Below are link to part three of a five part video of ACS owner Eli Simon’s horse powered climbing trip in Patagonia this past winter. Stay tuned for part four soon.

 

 

 

 

Below are link to part one and part two of a five part video of ACS owner Eli Simon’s horse powered climbing trip in Patagonia this past winter. Stay tuned for part three and four soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acadia National Park chose Atlantic Climbing School to assist with a three day search and rescue clinic. ACS guided a group of twelve park rangers and SAR staff for a half day of climbing at Otter Cliffs. It was a pleasure working with the park service and good fun was had by all. Below are some photos of a great day at the cliff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thanks to Dave Buccelo for reaching out to ACS. Also thanks to all of the park rangers and the  MDI SAR staff for a great day on the rocks!

Patagonia 2012 part 3/3 Video!!!

 

Yesterday I had an amazing day of wholesome recreation with Thor Emory of Thorfinn Expeditions.  This summer we will be teaming up to offer some of the most amazing multi-sport packages this world has ever seen! (stay tuned for details!)

We started our day with a standup paddleboarding  and surf-ski session in Frenchman’s Bay. It was 80 degrees and sunny and a perfect day to be on the water. We toured around the Porcupine Islands and Thor taught me all about SUPing and surf-skiing. with a light breeze and blue bird skies it was an unbeatable  morning.

After a calorie packed lunch we headed to the South Wall for some multi-pitch climbing.  We climbed a three pitch route called Story of O, one of my all time favorites.  After soaking in the view from the top we rappelled to the ground and hiked back to the truck. Our next mission was some sea side climbing at Otter Cliffs. Here we had the entire cliff to ourselves and we did a few more classic climbs. Around 4:30pm packed up the climbing gear and headed over to sand beach for some snacks and refreshments and more surf-skiing and SUPing.  The breeze had picked up and the evening sun was making the entire beach glow. It was a great end to a perfect day in Acadia.

Here is a link to a video of our  day!

A big day in Acadia!

 

 

 

A big thanks to Thor and everyone at Thorfinn Expeditions for getting me out on the water and for a great day in Acadia!

ACS owner Eli Simon was featured in a story in this years Experience Magazine. 

 

 Experience Magazine has a readership of 498,000 people and is distributed from Maine to Florida. The story was written by Jackie Leavitt and the Photo is by Anne Skidmore who is a hard hitting adventure photographer and climber from New Hampshire. Check out more of her shots at anneskidmore.com!

 Atlantic Climbing School was picked as one of five exceptional attractions in the state of Maine by Viva America.

 

 

“The mission of VivaAmericais to showcase unique and amazing attractions in theUnited States.  While it’s very easy to find museums, zoos and theme parks in any guidebook – the attractions featured on this site are sometimes only heard about through word of mouth or extensive research.  Our hope is to create a portal for these type of attractions so that more people can experience and enjoy them! 

The attractions featured on this site have been very carefully chosen through several key factors. 

• They provide a unique experience, often times a one-of-a-kind experience.

• Maybe the attraction or experience isn’t one-of-a-kind, but is offered with the absolute highest customer service and an overwhelmingly genuine effort to provide an amazing experience.  

• They receive very positive reviews from other visitors. 

When an attraction is brought to the attention of VivaAmericawe begin by researching.  If we believe that we have a potential addition to the site, then we send a contributor to the attraction to experience it as any other visitor would.  If we decide that we would like to add the attraction to our site then we notify the attraction that they have been added to our list! 

To withhold the authenticity of our site – attractions cannot pay to be added. “

 

A big thanks to Hawthorn Publications, Experience Magazine, all the folks at Viva America, and Anne Skidmore! 

The season is right around the corner and everyone here at ACS is psyched for another summer of climbing and guiding on the coast of Maine.

 

16 days, 6 horses, 4 dudes, and 50 sleeves of cookies, what follows is an account of one of the most amazing adventures of my life.

On January 17^th we left the comforts of our base camp. We left our teepee, our climbing gear, and anything that wasn’t essential to our task at hand. Our itinerary was vague at best. We would ride south for about two weeks. Stopping and going as we pleased and fully engaging ourselves in the simplicity and wonder of exploration on horseback.

 

Our departure being only a few days from my incident playing catch with a nail, I was quite useless during the packing possess.  Luckily Daniel, Paul, and Jakob are turbo handy and we weren’t slowed down at all by my huge lobster claw hand.

 

Before I dive into the details of the expedition, first, I will take some time to describe our beautiful heard of horses.

First, there is Cash. Cash is very much like a van. Big and comfy, although slow and not super agile. This abnormally large mammal has a silky black coat and big eyes that you would expect to see on Eeyore the pouty donkey from Winnie the Pooh. Cash is a great riding horse and packs like a dream. His gait is very much like a waddle, as if his largeness is getting in the way of his walking. He loves people, but not as much as he loves food.

Pancito: If Cash is like a van, then Pancito is like a Mazda Miatta…well, that car sucks… he’s more like a Suburu WRX. He is fast, agile and seems to never fatigue despite his small stature. As the smallest member of our heard, which he certainly does not play the part, he never takes any crap from any of the other horses. Pancito does not like to go to work in the morning, but once he is there, he is employee of the month.

Estrella: Born and raised in the very mountains that we rode, Estrella is very much like a grandmother who has lived her entire life on a farm. She is a super hard worker, but is also mellow and wise. She is as sweet as homemade jam, but as tough as middle-aged nails. She is one of our two mares and she is a wonderfully dependable companion.

Ventue: Picture a Disney movie depicting the wild, wild west. Now picture the proud horse the protagonist would ride. This should give you a pretty accurate image of Ventue. Big, bold and beautiful; Ventue’s uncut blond mane shimmers in the Patagonia’s sun…Ventue is the man…enough said.

George: George is like a third string quarterback on a winning football team. He is very loyal and dependable and very good at what he does, but he does not get the credit that he deserves. George has a beautiful reddish-brown coat and a strong back. He is always the first horse to greet us when we retrieve the horses in the morning.

Maggie: Do you remember the movie, Mean Girls? Maggie is like the horse version of one of them. She is a beautiful mare with a big attitude. The rest of the herd seem to always be looking to fall into her good graces with little success. As the lead mare, Maggie plays the role well, but is still learning from the others in the ways of the mountains.

Armed with this amazing herd and about 150 pounds of gear we headed south into the unknown. Well, unknown to us anyways, we would be following a series of trails that have been used by locals for hundreds of years. We had a terrible map that was more of a cartoon drawing of the area than an actual map. It didn’t depict certain geographical features that we deemed important, like lakes. Despite our Fisher Price map, navigation was never too much of an issue; especially considering our only goal was to go south.

On day one we rode from our base camp to a place called El Arco. It is named after a beautiful natural granite arch that rises above a river with a waterfall running through it. This section of the trail was pretty burly and we were all exhausted after about five hours in the saddle.  We found a nice pasture just across the river and set up camp.

This process, as well as breaking camp, would become almost automatic for us over the course of our 16-day ride. Setting up camp would consist of: first, taking care of the horses (unpack loads, food, water, check shoes), then, taking care of group gear (set up stove, lay out pads and sleeping bags, gather water), and finally, addressing any personal tasks (sewing holes in socks, bathing).

Once we had camp set up, we all went down to the river and Daniel and I did some fly-fishing with no luck.  We returned to camp fishless, ate dinner and went to bed.

Day two we woke at 7am and began the casual morning routine of breaking camp. This would with out fail begin with instant coffee and oatmeal. Next, we would put away all of our food and sleeping gear. Once every thing was put away, Paul would begin the task of repacking all of our gear into four big bags that would ride on the pack horses.  With a tiny hand scale he would make sure each bag weighed the exact same to ensure a balanced load for the horses. As Paul masterminded the packing, the rest of us would retrieve, brush and saddle the horses. Next we would load the two pack horses (usually Cash and George) and get ready to go.  Most days  we would be on the trail between 9:00am and 10:00am.

Day two turned out to be the most challenging terrain we would encounter. Super steep and muddy we were constantly forced to walk our horses.  The trail had grown in in many places, so we were constantly being stabbed by bamboo, which was trying to regain its rightful territory. At one point in the day Daniel was launched of the front of his horse but luckily was unharmed. The rugged terrain made the going quite slow but by the end of the day we went over a high pass and down into a beautiful meadow at the foot of Lago Vidal. Riding into this field after such a rugged day was a huge relief for us, as well as for our horses.

Day three we rested at Lago Vidal. Our horses were psyched and so were we. We spent the day swimming, fishing, reading, making empanadas and re-shoeing two of the horses.

 

 

 

Day four was terrific. We rode on mellow terrain close to the lake for only four hours until we found a pasture that we liked. We set up camp surrounded by wild flowers and had a wonderful night beneath the stars.

Day five was another great day. We rode for about five hours and camped close to a village called El Mason, which consists of one house and one store.  During the ride my horse Pancito got stung by a bee and freaked out almost sending me for a tumble into the bushes.  In the evening we had some rain and we passed the time by wrestling and playing backgammon.

Day six we rode into El Monson and saw a road for the first time. We wanted to avoid riding on roads so we needed to cross the Rio Manson to get to the trails on the other side. We asked some locals the best way to do this and they told us that we would have to hire a small boat for our stuff and swim the horses across. We arranged for a crossing the following day and spent the remainder of our sixth day consuming more then a little bit of  bread, chocolate, and wine.

On day seven we packed up early and hit the road. Our plan was to ride for four hours until we were to meet a man on the side of the road. He would then took us to a boat and help us cross the river. We were skeptical that this “man on the side of the road” would be there, but sure enough after four hours of riding in the baking sun, there was a dude!

We descended to the river and packed all our gear into a tiny motorboat. One by one, we swam the horses across the river. I had never seen anything like it and I was blown away. The river was wide and powerful and one of the most beautiful shades of blue I have ever seen. Soon we were all on the other side of the river and Zoylo Gillardo “the dude on the side of the road” invited us to stay with him and his family on his farm. We graciously accepted the invitation and rode the fifteen minutes to his farm, not knowing that in doing so we would step back in time about 100 years.

The Gillardo’s farm was magical.  Completely isolated from the rest of the world by a huge river, this farm produced and provided everything this family needed. There were baby animals running around everywhere, which included: pigs, sheep, goats, cows, horses, chickens, geese, and ducks. Huge pastures of grazing cattle bordered beautiful orchards of apple, plum, peach, pecan, and walnut. There were countless gardens bursting with ripe vegetables. It was everything a farmer could ever dream of. We set up our camp underneath a massive pecan tree and before we even had all of our stuff unpacked we could smell meat cooking. Like four cave man, we dropped what we were doing and headed over to the main farmhouse. There in the front yard was a giant fire slow roasting an entire goat on a stick. For over two weeks we had been eating like birds and now we had the feast of a lifetime in the making. We sat around the fire and began chatting with this frontier family that consisted of Zoylo and his wife, their son Daniel, and their cousin Javier. Each year they make 600 liters of a home made hard cider called chicha. They are quite proud of this fact and equally as excited about making us drink a ton of it!.  Well before the goat was finished, everyone present was quite sauced up. We laughed and told stories of our time on the trail. Soon the food was ready and we all went back to being caveman again. I can honestly say it was the best meal I have ever had in my entire life; a perfect combination of the people, the place, and of course the food. We continued to eat, drink, and laugh late into the night

The first part of the morning we lay under the pecan tree quite hung over and did nothing as the Gillardo family went to work cutting the hay fields, apparently unfazed by our night of what I considered to be heavy drinking.

We eventually crawled down to the lower fields and helped cut the hay for the winter. These guys didn’t have a new John Deere tractor…but what they did have was two huge oxen!

It was amazing working with such massive animals. We spent the rest of the day pitching hay, first onto the ox pulled trailer and then into the hay loft. I would say the four of us were as effective during this process as one of them.  Regardless of our Yankee inefficiencies, I am sure they appreciated our help and they showed their gratitude by once again preparing us a huge feast; another evening of food, laughter, and chicha (none for me though, even the thought now makes me ill).

The following morning we got to help milk the cows, which was amazing but way harder then it looks. We thanked the Gillardos for their hospitality and once again we hit the road.

The next two days were very cool. The side of the river we were on was much more remote and much less traveled than the other side. This was very apparent in the condition of the trails. A few times we got lost and had to back track but all in all we had two great days on the trail.

At the end of the second day we stopped for lunch and we re-shoed Pansito.  During this prosess Daniel held Pacito’s foot up so we had better access to his shoe, but Pansito wasn’t pleased and forced his foot out of Daniels hand. During this quick movement one of the nails from the shoe cut a big four-inch gash down the middle of Daniel’s hand. We cleaned and covered his wound and decided it was best to stay put for the night and cross the river the following morning.

The following day was pouring rain and we packed up camp and went looking for a shallow spot in the river where we could cross. After an hour ride we were brought to a wide section of the river that looked fordable. Daniel, now with his big lobster claw hand, led the way and we all followed hesitantly into the river hoping that it was as shallow as we thought. By the middle of the river the water was up to our shins and the horses were leaning hard into the current to keep from being swept away. I was super scared and my heart was beating out of my chest. I was relived as the water began to get shallow again and soon we were all standing on the other side with our hearts pounding, our adrenaline pumping, and tons of rain falling on our heads! Despite being cold and wet this was just the type of adventure we were looking for!  We rode for four more soggy hours into a tiny town of 100 inhabitants called Segundo Coral.  One can only reach this town by horse or on foot and it’s isolation and sustainability was amazing.

We followed a sign for fresh bread that led us to a small farm. Here a tall, skinny gaucho greeted us. He said he would pasture our horses and let us sleep in his tool shed for a total of  $16.00. He invited us inside his house so we could dry off by the wood stove. It was perfect. It rained for two days straight and for the majority of that time we could be found in front of their wood stove. We played a ton of backgammon, read and eat delicious home cooked meals. Each day we got a peek into the lives of these amazing people.

On the third day we went through the now seamless process of packing the horses and we were soon on the trail once again. This was to be our last day of riding as we planned on making it to the town of Cattaratta by night fall. Here we would hire a truck to transport the horses back to Cohamo, where we would begin the long process of selling our herd.

The last day on the trail was long and we were confronted with some more rain and some route finding issues. After eight hours we reached a small farm in the town of Cattaratta and our horseback ride was officially over.

The following day we piled six horses, a sheep, Daniel and Jakob, and all of our saddles tack and gear in the back of a truck and we headed back to Cochamo.

During the week that followed we managed to sell all six of our horses to wonderful locals. It was hard to see them go but they all have nice homes and great owners.

With the horses all starting a new chapter, so did we. We resupplied with tons of food and headed back into the Cochamo Valley for 10 days of climbing new routes on beautiful alpine granite!

I arrived in Puerto Montt, a small city in southern Chile on January 6^th.  I had a backpack on my back and a smile the size of a boomerang.  For the next six weeks I was going to travel around Patagonia on horseback looking for untouched granite walls to climb.  My companions for this epic adventure,  Jakob and Daniel Laggner and Paul Mangasarian, are some of the coolest and smartest people I have ever met. I had met the twins when I was in college and did a lot of climbing with Daniel. We had all been in touch for years but this was to be our first big expedition together.

 

Jakob, Daniel and Paul and flown down to Patagonia three weeks before my arrival and did all of the leg work for the trip. Namely  locating and buying six beautiful horses along with their saddles and tack.  The plan was to use these remarkable creatures to explore the Cochamo Valley and the surrounding areas for unclimbed walls, climb as much as possible, and bow hunt and fly fish when ever the opportunity arose.

 

In 2008 Pete and I traveled in to the Cochamo Valley after hearing stories of its towering walls. The Valley hosts five walls the size of Yosemitie’s El Capitan. We spent about a month in the valley and put up a few new routes.

 

I knew one day I would return and once again enjoy this climber’s paradise.  The Valley sits about 24km from the small town of Cochamo. Climbers have been active in the area for only 12 years and the potential for new routes is endless. Unlike Southern Patagonia, the climate in Cochamo is mild. Huge alerce trees line the rivers and bamboo and vines are everywhere. Cochamo is a temperate rainforest without the abundance of wildlife.  This region is also horse country – hundreds of miles of trail weave up and down the mountain passes connecting tiny outposts to the rest of the world. Horse travel has been the main form of transportation in the area for hundreds of years and will continue to be that way for a long time.  Jakob, Daniel and Paul are all avid horsemen, which was great because I didn’t know the first thing about these enormous creatures. I was glad to be in good hands and was incredibly excited to learn about these large mammals.

 

My first ride in to the valley was amazing. Horses were completely new to me and riding one was kind of like having sex for the first time – Kinda scary, terribly awkward, but totally awesome.  After about six hours of riding we arrived in the valley center. There were several other climbing parties from all over the world there.  We were surrounded by towering granite walls and were vibrating with excitement.

After unpacking the pack horses and putting the herd to pasture we started to set up camp. Our home base was a 15 foot teepee that the twins had sewn themselves. The design they used was given to them by a Mongolian shaman. Rain and high winds over the first few days challenged the single pole teepee’s structural integrity. After a midnight collapse we added a few poles for reinforcement. Also during this bad weather we carried climbing gear and food up to the base of one of the areas’ biggest walls – Cerro Trinidad. Once the weather cleared we hiked up to the base of the wall an established an advanced base camp where we would stay and climb for about four days.

 

On our first day of climbing we split up into two parties. Paul and Jakob climbed an amazing ten pitch 5.10 route called ‘EZ Does It’ that had been established a few years earlier. Daniel and I put up a new route running more or less parallel to EZ Does It. Our route follows a series of wide cracks and chimneys for about 1300 feet to the summit of this impressive dome. The climbing was adventurous but never to difficult. Many fun 5.10 pitches required wedging every part of your body in the cracks. Climbing on the North face we were baking in the sun all day and we soon realized how much we needed the sunscreen that we left on the base.

 

 

 

 

 

With sun burnt faces and an abundance of new scrapes and cuts we descended back to our advanced base camp. We were all very happy with our first day of climbing. We sat around a fire eating canned fish and told stories of our respective adventures in the vertical world. Sleep soon followed and I imagine you would be hard pressed to find four happier dudes sleeping with their faces in the dirt.

 

 

Our aching bodies were not quick to rise in the morning. We had a leisurely breakfast of coffee and oatmeal and simply enjoyed our position at the base of this towering wall. The plan for the day was to hike a few hours into the valley to explore a section of wall that had never been climbed. Our hope was to locate a potential line and spend the remainder of the time at a second high camp climbing it. Our hopes were shattered after our two-hour approach yielded only a crumbly wall with very few discontinuous features.  We sat in the sun and eat some more fish from a can and discussed some new options.  We came up with a plan to descend back down to our teepee with all our gear and then establish a new high camp in a different area with more potential for new routes.

 

 

We retraced our steps back to the first high camp, packed up all of our gear and freighted with heavy packs we descended back to the valley floor where are teepee and our horses awaited.

 

With rain in the forecast we made yet another plan to make the most of the following rain days and be as efficient in our tasks as possible. The following morning we broke up into two teams. Jakob and I would ride our fastest horses out of the valley so we could resupply on food (namely cookies), Daniel and Paul would make the first trek into our new high camp and stash climbing gear and the remainder of our food. In theory this was a good plan but unfortunately it didn’t go as smoothly as we hoped.

 

Jakob and I woke just before dawn and quickly hiked the hour to where are horses were grazing. We saddled up our two fastest ones and a third to pack and began the six hour ride to the small town of Cochamo. About 30 minutes into the ride we came to a large swinging gate. In horse country these gates are used to separate properties and to contain the various herds of horse and cow that are so common in this part of Patagonia. It is standard procedure to open these gates while mounted and have them swing shut behind you as you pass. This particular old gate did not swing shut on it’s own.  Being a veritable cowboy with my two days of experience I turned my horse around and tried to reach for the gate.  My sudden movement spooked my horse and he quickly leaped away. My outstretched hand got snagged on an exposed nail and I gashed my palm quite badly.  In the blink of an eye I went from a happy climbing cowboy to an unhappy one-handed walker.  I quickly dismounted and put pressure on the wound. I used a shirt and a headlamp band to create a temporary bandage.  I was a sore site riding back into camp with my hand looking like a huge lobster claw floating above my head.

 

Daniel is a Wilderness First Responder and in general a super geek when it comes to medicine. He did a terrific job cleaning the cut and bandaging me up. It looked like I needed a few stitches, but I definitely needed a tetanus shot. I decided to continue the ride to town and while I was there I would visit the hospital.  Quite quickly the 1000mg of ibuprofen kicked in and the remainder of the ride to town went quite smoothly, despite my huge lobster claw and general lack of horsemanship.

 

A four hour bus ride from Cochamo landed us in Puerto Montt where we resupplied and made a quick stop at the hospital. A good nights sleep in a bed was welcomed and the following morning we were back on the bus and back on our horses.  Riding in this country is absolutely amazing, even with just one hand.  The varied terrain took us up steep hills,  and down deep trenches,  through lush forests lined with crystal clear rivers and streams. The occasional pasture blooming with wild flowers is a pleasant break for both rider and horse, where we can catch first glimpses of the granite walls while our horses get a quick snack.  After another long day of travel we arrived back at the teepee ready to once again adapt our plan to our current situation.

 

Considering the state of my hand, climbing was out of the question for the foreseeable future. Luckily we had a herd of healthy horses and hundreds of miles of trails at our fingertips. We decided to go on a two-week horseback ride and get lost in the pristine Chilean backcountry.

 

Climbing is something that I understand. It is my job, my passion, and is huge part of who I am.  Self-sustained backcountry horse packing on the other hand is completely foreign to me, and terribly intimidating.  Even the idea of this ride was way over my head – comparable to a climber’s first route being on Yosemite’s Half Dome.

 

I knew I was in good hands and I was ready to step out of my comfort zone and learn as much as possible about these beautiful animals. For the next two weeks we would travel back in time and live a life of simplicity, punctuated by the sun rising over the mountains, the warmth of a campfire, and the sound of hoofs on trails.

 

For a month anyways.

My girlfriend and I arrived in the bustling city of Bogota just before midnight on December 3rd. Our flights from Maine all went smoothly and we were excited to spend the next month traveling through this beautiful country. In the weeks before my departure, my wonderful mother kept emailing me newsclips and old magazine articles of the dangers of traveling in Colombia. If you typed, ¨ is Colombia dangerous¨ into Google, your responses would look like my inbox! I decided to see for myself what Colombia had to offer. I assured my mom that I would be fine and snuck out of Maine just before winter took over.

I have now been here for about a month and I have had nothing but amazing experiences! The people of this country are warm and welcoming. The landscape is lush and mountainous, the food is delicious and there is a well established infrastructure to accomodate foreigners.

From Bogota, we traveled north to Villa de Leyva. Villa de Leyva is considered one of the finest colonial villages of Colombia, and was declared a National Monument on December 17, 1954 to preserve its architecture. It is located in a high altitude valley at 2,144 m. We were lucky enough to arrive in town just before the annual festival of lights. This is an amazing festival with singing, dancing and tons of fireworks. Each building was covered in Christmas lights and thousands of candles light up the sidewalks and the plaza. After a wonderful night of festivities, we once again headed north to the small city of San Gil.

San Gil is referred to as the adventure capitol of Colombia – complete with caving, bungie jumping, white water rafting and parasailing; it is a perfect destination for those looking for some adventure. We spent about four days in the area doing a lot of hiking as well as an amazing trip into a huge cave. The cave is seven kilometers long and most of the time you are in murky water up to your neck.

Our next stop was Medellin, the city of eternal spring. As Colombia’s second largest city, I assumed it would be similar to Bogota: loud, crowded and dirty. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Medellin is a lively and modern city filled with parks and plazas and wonderful people! Home of Pablo Escobar, Medellin use to be the most murderous city in the world. Fueled by drug money, the city was quite lawless up until Pablo was gunned down on a rooftop by Colombian officials in 1993. As if to prove itself to the rest of the world and to rid itself of its bad reputation, it seems the people of Medellin have worked very hard to make the city what it is today. I think they did an amazing job.

From Medellin, we took a 19 hour bus ride to Santa Marta. Santa Marta is a small city on the Carribean coast and is a jump off point for the smaller towns and parks on the coast, the closest being Taganga. Once a tiny fishing village, now the streets are filled with board shorts, dreadlocks and sunburn tourists drinking fruity drinks. After enjoying the beach for a few days, we decided to go on a trek. We chose to do a five day trek through the jungle to visit an ancient lost city – Ciudad Perdida, or the Lost City. Ciudad Perdida was built in the 11th century by the Tyronians and it wasn’t rediscovered until the 1970′s by treasure hunters. Compared to Peru’s Machu Picchu, Ciudad Perdida is still relatively undiscovered to travelers. We signed up for our trip with a company called Expotur. They provided a guide, a cook and transportation to the trail head, which included some very rugged four wheeling in an old Land Cruiser. Also, in our group were our buddies from Colorado that we met in Villa de Leyva, two French Canadians and a young French couple. Everyone was very nice and we all got to know each other quite quickly as we were all stuffed in the back of a Land Cruiser and tossed around like shoes in a washing machine.

Our guide was a young and enthusiastic Colombian from Santa Marta. Fresh out of the army, he still had the demeanor and looks of a soldier with the dog tag and crew cut to boot! He was a good guide, knowledgable, kind, efficient and helpful. The first three days were spent hiking. First, through beautiful farms cut into steep hillsides, then through thick jungle with every inch of ground covered in greenery, mud or bugs. We crossed many rivers and by the end of the first day we were all soaked head to toe. On day two, we saw our first sign of the indigenous people that live in this jungle. The Cogi people are short and skinny with long dark hair and sharp features. The only way to tell the boys and girls apart is by their attire. The men wear rubber boots and carry a small woven shoulder bag. The women are always barefoot and usually wear their native jewelry. The men also chew coca leaves all day, which leaves them with very rotten teeth or none at all. They live in small circular huts made of mud with woven roofs of palm leaves with two poles on the top that represent the two hightest mountains in the Sierra Navada. We skirted their tiny village with only a small glimpse into their amazingly simple and beautiful way of life.

Each night we slept in hammocks and ate delicious food prepared by our cook. On the morning of the fourth day we woke just before the sunrise and quickly began hiking. We hiked for about an hour following the river bank until we came to a mystical set of stone stairs rising steeply 1,000 feet above the valley floor. We climbed the 1,200 slippery stairs to the entrance of Ciudad Perdida. It was a very powerful experience walking around the ancient city and learning about the Tyronians and their way of life. We explored the city for a few hours and then descended back to the valley floor and began our hike to our world of wi-fi, traffic and cheeseburgers. The hike out went smoothly and it was nice to once again lay on the beach and sleep in a bed.

Christmas was spent in Taganga hanging on the beach with friends and itching our bug bites. At sunset we hiked a steep hill and watched the sun disappear over the Carribean. Not my usual white Christmas but an amazing one nonetheless.

I am now in Cartagena and my time in Colombia is coming to an end. I would highly recommend visiting this beautiful country.

I landed in Las Vegas to old people smoking butts and playing video poker. I quickly retrieved my bags and went out to the arrival zone to meet Pete who had arrived a few hours earlier and picked up the rent a car. Our first destination, Red Rocks National Conservation Area, located about 20 minutes outside of the madness of the Vegas strip. With stable weather and endless climbing opportunities from single pitch sport routes to 30 pitch adventure climbs, Red Rocks is one of the best winter climbing destinations in the US.

We quickly drove out to the desert, set up camp, and went to sleep. The following morning was cold and clear and we packed up for our first climb. We climbed a beautiful route called Cloud Tower which is a 7 pitch crack climb located in the Pine Creek  Canyon. Every inch of the route was awesome.

The next few days were very cold with rain and snow so we stayed close to the ground and enjoyed some steep sport climbing. Our next objective was to climb the Rainbow Wall. The Rainbow Wall is a 14 pitch ultra classic up one of Red Rocks biggest walls. A long approach, sustained climbing, and an amazing view makes this the must-do climb of Red Rocks.

The climb took us 10 hours from car to car and was everything we look for in a free climb, long, clean and challenging. Pitch after pitch of well protected corners led to a sunny summit. It was a great day and a perfect stepping stone for our next goal… The Moonlight Buttress!

After the rainbow wall we drove to Zion National Park and set up our camp a few miles outside the park boundaries. Zion is often referred to as the sandstone Yosemite. With hundreds of beautiful walls towering above the Virgin River, Zion is truly a climber’s paradise.

Our goal was to free climb (climb from the bottom to the top with no falls and with out weighting the rope) the moonlight Buttress. This is a true test piece for sandstone free climbing. A beautiful finger crack stretches for 1,100 feet from the valley floor. Out of the 11 pitches 6 of the pitches are 5.12a or harder. The climbing is physical, technical and sustained. This would be the hardest climb we have ever attempted by free climbing standards.

On November 11^th we were up well before the sun peaked over the desert towers. We were soon in the car and on the way into the park. The approach to the climb is very short but involves wading across the freezing Virgin River. We left the car at 6:00 am and were quickly wading up to our knees in the river. With frozen feet Pete accurately stated “now that’s one strong cup of coffee.”  As we regained feeling in our legs we racked up at the base of the route just as it was light enough to see. Pete and I split the leading up to work best with our strengths and weaknesses. Pete has huge gorilla hands that make a lot of the wide crack climbing easier, and I have skinny fingers, which meant all the thin climbing was for me.  From the first pitch all the way to the top the climbing was amazing. One finger crack stretches the entire 1,100 feet to the summit with the crack size only changing and inch or two the entire way.  Although Pete and I tried our hardest on every pitch we were unable to achieve our goal of climbing each pitch with out falling. Out of the 11 pitches we were able to climb 8 of them with out falling.  We reached the summit in just over 6 hours and we were overwhelmed by the quality of climbing. We can’t wait to come back and give it another try!

After a day of rest we climbed an amazing route called Shune’s Buttress. This is another must- do climb in Zion with pitch after pitch of perfect crack climbing.  The following day we climbed our final big route of the trip called the Monkey Finger. This is a 9-pitch classic with lots of wide crack systems.

Sore and tired we rested the following day and drove back to Vegas to catch our flight the following morning.

It has been a wonderful couple of weeks in the desert and we were able to do a ton of classic climbs. For me the thing I love most about these climbing trips is the simplicity. We wake up with the sun, we climb during the daylight hours, we eat as much food as we can, and we sleep when it gets dark. We have everything we need, and nothing we don’t, and for me that is perfect.

It is now 7:00am and I am back in the Las Vegas airport surrounded by old people smoking butts and playing video poker.  It is time to go back to the great state of Maine and spend some much-needed time with my family and loved ones. I hope you all have a wonderful winter and a Happy Holiday season.