spionin

awesome. does anyone know what they were climbing?

that's funny - i totally wouldn't have gotten the reference thanks for the educational video, Z. no, jaws wasn't in attendance. no one was getting killed on the summit... just lots of very tanned, happy people enjoying the view and the full bar. man, the seattle weather this past week has had me reminiscing about rio...

wow - excellent work and a great write-up!

thanks, guys! we were alone on both routes, though when we were taking the gondola down from PdA, we saw three parties on the face we just climbed! it was an overcast day, but usually it gets pretty baking after early morning, and that was one of the reasons we got going on it before 7. wow, paulista! i agree, it might be time for a visit. this was my first time in south america, but cbcbd was born and raised in brasil. i think november is a great time to go: just as it's getting über-crappy up here, things are heading toward summer down there. not overly hot yet, too.

Trip: Brasil - Corcovado and Pão de Açúcar Date: 11/9/2011 Trip Report: ok, i'm totally not the one to complain about november weather. i actually like the pacific northwet. but the past few weeks in brasil, with its 82F days/75F nights, 5:30 sunrise/19:40 sunset, oh and samba clubs, awesome food, lack of open container laws, beaches and swimming in the warm atlantic ocean, super friendly folk... I haven’t exactly been fantasizing about my daily bike commute in november rain. but i digress. there's some awesome climbing here! This was primarily a family-visiting trip, but cbcbd and i climbed two routes on Rio’s two main geo landmarks: Corcovado mountain and Pão de Açucar. The granite monoliths are generally slab, though the rock has such large quartz crystals in places that it feels more like crimpy face climbing. The bolting is normal for slabs (attention-getting, though thoughtfully placed), and we felt that the rating was fair. watch out for jaka fruits and don't feed the monkey Corcovado’s K2 route runs the east side of the mountain. The rating is 4o V, E2, D1, 150m: - 4o – overall grade of all pitches is 5.8 - IVsup – hardest move on route is 5.8-5.9 (depending on the source) - E2 – protection rating. Ranges from “well protected” E1 to “don’t fall” E8. - D1 – duration rating, this one is estimated at 2-3 hours. - 150m – length Aside from climbing, the summit can be reached either by a cog-rail train or a charter van. We read that to descend we could catch the train for free, but more on that later… cbcbd’s aunt and cousin kindly dropped us off that morning at the van stop, and we approached the base of the route by doing a 15 min walk on paved road followed by a 20-minute jungle bushwhack. As a side note, we climbed in the morning, but the route is best climbed in the afternoon. It gets pretty baking in the morning, and starts to go into the shade around 11 – 11:30. Here’s the topo we got online: not your average on-route vegetation P1 (5.9) starts out strong by following a corner and then traversing left. lizard. i didn't want to know what other exotic wildlife was in those cracks At the start of the 2nd pitch, tour helicopters (up to 4 at once!) started flying about and hovering over us and the peak, making themselves a constant presence for the next 2 hours. It finished on a vegetated shelf. P3 starts in a schist crack and follows a a 5.7ish half-dirty traverse that goes above and around a lot of cactus plants. It would suck to fall. Incidentally it is called the “Palavrão” pitch, or “swear”. I made sure to keep true to its namesake. the views were awesome The final pitch is a short, bouldery 5.9 that finishes near the viewing platform. quartz-studded rock A quick scramble up, and we hopped the fence, surprising the gang of tourists and drawing confused stares. Yeah, it felt pretty cool to be the odd balls. So we snapped some photos, and got ready to descend. Unfortunately, it turned out that the trip down is “free” only if you bought the ticket for the trip up. And we didn’t bring enough cash with us! after about an hour of trying to figure out how to get down from the mountain, an awesome climber/park ranger lady named Ester came to our rescue, told the ticket checkers that we were her friends from the alpinism club of rio, and scored us a free ride down. So awesome! Then we went to the beach. For a week. We rode horses at the family farm. We sailed. I <3 Brasil. *********** Pão de Açucar (Sugar loaf) has a huge number of routes on it. We did the classic linkup of 2-pitch Via dos Italianos (Italian route) with 1 pitch of variation of Darcy Ribeiro, and finishing on top 3 pitches of Secundo Costa Neto – 5o V E1 D2 270m (II, 5.9, PG). alternatively, one can take the via ferrata directly to the top after finishing the Italian route. Left home at 5:30 and approached route by walking to the interurban trail Pista Cláudio Coutinho, and taking the trail to Pão de Açucar-Morro da Urca col. We were climbing at 6:30. The first two pitches constituted the crux, 50 m each. Then followed a short and not-so-5.6 traverse pitch. I started my lead block with another traverse pitch. Then linked up two 5.7 pitches into one awesome 60 m rope stretcher. Lots of large crystals and perfectly spaced edges on tiger-patterned rock.. This was my favorite pitch of the route! The anchor was among some really spiky cactus plants, followed by a short but very vegetated traverse. The last pitch switched character and started as friction fest on black slab, followed by a slimy, mossy fist crack, and finishing on a slightly overhanging schist shelf. The topout under the viewing platform was hard to beat! We finished the route like all good routes should be finished – with a pair of caipirinhas from the summit bar. The bartender totally hooked us up, they were legit! The gondola ride to Morro da Urca is free, but we couldn’t take our drinks along with us. we chugged and refueled at the next stop (i went for a kiwi on round 2). Hiked down the mountain with our beverages in hand – good times! y'all should totally go!! Gear Notes: cachaça, bikini, sunscreen Approach Notes: walk in your flip-flops to approach, often via a beach

[sorry to hijack your thread, RikkD] it went ok. it was a nice trip with a little camping, a little hiking, and a little climbing. no complaints i posted a bunch of photos on the ice thread right after that trip. the weather was awesome, approach was very forgiving still. but the conditions on the ice were a little thin, i wasn't really up to the ice roof 1st thing this season, and there was a lot of debris raining down the route, which only got worse as the day progressed. we climbed a part of it, but ended up retreating this time. interestingly, i saw some recent photos of the upper part of the route (from the last few days), and it doesn't look like the top ice pitch has gotten much fatter. i wonder if the lack of melt-freeze cycles contributed to that. it's been pretty consistently cold for the past few weeks.

we were the ones going for colfax.

for reals? and thanks - a huge service to many of us!

sweet photos! and cool to run into to you guys up there. that's you three: cheers!

at this point, probably better than this b/c it's been consistently cold. but with all the recent snowfall it might be difficult to climb steep powder on top. these guys mention 3-4" of powder on crust two days ago, and it's been snowing since then: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=22080.0 6-10" of fresh predicted for tomorrow. the freezing level hasn't dipped that low yet and there shouldn't be any snow on the road. the trail is icy in spots, however. especially along hogsback.

"perfect day" indeed! looks awesome!

be careful. there's just enough gappers on the approach to make things interesting. a lot of snow has fallen in the past week (~ a foot per day) without significant settling. there's at least one snow bridge (up to colfax, not on the c-d ski route) that could be a whole lot more interesting with a few feet of powder on it. also, i posted a bunch of pictures of the routes on the neighboring thread.

here, a little present (from yesterday, fellers) we both agreed that the upper tier of the big boy is not touching down yet. the second pitch of c-h is currently a pillar on the right, overhanging on the left and thin on top. bottom pitch is vertical snice and rime. snowshoes not required for approach, but having gone on a warmer day probably helped consolidation. the downside of going on a warmer day is getting pelletted nonstop. parts of the trail along hogsback are quite icy at this point. get 'er.

haha! awesome! i was reading this and realized that last year we had a very similar set of experiences: got off route on the approach, had an unbelievable time on the climb itself - the ice just goes on, what a freaking treat!, got totally confused on the descent and almost went down the wrong drainage before getting back on the ridge, AND got picked up by a random dude (from upstate NY) who drove us back to the car after we got lost! i guess these experiences come as a package deal with the climb. loved your comments about the stuff you found when you descended the wrong drainage - sounds like many a poor soul went down that way. awesome report.

thanks all for the input. thanks, hemp, for the note on skull cap durability! i'm replacing an 11-year-old half dome, which has a 2-inch crack. looking for an ultra-light partially b/c i travel for climbing a fair bit, and want an option of carrying a little less weight with me. not because i need convincing to wear a helmet in the first place. the armour looks nice, but is 4+ oz heavier than meteor, skull cap, and especially the speed. that's about equal to an extra bd shorty screw, or both a green and a yellow alien that i could throw into my pack during the approach.

hi all, i'm in the market for a new rock helmet, and am looking for something lightweight. advice/reviews would be greatly appreciated. note: i'm considering the trango skull cap - anyone on here have one? i've looked at the meteor iii, but it makes my head look like it's 2 feet tall, and i'm all about looking pretty while i send. thanks!

great report, and an excellent climb! the difference in the facial hair is a good proof of the time spent on the wall

sound of music! nice job and great route descriptions!

wow, awesome! great matching beards, too.

hilarious. the summit picture might as well be captioned "motley crew". i love reading reports where people have all sorts of unintended adventures, route finding shenanigans, tent-less nights, gear loss, time shortages, etc... and yet still make it sound fun and have good humor about it. right on. and thanks!

daaaaaaaaang. looks like a quality weekend! thanks for the stoke!!!

holy shenanigans! i'm glad you squeezed this one in before she took off for school! nice work!

awesome. you look mighty relaxed in those pictures, mrs. rat! light and fast!

i know, great example - i really didn't like it when someone else posted that picture of me. don't you think it should have been discussed with me first, in private?

civility. no need to get defensive.