one that Alex chose which should have been an 'easy' 5.12 but turned out to be much harder since a hold broke. Some local climbers told us about it and still unphased, Alex went up to try it out. Unable to move through the crux, he let me take a shot at it. After taking at the crux, I was able to find a way through to the easier section above; easy 5.12 my butt!!! The route was in a beautiful setting though; a slightly overhanging wall, beautiful green trees around, with excellent movement for the top 2/3rds of the climb.

Easy 5.11? NO WAY! A hold broke making this climb mid-5.12's... CRAZY move...

We also saved some time to check out Action Direct, the worlds first 9a (5.14d). It was insane not only to see how overhanging the climb was, but how small the holds were. Mono to a dyno, to multiple more monos on a wall that's 45 degrees overhanging. It was crazy just thinking about all the famous climbers who had walked the trail to this exact spot, clipped the same draws, and sent such a hard route. Alex, David, and I then headed back for the car, packed away our ropes and harnesses, and headed to Paris. We were meeting up with his parents the next day and with Camille, a girl Alex and I met down in South America.

Tons of thanks to Armin for letting us crash at his place regardless of the time that we show up at his place, and Lex for organizing such a great time in Croatia. Currently, we are having a great time experiencing everything that Paris has to offer, not to mention some difficult and unique climbing in Fontainebleau!!! Tune in next time to see what goes down!

Top Rope

Europe! First Stop... Switzerland!

Alex and I returned to the States at the very end of June 2014 after 3 months in South America, climbing through Argentina, Peru, and Brazil. Visiting old friends, seeing new places to climb, and meeting new friends along the way has been an amazing experience so far! We came back home because a few of our friends were getting married and it broke up the trip for us; it was so nice to have some of the comforts of home! Seeing as I didn't have a room anymore to sleep in at my old house, I mixed it up with camping and crashing at friends places which I'm so super grateful for.

  

I had to made it back to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite for old time sake. You can only spend so much time away for your favorite place! After making it to Xander & Amy's wedding and Matt & Kelley's wedding, I drove down to San Diego in order to hang out with my extended family for a few days. I hadn't seen Grandma in a long time so I wanted as much time as possible to hang out with her. My Mom, sister, and I took a week long trip to Chicago as well. If you like interactive museums, great food, and a city with an amazing public transportation system, this is an amazing place that you'll have to check out.

It finally was time to continue to climbing adventure, and for us it started in Munich, Germany!!! Alex had a friend that he knew from college and studying abroad so we luckily were able to crash at his place. Our first goal was to get our transportation for the next 3 months. We thought getting a van and sleeping in it would save us the most money along the way; no hostels, no unnecessary camping fees, and if it rains, your stuff is definitely completely dry. Europcar was the choice for us; cheap and the van came in diesel! We built the bed literally in the parking garage of the hardware store. People were giving us the weirdest looks but whatever; we made it work!!! :)

Our first stop, Magic Wood in Switzerland. Luckily, everything is relatively close to each other in Europe. After a 3.4 hour drive, we arrived at the famous bouldering area. Armin (Alex's friend) was kind enough to give us his bouldering pad for this stage of the trip and with my gigantic Asana pad, we were set to try and crush some new, hard boulder problems. The concentration of boulders above 7a/v6 is astounding!!! We could barely contain ourselves with all of the beautiful lines that we wanted to try. The rock texture is very grippy and shreds the finger tips after just a couple climbing days. Alex and I had just under 2 weeks to try as many problems as we could. Unfortunately, I misplaced my camera charger earlier in the trip so I couldn't take any pictures with my camera. Alex has a lot more on his... we'll upload them soon!

Intermezzo, 7c/v9  Super short and super powerful!

The only issue with Magic Wood is the landings; almost all problems have some sort of gnarly root system growing underneath it or some jagged rock sticking up. Having multiple pads under each problem was a must! Luckily, there were tons of other people also climbing there so we always got to have pretty decent landings wherever we decided to climb that day. Overall, I'd say that we were pretty successful; Alex got his first 8a and we both had multiple climbs in the 7c range. Not too shabby!!! I luckily will get to come back in a month and hopefully try some more hard classic boulders, including an 8a+ (v11/12) if I'm lucky!

Switzerland also has tons of alpine climbing, both bolted and traditional. The rock can vary from limestone to granite and there are always bolted anchor stations (suhweeet!). I was talking to my buddy Drew LaPlante and he mentioned a friend of his (Christina Blumenthal) that we needed to climb with, especially if we wanted to do some alpine. I love alpine climbing so it seemed like a no-brainer. Christina invited us over to dinner one of the first nights and we had a great time; talking about our climbing experiences, how we knew Drew, and what places are great for the alpine experience.

She was super generous, letting us stay at her place, cooking us food, taking us climbing, giving us tons of guidebooks of the areas, not to mention giving us 2 of her crashpads! Weather was continuing to be a big issue, raining pretty much half of the days that we planned on climbing in Magic Wood. One weekend, there was a decent weather window so we took the chance and headed up to a place called Albigna for some multi-pitch near the Swiss/Italian border. Boy, am I out of alpine shape!!! There were hardly any cracks, something that I love and anyone who climbs in the Sierra Nevada loves as well.

Gotta love the Marmot hardshell!!! Such a gorgeous setting...

There was so much more face climbing than I realized. You had to trust your feet and really smear on super tiny edges and dishes to get up; and the climb was only 7a!!! It was so great to try a new type of alpine climbing, something that we are not used to. The backdrop couldn't have been any better either; tons of tall mountains all around with swirling clouds and a brisk cool breeze blowing around us every now and then.

One of the only cracks on the entire route! And it was perfect hands!

Once we got to the top, there was a super thin peak that we were able to climb up that barely could fit 2 people! What an awesome way to top out a climb! What we didn't realize is that the gondola that dropped us off at the base of the climb stopped running at 4:30pm and by this time it was after 5pm. That meant we had a 1.5 hour hike back down from the base which normally would take 5 minutes... oh well, we still had a great time.

Plenty of mountains and glaciers behind the man-made dam

This was our 2nd to last climbing day in Switzerland so on Sunday, we went back to Magic Wood to try a couple more classic problems. We were able to pack up our stuff around 7pm and head over to Christina's mountain house for one more night of good company in Switzerland. A dinner with wild mushrooms, some sausages from a gas station supermarket (super high quality...), and a cozy bed in a warm hand-built cabin was a great way to end our first 2 weeks in Europe. I can't thank Christina enough for showing us such an amazing time and to Drew for passing on such a great contact!

Scotty climbing up 'Fiamma' at the top of our route. What a way to top out! :)

Our plan now is to head southeast towards Croatia. Alex has a friend from his college days abroad that grew up on the island of Krk. We hope to stop in Milan and Venice along the way to break up the drive as well. Alex has never been to Venice and apparently one of the largest Gothic churches is in Milan... we'll jut have to see! Who knows what Croatia will have in store for us; hopefully a bunch of rest since we're so trashed from all the good rock in Switzerland! After Croatia, we plan on heading back up to Germany to climb in Frankenjura. David Lam is gonna be joining us out there as well! Tune in next time to see how restful and beautiful Croatia is!

Till next time,
Top Rope

“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.” 
― Edward Abbey

Brazil Time!!!

Alex and I have been on the road now for just over 2 months; we've gone through Argentina and Peru and there's only 1 more country on our list before we head home... Brazil! We left Huaraz on an overnight bus and headed to Lima. Our flight the next day was at noon to a place called Iguassu Falls. The falls has the 2nd highest volume of water flowing over its edge, just behind Niagara Falls in the US. On average, Iguassu Falls is running around 61,600 cfs. We were all GoreTex'd out that day since the falls covers a HUGE area and the mist/spray was out in full force. 

One of the many overlooks of the Iguassu Falls from the Brazilian Side

The river Iguassu makes up the border of Argentina and Brasil in this area. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to explore both sides of the falls. Apparently, the viewing of the falls is better on the Argentinian side... there are more walkways to view the falls and there are more activities to see the falls; rafting, helicopter rides, etc. We both were content with the Brazilian side just knowing how little time we had to see things.

The Devil's Throat is a U-shaped feature at the head of the falls where a majority of the water falls over. There's a walkway that heads out close to this area where the water gets pretty intense; of course we had to go out there! Some people weren't wearing any protective gear and were absolutely soaked, INCLUDING the cell phones that they were taking pictures of the falls with! We thoroughly tested the waterproofness of our gear as well; glad our gear works as it's supposed to! After hanging out at the falls for a good 5 hours or so, we headed back to our hostel to catch the Champions League Final game. Turned out to be a crazy one at that!

The 'Fortaleza' bus that took us from Ubatuba to the climbing area in 30 minutes

That same night, we took a flight from Iguassu to Sao Paulo. We got a hotel for a night, then hopped on a bus to a town called Ubatuba the next morning. Ubatuba in Portuguese means 'Place of Canoes,' according to a local from Sao Paulo who I met on the flight the previous night. We definitely didn't see any canoes there, but we did find some pretty sweet boulders to climb on. Alex and I could not find any bouldering pads in the area at all, but we headed out to the point anyway. The setting was absolutely perfect; a point with perfectly flat landings, waves crashing 20 feet from you, with gorgeous coast line on either side. We stayed in a hostel in downtown Ubatuba and took public transit straight to the climbing area. From the bus stop, it was a short 10 minute walk to the boulders.

An easy warm up right next to the crashing waves

There were so many cool problems to climb out there; cracks, crimps, overhangs, traverses, all in the area of a football field or less even. We climbed here for 2 days and luckily no accidents happened without the pads. We did see a couple sea turtles swimming right off shore, not to mention some cool looking birds, crabs, and a gnarly hornet that we were climbing very close too! (Don't worry.... I had my epi...)

Are you eating a banana?!!! NO WAY!

There were plenty of easy climbs to warm-up on. There were only a handful of hard hard climbs to really try out comfortably without pads. We brought lunch food that we got from the store, including some bananas. Ever since the end of Argentina, I've been eating bananas. I can remember my sister and I hating bananas when we were kids so this was a pretty huge breakthrough for me!

Careful on this top out... it's high AND there are bats in the seam above!

We found this one boulder that had quite a few problems on it; v3, v4, v6, and v8. We were able to climb all of them, including the v8. We were able to climb all of them, even with bats chirping at us from the crack up above. I was definitely surprised at how many bats there were; you could see almost 6-8 of them in there. It was kind of gross because I tried to stick my hands in the crack (perfect hand jam...how could you blame me) and there was bat droppings everywhere! GROSS! Even without the crack though, the top out was safe and easy.

The iconic boulder of Ubatuba; gotta love slopey top outs!!! I just happened to wear a super bright blue shirt today...

Before we left Ubatuba, we had to climb the iconic boulder that we've seen in countless places; online, magazines, and the climbing poster advertising the annual climbing competition that they have there. The left side is around 15-18 ft high but the right is only 10 or so. Couldn't ask for a more beautiful boulder in a more perfect setting.

After 2 days of climbing, it was time to head to Rio de Janeiro. Apparently there are tons of climbing to be done there; big walls, multi-pitch, chimneys, knobs, cracks, face, you name it!!! I can't wait to see what it has to offer. Check out what we find next time!

The Cordillera Blanca!

The town of Huaraz is definitely well known around the world for its proximity to the Cordillera Blanca, a mountain range in Peru that has some of the most amazing looking peaks on the planet. Paramount pictures actually chose one of the mountains in the Cordillera Blanca to be their emblem; it's called Artensonraju which combines the spanish word artesa (reservoir) and the Quechua word raju (ice). I knew coming here from the beginning that I needed to try and get up into the mountains and see these beautiful peaks. Luckily, some of my friends that I had met here were doing a group trip and they invited me along. Of course, I said YES!

We're all packed and ready to go, including almost 3 yr old Andrea!
(Left to Right) Jhon, Juanito, Scotty, Chato, Eloy, Belinda, and Andrea

We met at our friends David & Marie's outdoor agency, QuechuAndes, to talk about logistics and figure out what food we needed to get. Jhon and Juanito insisted that they buy the food without me there so that they could get a better price since I'm not a native; I definitely let them do that. Our plan was to take 4 days and head up to the peaks Mururahu and Pongos, both summits at 5688m and 5630m respectively. I definitely had never been that high and was worried about the altitude, even though that I've been living at over 3000m for almost 3 weeks. I rented a bunch of gear from QuechuAndes since I couldn't bring all my stuff down myself (too much weight). In total, we ended up being a group of 7, including Juanito's little girl Andrea who was only just 2 years and 10 months!!!!!

One of multiple river crossings... we even had to fill them in with rocks at times!

The morning of, we all met at QuechuAndes to pack our gear, divy up the group stuff, and head out to the collectivo station to get a 45 minute ride to Catac, a town just south of Huaraz. Then we got taxis to take us east into the mountains for about 1.5 hours across some pretty gnarly backcountry roads. There were multiple river crossings or washed out sections where we had to pile up rocks in order for the cars to get through! This one took us over 10 minutes to fill in... The hike in to base camp was a good 6-7 miles in so I knew I had my work cut out for me. My pack was pretty heavy already! We were walking through some pretty beautiful countryside; lush green meadows with streams running through them, mountains on all sides, lakes here and there, blue sky with picture perfect clouds rolling through, and not too hot... couldn't have asked for better hiking weather.

Psyched to be camping in the mountains...

The first night we actually stopped short of our goal because Juanito's wife was feeling pretty tired (so was I) so we made camp in a beautiful green field with tons of lupine and a rolling creek nearby. Little did I know that Jhon was a master chef in the backcountry; he made delicious soup, rice, vegetables, you name it. I could tell that I wasn't going hungry on this trip! The following morning, we packed up camp and headed up hill to our targeted base camp closer to the mountains the first half of the day. That afternoon, we headed up the beginning of Mururahu to scope the route and make sure we could find our way the next morning in the darkness; gotta love alpine starts! On the way up, I could tell my knee was acting a bit funky but I didn't pay much attention to it; I should have though. On the way down, it hurt a bit more and I knew I needed to rest. Hopefully it didn't hurt too much on the way up the climb in the morning. We all went down to camp, made dinner and prepped our gear and went to bed by 8pm.

Why were our packs so heavy? Because we brought BOMB food... :-D

That next morning, we woke up around 2am, ate breakfast, and started hiking up around 2:30 am. Belinda and Andrea stayed in the tents sleeping all nice and warm. The first 150 m were all on rock; easily scrambling but sometimes wet and slippery... scary with huge boots on! We finally came to the snow field leading up to the headwall of Mururahu, so we put on our harnesses, crampons, etc and roped up. I was in the middle of a team of 3 with Juanito and Jhon. Eloy and Chato made their own team of 2. The snow field continued to increase pitch until some of the sections reach more than 65 degrees. We were glad to have ice tools and not just an ice axe to get up these. We stopped at the eastern edge just around sunrise, hoping to turn northwest up the spine of the mountain to the summit. Unfortunately, instead of finding a snow field to the top, we found a route that was way too technical for any of us to climb with the gear that we had. We had to find a new way to get up.

Sunrise in the Cordillera Blanca at 5300m

We came back down a little ways to the middle of the main face in hopes of traversing some rocky sections into more ice. It proved to be too too sketchy again because we didn't have adequate rock protection to get up. We needed pitons and cams that we just didn't bring... :(  The view from 5300 m though was breathtaking; so many jagged mountains just wanting to be climbed, a slight breeze that wasn't too cold, the sunrise seemed to take forever. To the north was our other objective, Pongos. It was the perfect perspective to scout a route to the top. It looked pretty treacherous; the glacier that we were planning on going up was completely broken up with crevasses everywhere. We couldn't see a clear path to the top from this far away... we'd have to wait to see what it was like when we actually got up there.

Looking north to Pongos from the ice field below Mururaju at 5300m

At this point, my knee started hurting immensely. I had slipped on scree the previous day with my huge pack on and didn't think much of it at the time. My knee was hurting so much that I could barely walk down the mountain. I told the rest of the guys that I needed to go back; I could barely stand. On the way down, I had to scoot on my butt sometimes because I couldn't bare weight on my right leg. It was incredible how much energy was needed to get my body down the mountain without the use of my leg. I was pretty worried at the time; not only were we 6-7 miles in from the trailhead, I still had to get down snow/ice and a 5.4 rocky section back to camp. At camp, I started thinking about all the possible things that could be wrong with my knee; tore something, hyper extended something, bruised the bone somehow... I've never had that much pain in my legs, let alone not being able to put weight on it. I had to keep my right leg straight at all times while coming down. I needed to rest so hopefully I could hike out the following day; climbing Pongos was definitely not in the cards for me.

Looking up the snow field to Mururaju's 600m face... next time!

After a hefty dose of pain killers, massaging, and sleeping, I awoke the next day hoping that my knee felt ok. The other guys had gotten a very late alpine start to try and climb Pongos; the super early hour of 5am. Their plan was to get up at 2am. They came back unsuccessful around 11am and we packed up our stuff and started the hike back out. My knee felt fine until maybe 1 mile to go and the intense shooting pain came back. I limped my way the last mile, super worried. A family was able to take all 7 of us down to the main road in the back of their super ghetto Chevy pickup truck. The ride took over 1.5 hours while breathing exhaust but I was just glad to not have to weight my leg anymore. I talked to David about my knee and he was not worried about it; it wasn't swollen and there were no signs of internal bruising/bleeding. We had a 4 more days in Huaraz before our flight to Brazil so some days of rest would be good for it.

Alex back in Huaraz climbing some sweet boulders...

I kept up on the pain killers and used a brace on my knee everywhere I went. Over the next couple days, it did feel a lot better. We tried climbing the last 2-3 days of the trip and I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't hurt to climb. Walking felt more natural everyday so my spirits increased as well. Currently, I'm sitting in the airport in Lima super happy that my knee is still improving and feeling better everyday. :) For our last night in Huaraz, we went out to dinner with our friends David and Marie at their favorite pizza place, La Comedia. They are just about finished with their guidebook of Peru and it's climbing areas. We were hoping to purchase a copy before we left but it looks like we'll have to get our copies a bit later. I feel super lucky because some of my photos made it into the guidebook, including a picture of me climbing! It is pretty small but still... I made the cut!

Our next stop is Iguazu Falls in Brazil/Argentina for a day, then Sao Paulo and Rio for some climbing before the World Cup craziness starts. We've got one more month in South America... let's see what Brazil can deliver!!! Tune in next time as the climbing adventure continues!

Thanks again to all of our friends in Peru; David, Marie, Roosevelt, Andrey, Rodrigo, Chico, Juanito, Jhon, Javier, everyone at Hatun Machay, Camille, Julia, Benji and the brothers at Alkilpo (your hostel is legit!), Chase, Ben (We're comin' Germany!) and many more... the trip to Peru wouldn't be as rad if we hadn't met you all!!!!!!

Trujillo with Roland!

After climbing in Hatun Machay for a good week, I decided to head to Trujillo to visit my friend Roland and stay at his family's home there. The late buses are pretty convenient here so I hopped on one Friday night to spend the weekend there. I arrived in Trujillo around 5am and luckily, Roland was there to pick me up. They had a bed waiting for me so I crashed out for a few hours before we started our first day in Trujillo. Roland took me to a nice breakfast place that served traditional food from the area and it was delicious! Tamales, papa rellenos, tasty breakfast sandwiches and more! Definitely the way to start a weekend of eating, drinking, and hangin' out.

The main square in downtown Trujillo... what up Roland!

After breakfast, we headed down the street to the main square downtown. There were so many brilliant colors on all the buildings; it was so happy feeling! We also checked out the old National Reserve Bank where they used to make money. It was a great example of the old style architecture that is present all around downtown. Luckily, Roland had his own car so getting around to all these places was a breeze. People drive like CRAZY in Trujillo; definitely takes a professional to drive around there! haha

Old style architecture in the Old Reserve Bank

We then drove to the Huaca de La Luna y Sol, two temples that the Moche people constructed around 100-800 AD. The Moche people preceded the Incas in Peru and primarily lived near the coast. These temples were completely made out of Adobe and the excavation effort to uncover more of the temples and it's surroundings is still on going today. It was amazing to see all of the colors that were painted all over the walls of these temples as well. Its a feat that the Adobe is still there!

Gigantic adobe murals painted in one of the courtyards of the temple

Even though Trujillo is technically in a desert, large structures have been built over the ruins in order to keep what little rain that does fall from hurting more of the temple. A tour guide took us through the entire ruins, explaining what the different rooms were, what happened in each one, and who they were for (all in Spanish by the way!). The Moche people sacrificed many people in hopes of pleasing the Gods for favorable weather and good fortune. The altar where people were sacrificed was definitely still visible and everything... pretty freaky stuff!

So many colors and they're still so vibrant even today

Around 2pm, we headed back to Roland's house for some lunch. His Mom is a great cook and fixed us up a HUGE amount of food. Potatoes, salad, lots of spiced rice and chicken; I barely could finish it all. That's saying a lot! When we could no longer could fit more food into our stomachs we headed out to the ruins of Chan Chan, another adobe city where many passageways and walls still are standing today. We then headed up north along the coast to this place called Huanchaco which has the longest left breaking wave in the world!

The sacrificing altar! Pretty freaky just thinking about all those killed here...

The day was overcast so not that many people were out but the waves went on forever! Riding the wave for its entirety would take a tremendous amount of endurance! Kids, beginners, and those who were pretty good were all out in the water, super psyched surfing some of the best waves Peru has to offer. There were even people trying out the traditional reed boat called a 'caballito de totora.' They say it's possibly one of the first ever surf crafts.

Longest left breaking wave in the world!

We hung out watching the waves for about an hour, tasting a ice slushy while we were at it. We then headed home for a little siesta; nap time and some PES (South America equivalent of FIFA). I sucked, having not played since the days in the House of 7 playing FIFA with the boys. Oh well, still fun to kick the ball around. Roland prepared us some drinks called Chilcanos, his favorite! Pisco, lime, and ginger ale... mmmm! We were planning on heading out to party with some of Rolands friends that night so I knew I needed to eat a good meal. His Mom prepared another mountain of food, this time spaghetti.

How do they even surf those things?

We headed over to a friend of Roland's apartment who he studied with in Architecture school. The 4 of us proceeded to finish an entire bottle of Johnnie Walker! Yikes! I thought that we would then go dancing the 4 of us but Roland  is always full of surprises. We actually ended up going to another friend's house to continue the party. It was his friends birthday so there were TONS of people there... music was going, there was tons of food everywhere, not to mention drinks. Pisco, whiskey, beer, you name it! We danced the night away till 5 am having a super great time. By then, I couldn't drink anymore and had to tell Roland not to keep passing me beer!

Roland's Parents and his brother Orlando on the left

That next morning, I for sure was feeling it. We slept in a long time, then after a good breakfast, we headed out with Roland's entire family to celebrate Mother's Day. We headed to this lagoon near Trujillo where we had amazing duck. We talked about what I studied in college, how Roland and I met, etc. It was super cool hanging out with family and I couldn't be more thankful for them putting me up in their home. Hopefully if I'm ever back in the area, I can pay them a visit. Thanks again for the Peruvian flag!!! :) I boarded a night bus back to Huaraz Sunday night, saying goodbye to Roland and his family.

Sierra Andina brewing company in Huaraz! Got a present for you Jared...

Alex and Jen were driving to Huaraz from Cusco and Macchu Picchu and we had one day to hang out before they headed out to Hatun Machay. We figured why not visit the Sierra Andina brewing company, a place recommended to us by Jared, or J-Class haha. The factory was super small, and they're all dudes from the US! We picked up a case of shorts (bottles that weren't fully filled; mistake of the bottling machine) for 50 soles; can't beat that! It was sad that I'd only see Jen for a day but other activities are calling.

Birthday Dinner with Alex and Jen before they headed off to Hatun Machay for some climbing

Tomorrow, I head off with some local friends here to attempt 3 mountains in 4 days. The summits of the 3 mountains are roughly ~4600m or just above 18,000 ft. Definitely have never gone this high before. They're called Mururaju, Pongos, and Raria. Hopefully, I'm not left in the dust! I'll be back this Sunday, definitely yearning for a shower and some clean clothes. Tune in next time to see how the climbs went... :)

Top Rope

Hatun Machay!

The rock field of Hatun Machay; below in the valleys there are plenty more first ascents waiting...

I've been climbing at this placed called Hatun Machay, just south of Huaraz, for about 4 days now and I was SO glad that I was able to make it there. After researching different climbing places in Peru, the consensus was that Hatun Machay was the best. Some of the locals here in Huaraz might disagree (maybe because the refuge is run by a non-native...) but it's spectacular and was definitely worth the trip.

It all started after Alex left Huaraz about a week ago. After the climbing competition that I helped out with, I was wondering what to do the following week. I ran into a friend at my hostel, Camille Mo, and she said that she wanted to head to Hatun Machay with a friend on Monday. We teamed up and went to the store right then and bought our food for the next 4 days. Luckily, there is a refuge at Hatun Machay with all of the cooking stuff that you could need; that meant less stuff to carry!

The refuge at Hatun Machay; super clean and in a perfect setting!

We all met outside of our Hostel, Hostel Alkipo, at 8am to take a collective bus ride to this town called Catac. After about 45 minutes, we got dropped off and hailed a taxi to take us the rest of the way to Hatun Machay. Hatun Machay has an elevation just over 14,000 ft; pretty intimidating that you have routes with difficulties at 5.13+ at this altitude! Driving a Toyota Wagon on this gnarly dirt road up there was invigorating for sure; our driver dinged the bottom of his car 3+ times... All in all, it cost each of us roughly 18 soles to make the 2 hour journey; not too shabby!

Camping outside of the refuge; 20 soles/night

 The refuge has 2 options for staying there; either camping outside or staying in a bunk bed in the refuge upstairs. Staying upstairs was 30 soles. I brought a tent along and sleeping in a sleeping bag sounded amazing so I set it up in the corralled area around the refuge. After setting up everything, it was about 2pm so Camille, Octavio, and I headed out for some climbing.

I love me some heel hook moves!

I couldn't believe the amount of rock that Hatun Machay has to offer. Boulders, faces, cracks, multi-pitch, you name it, it's here! There is still TONS of potential for first ascents because only the main center has been established; there are tons of areas on the outskirts with just as many rocks and cliffs as the center. Considering that we were at 14,000 ft., we definitely were glad to have brought our puffies and rain gear. Like clockwork, everyday around 2pm the clouds would move in and rain for about a couple hours or more. Somehow, the rock would be dry as soon as the rain stopped. We were able to climb everyday!

Talk about a great time; climbing, good food, friends, practicing spanish... things were great! We climbed everyday until the rain came, then went back to the refuge for lunch until the rain passed, then went back out and climbed till nighttime settled in. We brought SO much food with us; sandwich makings for lunch, soup and a main course for dinner, TONS of cookies for snacks too. Don't forget cans of Cusquena and a bottle of Argentinian wine!!!

One day, a new group of people showed up to the refuge, one of them who was named Diego. He arrived at the hut in the late afternoon after traveling for quite awhile so he decided to take a walk. The one thing that you are told about Hatun Machay is that there is a single river running from the hut down through the valley. If you ever have a question about how to come back to the refuge, just follow the river. That night, Diego did not follow these directions very well.

After everyone had returned to the refuge for the night, we all noticed that Diego was not back yet. A search team went out around 9pm that night in hopes of finding Diego. Unfortunately, they were unlucky after 2.5 hours of searching. As we were heading to bed around 10:30pm, we saw a light way off in the distance so we rallied again in hopes of finding Diego; no such luck. We all got back around 1:00am, worrying about what happened to Diego.

We got up around 5am in another attempt to find Diego. We walked around the entire Hatun Machay area but still no luck in finding Diego. We all just hoped that he wasn't injured... After taking a nap mid-day, I headed out to find Octavio and Camille for some climbing. That late afternoon, we found out that Diego had returned via taxi to the refugio; he had gone DOWN valley, not up the river like he was told the day before. Let's hope that he learns his lesson!!! We were all pretty relieved. The owner of the refuge then proceeded to buy dinner, dessert, and wine for everyone in the refuge that night; party time!!!

Go Red Team Go!

We definitely didn't plan it but Octavio, Camille, and I all had red jackets so it was fitting that we took a picture of our awesomeness. Team Red conquered Hatun Machay pretty well; tons of routes, tons of boulders, not to mention grades all the way up to 5.12d and boulders up to v7/8! I also took some photos of the boulders that were there and they are going to be in the new guidebook for Peru that will be printed in the next week or so!!! Exciting!!! :-)

The whole gang at Hatun Machay!

Thanks again to everyone at the refugio for making it such an awesome experience. Also, thanks to Octavio and Camille for creating the Red Team and having me along on their climbing adventure! I head to Trujillo tonite to visit Roland, a friend I worked with in Tahoe over 4 years ago. Rest the finger tips and rebuild some muscle with home-made ceviche, beers, and some Peruvian Hospitality! Tune in next time to see how good the ceviche really was...

I return to Huaraz on the 12th, my birthday! I think some more climbing is in order with maybe some dancing and drinks afterwards? :-D That week I hope to climb some of the mountains around here. I will attempt 3 mountains in 4 days with some of the local friends I've met here. The 3 mountains are Pongos, Raria, and Mururaju; all in the ~5600 m range. Wish me luck!