Reflecting

Public bathrooms with toilette paper you don't have to pay for, free water at restaurants, public trash cans and recycling, ahhh it's great to be home!

I love Mexico, there are so so many things about that city that make so much sense but just as many that make me really appreciate the opportunity to grow up and live in the United States. 

It's been nearly a week since we've been back and when I think back about our the last four weeks, it already seems like a rapidly fading dream.  Luckily there are plenty of pictures and videos to keep the memory sharp, and when I go through the 1,100 pictures with Marie trying to decide what to upload and write about, we relive the adventures every time. 

It was pretty hard to frequently update the posts during the climbing weeks in Mexico because it's pretty tedious to write long posts on my iPod and we were too impatient to spend long periods of time in Internet cafes when they were available.  But now that we're back in the US it will be much easier to keep our blog updated.  So, with that said, let me take you back to Mexico in this post one more time before heading on to more current events shall we?

We last left everyone with a little teaser about El Chonta, the legendary cave located near Taxco, MX so why don't we pick up there in more detail?  In Marie's last post she filled you in on all the friends that we made there and the quality of life we had adapted to during our stay.  I'd like to add that I was in complete awe at all the nature around us and adapted very nicely to all the freedom at our disposal.  Highlights for me at the cave, like in Potrero, were never waking up to an alarm clock, not knowing or caring what time of day it was but rather measuring the length of day by the time between meals, making a fire every night, getting frequent visits by Señor Procopio's children, and of course, climbing our butts off from sunup to sundown. 

As far as the nature around us, the property surrounding the cave were full of woods in which nothing grew straight.  Everything was a twisting, tangling, braided, but organized mess of trees, vines, cactus, rock, and shrubs.  The sky was always filled with distinct calls and answers from different birds (including ones we swore were pterodactyls), and you could always spot a lizard or two sunbathing on the nearby rocks.  On one of our rest days Marie surprised a large iguana sunbathing near a fence.  And then there were all the other animals we were happy to not have stumbled upon, such as rattlesnakes, tarantulas, and mountain lions. 

Twisting trees & vines outside the cave

At first we thought this iguana was a Gila Monster!

You may ask, what more is needed to complete this nature paradise?  Well, we haven't yet told you about what we did for showers, since it wasn't difficult to work up a sweat after ticking all our projects.  On one of our rest days we got very clear directions from some climbers up for the weekend, on how to get to a nearby cave with an underground river that flowed from the nearby city of Toluca all the way to the underground caves of Cacahuamilpa.  We set off to find the cave, and were left speechless when we stumbled upon the massive underground opening only 20 minutes downhill from the climbing area.  The huge mouth opened to let you see a giant water-carved staircase, that took you to a large ramp, which then led you into the dark recess of the cave until you reached the riverbed circa 500 ft below where you entered.  It was like being swallowed up by that whale in Pinocchio!  Once down at the riverbed, only a small portion of that was lit up by the sunlight entering the mouth of the cave about 500 ft above.  We could hear the bats chirping in the cave's ceilings, and confident that we wouldn't contract rabies, we donned bathing suits and waded into the chilly snow melt river for a much needed bath, AAHHHH the life!

Marie sitting at the mouth of the river cave.

You simply climb better in a Stoneworks tee!

Superman invades the Bat Cave

But what about the climbing!?  Marie already let you know about her various accomplishments at El Chonta, and it seemed that the luck was running thick for both of us during this part of the trip because just as Marie was able to surpass her goals, not only by climbing all the 11's but also upping the ante with her first 12a redpoint, I managed to grunt, scream, and hug my way up my first 5.13a/b (El Ataxco).  I redpointed this beast in 6 tries over 3 days.  I also onsighted my 2nd 12a, redpointed a 12b, and redpointed my 4th 12c.  All while adapting to a form of climbing that was beyond my comprehension.  Thanks to Marie's eerily intuitive resting skills, I can now add cosmic knee bar and tufa hugging skills to my repertoire.

 Clipping the crux on Mantis (5.12b)

Lastly, I would like to talk about Señor Procopio's family.  A family we came to bond with very much during our stay and whose company we always looked forward to when they dropped in to check on us or climb with us in the afternoons.  When arriving at Procopio's farm, if you are not accustomed to witnessing poverty firsthand, some might turn their noses up or feel sorry for the family's apparent lack of resources.  The house, though made of concrete, has a tin roof and looks dirty and dusty.  Farm animals roam freely everywhere and for this reason you need to be careful where you step.  When you first meet the children, they look dusty themselves, and your heart squeezes just a bit when you see Señora Aurora sweep a dirt floor with an old broom.  But these thoughts and feelings cannot last more than a few minutes once you see how close this family is, and I'll be damned if it doesn't turn into an happy type of envy.  They were always smiling and were so happy to help in any way that they could.  They took payment only for the services they provided, and left the rest of the costs to our discretion.  They happily let us walk through their land, explaining all about the farm and their family's history, and asking lots of questions about our families, where we came from and what we did, and listened to anything else we wanted to share with them.  They talked about how climbing and the recent development (including the Petzl Roc Trip) had exposed them to things they never imagined and gave them the opportunity to meet people they would have otherwise never encountered. 

 Señor Procopio's house

The children were always happy, and we often discussed how great it was that they entertained themselves for hours running around the woods shoeless, climbing trees, swinging on vines, shooting slingshots at bottles and iguanas, wrestling, and of course climbing.  They had no use or apparent want for iPods, computers, cell phones, or video games.  They were more than content to ride horses, go to rodeos and get bucked off bulls, play with bunnies, and chase chickens and rabbits all around the house.  All the boys from the youngest to the oldest were strong and fit, not an ounce of fat on them from all the running and playing in addition to farm work.  Diets consisted of farm-fresh fruits, vegetables, and of course meat, all of which we got to enjoy ourselves on our last night there.  But most of all you had to admire the pride they all carried, and the humility, courtesy, and hospitality they displayed during our stay.  Truly the richest family I've ever met.

Sharpshooter

 Familia Procopio

And now, we find ourselves on the opposite side of the spectrum, the flip side of the coin.  Las Vegas, Nevada.  If it wasn't for my family and Redrocks, I would never set foot in the kitty litter state again.  But here we are, trading trees for neon lights, tufas for crimps, and sleeping mats for a platform in a minivan, continuing our amazing adventure, my baby and me.

-Juan

Recap of the cave and other things

Whew!

Where to start?  A few words about where we are now - we got back safely from Mexico around midnight on Wednesday and scrambled to find a hotel near the airport.  We ended up getting a free shuttle to a big, inexpensive room with a continental breakfast, right near the MAX line!  So the transition was pretty smooth - the next morning we jumped on the MAX and headed out to Beaverton to pick up Juan's van.  The last couple days we've been staying with our friends Todd & Amelia (thanks you guys, you are awesome!), running errands, outfitting the van, visiting with friends, climbing at Stoneworks, and uploading pictures.  We've already got a bunch up, check out the flickr page!  The van looks great, we've got gear on one side, clothes on the other, and cooking stuff in the back - just about ready to head down to Vegas tomorrow morning.

Now back to fill in the blanks.  Juan already told you a little about climbing in the cave at El Chonta, but man, we could talk about this place for days.  It was RAD.

We had a brief scare at the bus station in Taxco, when Juan reached for his wallet and it was gone (we thought some little punk might have swiped it, but it turned out he left it at the internet cafe!).  Wallet in hand, we took a short bus ride from Taxco to near a town called Corralejo, and happened to bump into a couple fellow climbers on the ride - Mark & Norma - who had actually just flown down from Monterrey!  It was nice to have company as we navigated our way up to the cave.  We all walked up to the ranch of the locally famous family of Señor Procopio, where we met a handful of Procopio's 25 children and rented some of their burros to carry our gear up to the cave.  We also bought a 5-gallon water jug off of them, which would last us most of the week.  We had thought we could buy food there, but it turned out there was nada - not even a convenience store - nearby.  They said most climbers bring their own food from Taxco, but it wasn't the first time this had happened, and the kids offered to head into town and get us some groceries and bring them up by burro later that day.  We wrote up a little list, and they delivered!  We gave them a generous tip on top of the cost of the groceries.

Special-ordered groceries!

Once we'd made camp right outside the cave, we got to climbing!  The only real place to start was the three 5.11 "warmups" (11a, 11b, & 11c) on the left edge of the cave.  This was the moment of truth - if these overhung 5.11s were hard for us (you never know how ratings at one climbing area compare to ratings at another, as they can vary a lot), we were gonna have a HARD time this week!  Luckily, they were really fun and manageable for the grade.  Though I'd only redpointed a handful of 5.11s prior, I made it my goal to redpoint all three of those before we left, in addition to trying much harder routes on toprope (TR).  By our third climbing day, and having done each one once or twice on TR, I'd met that goal!  The climbs were so fun - full of stalactites and kneebars and crazy things like that are rare treats for Pacific NW climbers like ourselves.

 Me on Seres Inorganicos (5.11a)

There were not really any other 11s, and we still had days left, so a crazy idea popped into my head - I'm gonna project a 5.12!  I'd worked a couple on TR.  One was the first pitch (5.12a) of one of the cave's most famous climbs, a 7-pitch wonder called La Mala Fama, on which I fell at the crux but finished it.  Another was a 12b that I unexpectedly onsighted on TR (thanks to mucha beta from Juan, who'd led it, and some amazing full-on no-hands rests on giant tufas!).  I decided to make the first pitch of L.M.F. my goal for my first 5.12 lead.  When I got on it on the sharp end on our last day at the cave, I tried a totally different sequence at the crux, and despite a dripping wet key hold, it worked!  I was so psyched.  You can see a picture of me on it in our last post.  That route was also really cool, same style as the others - overhung, but with lots of great stalactites to grab onto and some crucial rests.

While there were other climbers at the cave on the weekends (including our new friends Mark & Norma), the whole intervening week we had it almost to ourselves!  During several of the days we climbed with a really cool couple, Juan & Priscilla, but they were camping down by one of the ranches, so at night it was just us...and The Things That Go Bump In The Night.  We slept with a couple knives within an arm's reach, not sure if the falling rocks and other sounds were some crazy dude with a machete or a mountain lion poking around.  But every morning we woke up just fine, and laughed about how we'd been scared...  We really loved sharing dinner around the campfire right outside the cave.

Juan's going to write all about his climbing accomplishments, and our adventures at the river cave, among other things, so check back soon!

Hope you all are doing well!

Marie

Back From The Depths

Wow!  its been a little over a week since our last post and it`s always hard to know where to start when so much has happened in between. 

This time it´s even tougher because we´ve just gotten back from an unbelievably incredible 8 days of the most interesting, hard, fun, scary, and exhausting climbing that i´ve ever done. 

Right now, grandma is back at home whipping up some kind of interesting surprise lunch so my post is going to be really short (sorry), but with only 2 days to go and still lots of things to do here in Mexico City, i dont have much time for too many details. 

However, we will be staying with our friends Todd and Amelia for a couple days once we get back to the states so that we can get orgainzed and really update the blog with more details and pictures, and my flickr account as well. 

So, in a nutshell, we left Potrero and head to Taxco, MX where we got more information on how to get to the mysterious "Chonta" cave, rumored to be about 500 feet deep and filled with a powerful handful of overhanging, tufa ridden test pieces.  Once we got to the cave, we spent a fantasy filled 8 days crushing new boundaries and having the time of our lives, and now once again we are back in Mexico City, running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get every last little thing done before heading back to Portland and continuing the road trip. 
-Juan

Marie on La Mala Fama, 1st pitch

Juan on El Ataxco

Migration South

this time im writing from a little cyber cafe in Taxco, Mexico.  Super cold weather forced us to pack up our things in Potrero a day early and head back towards Mexcio City for warmer climate and a new crag to check out.  We finally arrived in this quaint little town this afternoon after about 22 hours or so of car rides, bus rides, and local transportation. 

the campground we left behind

Our destination tomorrow:  El Chonta!  a cave that boasts up to 7 pitches of extremely overhung stalactite and tufa pulling routes.   Im excited to check out the crag and a bit nervous at what we´ll be able to accomplish.  According to an email contact, the range of routes is somewhere between 5.11 and 5.14 so it looks like we definitely have our work cut out for us.

I also wanted to report that on our last day at Potrero, with Marie´s patient belaying, i sent my mini project Celestial Omnibus on my first try that day.  what a perfect route, and also good training for the climbing that is about to come.  After cleaning the sand out (yeah Todd!), i managed to grunt, shake out and pull my way through about 80ft of terrific handle bar tufas and jugs.  and thats on top of the 100 ft of 11c that we both had to climb just to get to its start! 

The middle grey streak (11c?) gains you access to the Bronco Bowls.  Celestial Omnibus exits the left side  of the bowl. 

Tufa pulling on the start of Celestial Omnibus 12a

-juan 





To go with Juan´s notes on our last day of climbing at Portrero, I wanted to add that I thought it ended really well too - by the last few climbing days, I felt much more confident on lead than in the beginning, even on the crazy runouts we faced on many climbs.   On the way to try Celestial Omnibus the first time, we stopped at the lower part of the Outrage Wall so I could give a route called No Excuses an onsight attempt, and I got it!  This was a major improvement from where I was mentally a couple days prior.

On our second to last day, we swung leads on a 9-pitch route called Black Cat Bone, and it was a blast.  We topped out to an awesome view of the whole valley and town of Hidalgo as well as a delicious chocolate bar some other climbers had left in the summit register box...thanks, whoever that was!  The rappel was a minor epic - there are so many plants and rock flakes you have to pull your rope past that it´s bound to get stuck, and ours did twice.  Luckily, each time it was only a few bolts above where we were anchored, so we took turns re-leading up those pitches to free the rope.

So far we LOVE Taxco.  It is a quaint little town nestled in the mountains, and there are tons of locals out at any given time wandering its narrow, windy cobblestone streets and dodging the cars that come rolling through.  It has a beautiful main square with huge trees and a little marketplace.  We found a nice hotel for tonight, and explored the city, including a centuries-old church called the Santa Prisca Church with all sorts of paintings, figures, and gold-painted decorations inside.  The other great thing?  There are more ice cream and dessert shops than you can shake a stick at!  Too bad we´re only here for one night right now.

inside the decadent Santa Prisca Church

Looking forward to checking out the cave tomorrow!

Marie