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David Trippett

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    [TR] Frey, Cerro Catedral, Argentina - Various 1/8/2007

    in The rest of the US and International.

    Posted

    Trip: Frey, Cerro Catedral, Argentina - Various

     

    Date: 1/8/2007

     

    Trip Report:

     

    Frey is just outside of Bariloche, Argentina, a small resort town on a lake, and can be reached via bus or taxi from the city in ~30 min to the base of a ski hill called Cerro Catedral. From here begins the trek to the Refugio Frey and the tower climbing of the area. The trek takes 3-4 hrs depending on how fast you go and how much stuff you carry. Since there is a refugio to eat and sleep at, I took pretty much nothing, just a small pack with a rope and my rack and enough clothes to deal with most mountain weather. The walk up to the refugio is along a well-trodden path through some stands of hardwood forests that leads up to a lake at the head wall of a cirque. Right at the edge of the lake is the Refugio Emilio Frey, run by the Club Andino Bariloche.

     

    The first half of my trip to Frey I was solo, my regular climbing partner from Rio was showing up in a few days and I needed to find a partner in the meantime. I was lucky to hook up with two great partners; Maurissio, a mountain guide on El Tronador volcano, who was on vacation doing some rock climbing, and Joao, a Brasilian from Florianopolis.

     

    Maurissio and I warmed up on a couple routes on Aguja Frey and the next day did a route on the east face of the Torre Principal called Sarandonga y Chicharrones (5-6p, f6b+). It was a nice intro to the tower climbing of Frey. It was a good route and was mostly out of the wind, which can be quite strong.

     

    A couple days later, I hooked up with a Brasilian friend, Joao, and we did a route on the west face of the Torre Principal called Sinestro Total (7-8p, f6b). The Sinestro takes a mostly direct line up the sweeping west face of the peak and features a small pendulum after the second pitch. The quality of the rock on the route is as good as it gets in the alpine and the climbing, although sustained, is quite reasonable throughout, being mostly solid 5.10 jamming on perfect splitters. It is definitely up there on my all-time favorites. I got to lead the beautiful head-wall pitch, a steep, stunning 45m fist crack. We were blessed with a perfect, almost windless day, rare on that side of the tower, which is usually blasted from the west winds.

     

    In addition to some of the longer routes, I cragged a lot with my friend from Rio, Daniel who was new to alpine climbing, drank the great micro-brew they serve at the Refugio, and generally had a good time. I spent almost 2 weeks there and we climbed almost every day. The approaches are longish, by Squamish standards, but are not so bad. Frey is a fun alpine playground where you never feel too far out on a limb and the established routes will keep you busy for months.

     

    This was my first trip to Patagonia and I am in love, with the places, the people and the climbing. Next year I will stay longer and hopefully have enough time to head south. If you are interested in any particulars give me a PM.

    PICT0485.jpg

    Bariloche from the air, El Tronador volcano in the back

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    Start of the Trail

    PICT0408.jpgPICT0409.jpg

    Some trail scenes

    PICT0404.jpg

    First view of the towers

    PICT0410.jpg

    Aguja Frey

    PICT0417.jpg

    Refugio sign and the Torre Principal

    PICT0418.jpg

    Approaching the Principal

    PICT0420.jpg

    Maurissio and the Principal, East Face

    PICT0421.jpg

    P1 Sarandonga

    PICT0422.jpg

    me leading P3 Sarandonga

    PICT0433.jpg

    Principal Summit

    PICT0445.jpg

    Joao on Aguja M2

    PICT0451.jpg

    Refugio and the Towers

    PICT0452.jpg

    Joao warming up for the start of the Sinestro Total

    PICT0454.jpg

    Pitch 4, Sinestro

    PICT0458.jpg

    Me leading on the headwall

    PICT0463.jpg

    Joao leading the big traverse near the summit

    PICT0466.jpg

    another Principal summit

    PICT0470.jpg

    Tormentia, the Refugio kitten

    PICT0477.jpg

    La Vieja, Daniel and I did a route here. Michelle and Martin, the Canmorians visible on the first pitch of Sudafrican.

    PICT0479.jpg

    Daniel walking on snow for the first time

    PICT0481.jpg

    The payoff, Daniel and the Climbers Combo.

     

    Gear Notes:

     

    The rack I carried worked well and was heavy on thin gear; triple yellow aliens, double greens and a single blue and doubles from #.5 to #2 Camalot and a #3 and #4, stoppers and a 70m cord(very useful linking pitches and for the descents). If you need more usually there are folks around to get the odd extra-piece. The rock is mostly bomber and is only run-out on the easier bolted face routes. Take lots of sunscreen and zinc-oxide…. I’m relatively dark-skinned in general and I got pretty burned up there….don’t underestimate the Patagonian sun. Don't forget to take your little gourd thingy for drinking Mate whilst furtively glancing about.

     

     

    Approach Notes:

     

    Trail up to the Refugio, most climbs are a hour or so hike from there.

    Prolly already been posted, but sharma

    in Climber's Board

    Posted

    sorta related....anyone care to guess when we'll see 5.16? Seems to be headed in that direction quickly....David Lama and Adam Ondra are like what? A combined age of 28?...and are sending hard 14's with astonishing regularity. Pretty soon 5.13 will be "moderate", if it's not already. I'm going curling :P

    OP Grinder Knobs

    in Local Gear Shops

    Posted

    WC,

     

    I tried this myself....and found it prettty unsatisfying. The x-section of the express screws hanger is wider than the OP's and you have to modify the knobs quite a bit. In addition, the express hanger is not the same as the OP, which are designed to take that knob. When you put the OP knob on the BD screw, you have two options: one is to place it upright, which makes for a poor lever arm; or to put it further out, at a funky angle, to gain a better lever. Both options leave something to be desired. Another annoyance is that the express hanger is quite small....and the knob ends up taking up a lot of room inside the hanger. Anyway...I did not try these in the field as I was so dissatisfied with the result at home. Perhaps someone who has used this set-up in the field can comment?

    [TR] Lillooet Ice - Rambles Central 12/3/2006

    in British Columbia/Canada

    Posted

    Trip: Lillooet Ice - Rambles Central

     

    Date: 12/3/2006

     

    Trip Report:

    Stewart and I climbed Rambles Central with the "Left Finish" at the upper Tier. The first pitch was probably the best formed, but is still quite wet, particularly in the central bits of the fall, which tended to be a tad hollow as well. The second step was about the same. The "Left Finish" is currently a hollow curtain/pillar for the first 6m and is roughly ~50 cm thick and ~1.5m wide at the base and was dripping/wet when we climbed it. It appeared to be rapidly deteriorating. To whoever scratched their way up that mixed "line" on the left yesterday(?) : nice! The "Right Finish" was fully soaked. From what we could see from the road, the other Rambles climbs were formed, but are likely in similar condition.

     

    We checked out Carl's Berg as well. It is formed, but we ran into some folks who had been on it and had bailed. They reported it as "raining".

     

    On the way up from Squamish, we noticed that Entropy and other routes in that area were formed and (at least from 80km/hr out the car window) appeared in.

     

     

     

     

    Gear Notes:

    the usual.

     

    Approach Notes:

    a lil' snow.

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