Hola to you all! Hope all is well, finally have a chance to update the blog so here goes……
After Rapa Nui the urge for some climbing was strong so 1 night in Santiago then straight to the bus terminal for a ride to La Serena where I heard Chiles largest boulder field resides, and so 7 hours on a bus north and I hit La Serena and check in to a real cosy hostel.
After getting the info (with slight difficulty) where the climbing was and how to get there, the next day I set off. Catching a bus from La Serena to the nearby town of Coquimbo, the first two attempts left me in places I really didn’t want to be in especially when im carrying my pack with all my documents and passport etc in, and so precautions were taken!!!
However I found the boulders at a place called Pampilla, and what I heard was right this place is a boulder meca!! Huge boulders scatted on a dessert like landscape with the sea at a stones throw away and many a bird swooping over head. Tom was in his element!!
Everyday for about 5 days I would catch the bus and get about 3-4 hours of bouldering in, getting some pretty hard problems under my belt (I think around V5 was the hardest) and then back to the hostel for dinner and beers with random travelers passing through.
On a rest day I got recommended to try a 2 hour tour through the foothills of the Elqui Valley on (sorry Ellie) a horse!! The weather wasn’t great but the trip was really fun and through some really amazing landscape, I think the horse got a bit pissed off with me as I accidently directed it into a few hedges but it got its own back by putting me into a tree!
I n the evening myself and a couple of other guys went up to an observatory to check out the stars, some people say that the sky in the Elqui Valley is the clearest in the world and I don’t think their far wrong. Looking through a telescope with a magnifying rate of around 200 or something (I cant remember it was 2 weeks ago!) and seeing far off clusters of stars, Jupiter, and being informed of many star constellations. A really beautiful trip.
At this time in Chile there is a huge festival all over Chile celebrating Chiles independence for a week of holiday and much drinking!!! I was being told I could no longer stay in the hostel as it was fully booked due to the holiday, but no worries as my friends from Las Chilcas were coming up and asked if I fancied joining them for a week of climbing in different locations along with many a party in the evening, well my decision was simple.
And so after meeting all the family and having lots of food and confusing spanglish conversations we set off for a day at Totoralillo another boulder meca (but bigger than Pampilla!) a day of running around amazed by the quantity and diversity of the climbing but this time with good company and people to save me when I fell off, (which I was lacking in Pampilla on my own).
The next stop was to camp deep in the Elqui Valley for 2 nights in a place called Montegrande where there resided one boulder with one problem at a grade of around V6-7 this was impossibly hard but Esteban (one of my chillean friends) came so close, a huge traverse on sloppy holds and nothing but heel hooks for the feet to finish on a Castle hill style mantle!! Intense man! And of course due to the festival a huge party in the evening getting very drunk and dancing (trying to) the traditional chile dance called cueca where basiclly I figure you move around fairly randomly with a piece of tissue in one hand waving it around in no particular rhythm I believe a few jokes were made on my behalf. Waking up with slight hangovers for a day of slacklining in the Plaza de Armas of Pisco Elqui (basically the towns square).
The next 2 nights were located back in Totoralillo where camping on the beach front and full on days of bouldering, there is just so much here to do easily a lifetime of routes to be had here!
The time then came for my amigos to depart back to Santiago, we all went to the bus terminal to say our goodbyes and sort out tickets only to find that my ticket to San Pedro was not possible for when I wanted it and I would have to stay in La Serena for another 4 days on my own, a slight bummer however, it just so happened to be one of my friends birthdays the next day so a huge party in Santiago was to be had, I got invited and naturally I accepted this offer. So a slight change of plan leaves me in Santiago where I stayed at a friends house had an awesome party and got some more climbing in at a place called Arrayan or sometimes known as the magic forrest, once again another killer day of climbing in a truly breath taking place, some great climbs completed with some flashes and on sights whooo yeaaa!!!!
And that just about brings me up to today where I am leaving for San Pedro, on a bus that will take something like 25-30 hours, I am not looking forward to this ride!!! But I have heard so many amazing things about San Pedro this is a must also due to my amigos in Santiago I have climbing contact waiting for me there……things don’t get much better!!!!
Until the next time guys, much love and peace!!!
tom
After Rapa Nui the urge for some climbing was strong so 1 night in Santiago then straight to the bus terminal for a ride to La Serena where I heard Chiles largest boulder field resides, and so 7 hours on a bus north and I hit La Serena and check in to a real cosy hostel.
After getting the info (with slight difficulty) where the climbing was and how to get there, the next day I set off. Catching a bus from La Serena to the nearby town of Coquimbo, the first two attempts left me in places I really didn’t want to be in especially when im carrying my pack with all my documents and passport etc in, and so precautions were taken!!!
However I found the boulders at a place called Pampilla, and what I heard was right this place is a boulder meca!! Huge boulders scatted on a dessert like landscape with the sea at a stones throw away and many a bird swooping over head. Tom was in his element!!
Everyday for about 5 days I would catch the bus and get about 3-4 hours of bouldering in, getting some pretty hard problems under my belt (I think around V5 was the hardest) and then back to the hostel for dinner and beers with random travelers passing through.
On a rest day I got recommended to try a 2 hour tour through the foothills of the Elqui Valley on (sorry Ellie) a horse!! The weather wasn’t great but the trip was really fun and through some really amazing landscape, I think the horse got a bit pissed off with me as I accidently directed it into a few hedges but it got its own back by putting me into a tree!
I n the evening myself and a couple of other guys went up to an observatory to check out the stars, some people say that the sky in the Elqui Valley is the clearest in the world and I don’t think their far wrong. Looking through a telescope with a magnifying rate of around 200 or something (I cant remember it was 2 weeks ago!) and seeing far off clusters of stars, Jupiter, and being informed of many star constellations. A really beautiful trip.
At this time in Chile there is a huge festival all over Chile celebrating Chiles independence for a week of holiday and much drinking!!! I was being told I could no longer stay in the hostel as it was fully booked due to the holiday, but no worries as my friends from Las Chilcas were coming up and asked if I fancied joining them for a week of climbing in different locations along with many a party in the evening, well my decision was simple.
And so after meeting all the family and having lots of food and confusing spanglish conversations we set off for a day at Totoralillo another boulder meca (but bigger than Pampilla!) a day of running around amazed by the quantity and diversity of the climbing but this time with good company and people to save me when I fell off, (which I was lacking in Pampilla on my own).
The next stop was to camp deep in the Elqui Valley for 2 nights in a place called Montegrande where there resided one boulder with one problem at a grade of around V6-7 this was impossibly hard but Esteban (one of my chillean friends) came so close, a huge traverse on sloppy holds and nothing but heel hooks for the feet to finish on a Castle hill style mantle!! Intense man! And of course due to the festival a huge party in the evening getting very drunk and dancing (trying to) the traditional chile dance called cueca where basiclly I figure you move around fairly randomly with a piece of tissue in one hand waving it around in no particular rhythm I believe a few jokes were made on my behalf. Waking up with slight hangovers for a day of slacklining in the Plaza de Armas of Pisco Elqui (basically the towns square).
The next 2 nights were located back in Totoralillo where camping on the beach front and full on days of bouldering, there is just so much here to do easily a lifetime of routes to be had here!
The time then came for my amigos to depart back to Santiago, we all went to the bus terminal to say our goodbyes and sort out tickets only to find that my ticket to San Pedro was not possible for when I wanted it and I would have to stay in La Serena for another 4 days on my own, a slight bummer however, it just so happened to be one of my friends birthdays the next day so a huge party in Santiago was to be had, I got invited and naturally I accepted this offer. So a slight change of plan leaves me in Santiago where I stayed at a friends house had an awesome party and got some more climbing in at a place called Arrayan or sometimes known as the magic forrest, once again another killer day of climbing in a truly breath taking place, some great climbs completed with some flashes and on sights whooo yeaaa!!!!
And that just about brings me up to today where I am leaving for San Pedro, on a bus that will take something like 25-30 hours, I am not looking forward to this ride!!! But I have heard so many amazing things about San Pedro this is a must also due to my amigos in Santiago I have climbing contact waiting for me there……things don’t get much better!!!!
Until the next time guys, much love and peace!!!
tom
The use of the self timer was taken great advantage of!
Pampilla
Possibly a first ascent, if so its called ´all along the watch tower´ V3
This stallion was not leaving without his oats!!
A slightly uncomfortable place for a gringo to be walking around in....
The view from my friends parents house.
Pame on the slackline
Camp at Monte Grande
Deep in the Elqui Valley where the mighty ´sueños´ or dreams in ingles resides
Bouldering Totoralillo
Totoralillo.
You see what happens Larry? Do you see what happens when you step on a cactus!!!
Camped on the beach.
Sunset at Totoralillo.
Walking to Cajon del Arrayan.
climbing in the magic forest.
