Llifen

Llifen is a sport climbing crag in the Lakes District of Chile, near Valdivia, made up of Basalt rock. The moves are all very balancy, and there are almost no jugs. I spent about 6 days climbing here spread over 2 months while working in Huilo Huilo. Llifen would be a hell of a lot better if it didn't rain all the godamn time. The routes here go up to 5.13b, including some projects. I sent some nice 5.10s, one that goes for 30m called Edlinger and another nice dihedral one called Expreso a Melmac, which is Chileno for the destination you go to after smokin a joint. If it did not rain as much I would have got to sample a lot more of the routes. Next time for sure.

Socaire Creek

I am now going to try to make the next few posts related to the crags that I and any gringo might as well visit on a climbing trip to Chile. Hopefully it's a productive read to those who love to combine international travel with rock climbing! :)

I spent the last 2 weeks of my 5 month long trip in the North Country, most notably Socaire Creek and Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. Socaire Creek is located about an hour southeast of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile's #1 tourist destination. It's a moderately sized, high-altitude (3600 meters) canyon full of traditional and bolted rock climbs.

Highlights of my trip included:
Spending four hours in hardcore "wtf!" limbo before having a serious vomiting session upon arrival, due to overgreased local food and the altitude
Drinking mate, eating fresh camp-made bread, and chewing on coca leaves to get psyched as shit every day
Running out of breath after 3 moves on 5.10 routes
Sending every route that I tried, even though none were harder than 5.12a. (only sport)
Drinking tea made from the local bushy plantlife with friends from Switzerland, Punta Arenas, and Santiago

The routes are great lines on rock that is a mix of sandstone and limestone. The setting is great, on top of the canyon at night you are treated to the greatest sunsets ever and a vista filled with the salar and volcanoes in both Chile and Bolivia. Chile's Atacama Desert has to be one of the most unique and beautiful places in the world, and to be able to spend time rock climbing in the world's driest desert is a treat within itself. I think the hardest route here is 5.12c/d, once you get used to the altitude I believe a sport climber of this grade can probably have his way and be done with the place after a week or so. However, the canyon is full of classic trad climbs that get them laid back Chileans psyched as hell.

Pictures of my brother Addison

here are pictures i took of Add one day in Newlin Creek. I miss adder, he is my brother.

Hello again!

Hi! first post in a long time, sorry! I just got done my 9 week internship in Huilo Huilo, www.huilohuilo.cl, where i designed a 5 day hut-trip trek in the Patagonian Rainforest there. Great experience! the trail should be ready for next summer, starting around November. there are plans for 3 hut trips. Eric Eves from www.adventurapatagonia.com hooked it up for me down there. More on this later.
Tommy and I just got back from a perfect week in Torres del Paine National Park, where we did the renowned W Circuit. one of the best weeks each of us has ever had. Highly recommended! we went in the heart of autnumn and were rewarded with 40 to 50 degree days, sun, stable weather, very few other hikers, and most of all, amazing colors from the decidous forest at the base of the mountains and glaciers. super psyched.
now we are going to rock climb at this basalt crag called Llifén, super solid rock in a DANK setting. a week there, then a week in santiago to climb around those parts, and after that....well i have 6 weeks left to climb the shit out of this continent, and that is what i intend to do.
Fotos thus far, they tell the story a lot better than my rambling ass can:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2345622&id=19217340&l=12e73642d1

Coquimbo & La Serena

Tommy on the beach boyyeeeee

French guy

Coquimbo

Tommy gettin in touch with his bum side in La Serena

Last week was spent in La Serena and mostly Coquimbo, where we stayed at as awesome hostal, Nomade, and spent the days climbing and nights partying.

On the first day we arrived in La Serena at 6 am and, after not having slept at all, met a Belgian in front of a closed hostel and wound up taking a long morning stroll through the city and to the beach, returning at 11am to sleep.

The next day we decided to climb and took the bus to Coquimbo, where we camped at the aforementioned hostal.

Tommy lost to an eleven year old in a game of pín pón.

The white sand beach paradise of Totralillo had some fun climbing, but Coquimbo had the most. We didnt have a crashpad which prevented any hard sends, but that was made up for by the quality of nightlife enjoyed by us :)
(Cameron fell in love)

Now Cameron is off to Pucon for the weekend and Tommy will arrive in Futaleufu on Wednesday, where they will meet.

More pics thus far

Click to make pictures bigger!!

Santiago & Valparaiso

Got down here about a week ago, visited Tommy´s awesome family in Santiago.

We met two lovely friends, Pia y Maria, who took us to El Teatro Municipal en la corazon de Santiago to watch the musical Don Quixote (from the VIP balcony). Afterwards a night of sampling delicious chilean spirits, namely Pisco, ensued .

Next couple of days were spent roaming around greater Santiago, Cerro de San Crisobal, Cerro Santa Lucia y Cajon de Maipo all of which showed the enchanting culture of Chile.

Our friend Pia guided us around San Cristobal and then asked us if we were down to visit Valparaiso. A bit of trivia: the name Valparaiso comes from the contraction of the words ¨Va al Paraiso¨ which means ¨Go to paradise.¨ Here we found the entire city was perched on some 20 or so ¨cerros¨ that notated the neighborhoods.

On our way back from visiting a local beach complete with señoras taking pictures of us gringos, we found ourselves amidst a strange crowd, gathered for Carnaval de Valparaiso, amidst the hedonistic transvestites an old drunk man tried to bite Pia and Cameron on the arm. Yesterday we checked out more of Valpo's beautifully colored hills before riding a nauseating bus ride to Viña del Mar to work on our tans.

Stay tuned for more on our road trip to Coquimbo for bouldering en la playa.

-Tommy