Here are some photo highlights from the climbing in December. The first week we spent in Suesca, just north of Bogota:
Danny & Freddy at the 3rd belay ledge
Danny on Cada Cada 5.10+
Scoping the scene
Catching some airtime
Freddy on Cada Cada
Clipping on some overhung traverse
Crux of Betty Blue 5.10+
Danny working on his iron cross
Trango: The lion dog, one of our adopted pets in Suesca
Doña Maria. Our favorite Colombian restaurant.
After Suesca we made a hainus 7 bus 2 day connect to Mesa De Los Santos. We spent a week climbing the canyon crag and exploring the surrounding area called La Mojarra:
Desert climbing
Danny going for the clip and scoping the impeding roof
Sebastian on the crux of La Vaca Loca 5.11a
Sebastian cruising
Danny with the clip. La Vaca Loca 5.11a
Roof to crimpers. Stoked.
Cruising
Tabacco drying hut in the bottom of the canyon
The cascada
Agriculture in the bottom of the canyon
From Mesa De Los Santos we took quite possibly the worst bus ride I have ever had. 9 hours on a dirt road winding up a mountain towards the Venezuelan border. Got stranded at 4am in a grimy town with no idea what was happening.. ended up catching another bus at 5am further south and then finally another at 7am direct to El Cocuy. One of the most scenic places I have ever been. Most definitely worth all of the effort, freezing cold temps, uncooked rice and lentils, lack of gear, semi frost bitten toes, thrashed hands and general lack of oxygen. There is plenty of video footage to edit but photos will have to do for now:
Alejandro and Jenny. First basecamp was pitched at their farm
Danny aclimitizing and making friends with the locals
Native cactus. The leaves can be used for cleaning purposes as well as brewing stoke tea.
Taking in the landscape
Geology at its finest
Approach to second basecamp
Morning light
Pack horses
Paso Conejo aprox. 14,500ft
Gloving out. Making stoke tea
Basecamp 2 in the bottom left of the frame. Pulpito Diablo, the rock monolith on the left and Pan de Azucar the snowcapped peak on the right. Our two objectives.
At the base of the Normal Route of Pulpito Diablo. 2 pitches 5.9
Pulpito in its glory
On the Summit. 16,500ft
Staring into the abyss
Nice weather for the descent
On the glacier looking up towards Pan De Azucar
Topped out. Stoked is an understatement. 16,700ft
Descending to the Laguna for a “rest” day
Danny for the cover of Backpacker magazine
Taking in the sights on the glacial morraine
The lago and cascada
Miguel. Alejandro´s brother. Quite the gent.
Laguna La Plaza. El Cocuy Colombia. 800 total visitors to this park last year.
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Amazing photos! Just a small comments. The “cactus” in your photo is actually called “Frailejon” (or Espeletia) and it is an endangered species of the paramo. It takes about 100 years for one of this plants to grow 1 meter high and they are vital for the paramo ecosystem and water conservation for entire regions.
Looking forward to reading your blog in the future and happy travels!
Thanks for the update, looks like some great climbs, nice shots, be safe love always teezel