www.VerticalPioneers.com

Hello all, its been a while since I have updated this blog, and with good reason, it has moved!

I have now launched Vertical Pioneers which offers mountain guiding, rock climbing, and trekking adventures out here in Bolivia and in the future worldwide.

If you are looking to keep up with the blog and the awesome adventure that are going on out here then www.verticalpioneers.com is you place to be.

there is a short video here: https://vimeo.com/55101431 giving you a taster of what we have been up to

as always, enjoy and keep on with the adventure

Rob

Big mountain antics

Time for an update on some big mountain antics that I have been up to with a group of New Zealand guys who wanted to climb Huayna Potosi, in the Corderilla Real mountain range, its no push over at 6088m high.

We met up in La Paz on the monday morning and headed to a gear agency to hire the kit for the guys, Huayna is a big cold mountain requiring full mountaineering kit so we kitted the guys up with plastic mountaineering boots, crampons, ice axes loads of warm clothes and safety kit like helmets. 

Gearing up in La paz

 We got our transport up to the mountain which takes about an hour and a half on very bumpy roads up to 4800m at Zongo pass where there is a mountain hut that we stayed in for the night. After a quick lunch we walked for an hour up to the end of the glacier and had a mountain school session, teaching the guys all about how to use ace axes, crampons, and the gear they would be using over the next couple of days. We then had a small taster session of steep ice climbing, not strictly necessary on the normal route of Huayna Potosi bit fun and everyone loved it.

Wade learning to use crampons and move on steep ice

Kyle learning to use ice axes and crampons

Ice climbing school

Ice Climbing School

The second day of the trip is pretty simple and involves a 2-3 hr walk up from the base hut at 4800 to the top hut at 5150, bit of a slog with heavy bags but not too bad, we then rested all afternoon and ate n preparation for a very early start the next morning, or in reality later that night. Altitude is always a challenge and there were some pretty sore heads that night.

On big mountain climbing there is always what is called an Alpine start, usually between 1-3am, this is done so that you get the best cold conditions on the mountain, making progress easier underfoot because the snow is hard, and also making things safer as when the sun hits the mountain, rocks can start to fall, snow bridges over crevasses weaken and generally everything gets a bit sloppy and unpleasant.

At a distinctly unpleasant 12:00 midnight we woke and prepared our things ready for the off, took some tea, some light breakfast, got kitted up and headed out onto the glacier. It should be noted that the weather that had been pretty nice the night before had now started to draw in with thunder storms happening in below us in the valley. After roping up we set off onto the steep glacier and the real work, slogging up the slopes, roped together for safety should one of us fall through the snow into a crevasse underneath.

About a hour into our climb we started to get snowed on, this then turned into a real storm as one of the storm clouds we had hope to avoid ploughed up and into the mountain. The next hour was pretty challenging as the heavy snow combined with winds to make progress tough, we pushed on in the hopes that is would improve and fortunately it blew itself out.

The guys, taking a rest in the snowstorm that got worse after this point.

Climbing big mountains is never guaranteed and Huayna started to take its toll with a few people dropping out from altitude sickness or exhaustion at around the 5600m mark. This included one of the NZ guys who started to suffer badly from altitude sickness and headed back down, leaving the other two on my rope as we pushed on and up over the crevassed and broken glacier. The guys headed on up, despite being pretty tired, even vomiting from the altitude at one point, for another couple of hours until we reached the final part of the glacier plateau. This was the breaking point, the guys were completley spent and even though we made it within 150m of the summit just could not go on any further so we turned back and headed down. You win some you loose some!

Me in guide mode high up on the glacier with the summit behind.

Beautiful glacier with early morning sun.

Trekking back down to the base camp with the others who attempted the mountain.

The mountains always offer a great experience even if you don't succeed, but the three kiwis have some unfinished business here in Bolivia! 

There are plenty of mountains in Bolivia that are great for beginners right through to expert mountaineers. Vertical Pioneers is a a Mountain Guiding, Trekking and Climbing School that will be launching in two weeks to provide professional mountain experiences here in Bolivia and worldwide.

Keep watching this space for opportunities for great adventures.

First ascents and climbing school days

The past few weeks have been exciting and busy, I have been hitting up the local areas at least 2-3 times a week in an effort to get fitter and stronger for a couple of projects that I have been cleaning up ready for a first ascent. I also have done a couple of climbing school days at the local cliffs, taking newbies for their first climbing/ rappelling experiences.

Giorgina learning to belay

Misael, learning quick on a hard section

working out the moves on the slab

Giorginas 3rd route on the tough overhang

One of my projects that I had in mind was to lead a previously top rope only route at Gazilazo crag on the edge of Sucre. This route goes at F6a+ and has two bolts at the top that are there for top roping but none on the face, because of this I believe this is the first time that this route has been led (also because no one else out here has trad gear)

What makes this rout and interesting project is the mind games, its not particularly hard but it is quite bold, after a couple of pieces of gear at 6/7 meters behind a couple of hollow flakes, you are required to climb another 10-12m with nothing, doing 5.7 moves with nasty groundfall potential

After this section you get a couple of good pieces and then have to run it out to the crux overhang, where a couple of micro stoppers protect the move over the overhang to the finish.

This was on of those days when everything came together, the mental prep I had done by soloing easy routes was perfect for keeping me calm and I felt like I floated up in perfect control though the bold sections and through the crux overhang. Its been a while since I have done any bold trad, concentrating more on difficulty recently so it cool to know that I have still got the head (and kiwis... hence the route name) for it

As I believe its the first proper ascent I have names the route "dede a tener los Kiwis" (got to have the Kiwis) which I though quite appropriate. Grade is E2/3 5b or 5.10b R


So I am in pretty good shape and have ticked off a couple of things, I cleaned up a line on Sica Sica thats brand new also so we will see when I get that done.

Heading Up to the big mountains next week for some guiding and big mountaineering action so watch this space for updates.

I will also have my website offering climbing and mountain guiding in Bolivia going Live soon, More updates about that to come....

clime hard and have fun people.

As promised I will update with some interesting goings on in my quest to find new routes and unclimbed rock in Bolivia.... suffice to say it is going well! I am having an extremely busy Aug/Sept time but still managing to get out a couple of time a week at least. Around Sucre I have located some more boulders and a couple of micro crags that have a few projects on (I'll hopefully get ticking on those soon) and i have visited the Sica Sica boulder a few times and put up a couple of (i think unclimbed) links to existing problems. These boulders, being only about 10mins from my house are pretty much my training ground. I have a short video of a few problems and some of the climbing around here that I will try and upload buy I am sorry to say that with the shabby connection they excuse for internet here it will take some time.

Here are a couple of photos of Steve, a local climber expat learning to trad lead on the Sica Sica crag

Now onto the main cause for excitement to all you adventurous type climbers out there.... a truly awesome discovery.

I had heard rumours and seen on a previous trip a fin of rock that I thought would be worth an explore, so early on a monday morning a bleary eyed group of us jumped on a bus and headed a couple of hours down the road keeping our eyes out for any decent rock. Oh how we were rewarded!

The "fin" of rock we found was just the tip of the iceberg, but as you can see from the pictures it is no tiddler, this is some big fish, i estimate its about 6 pitches to the top from the lowest base with several pinnacles and summits, at an estimate, this feature alone is 500m in length.

The fin has several faces, many many slabs (some very vegetated cracks) and is like all of the rock in this new area, a mostly hard sandstone. Probably due to the orientation one side has significantly more greenery than the other and also has snappier/ flakier rock but there are a plethora of mult-ipitch routes that will go, including dihedrals and hand-cracks all finishing in a pretty cool location on the summits of the fin.

One half of the fin from the  "greener side" with its slabs and cracks. for perspective it is about 4/5/6 pitches to the top from this aspect

The Fin extends for quite a distance and has several distinct summits and peaks

Climbing on the other (mountain) side of the fin there are many sections of overhanging rock, much of which will need to be bolted as it is pretty compact sandstone in places with not many cracks. This should yield some amazing sport routes

We put up a f6a and an f7a that need to be bolted and I did a trad route of 5.6r/ VS 4b on the other slabby aspect. Will be going back to pick off the plum lines soon but there is a lifetimes worth to go at.

The "fin" with one of the rock covered mountain valleys behind, this is one of 2/3 valleys that seem to extend for a few miles and as far as I could see are littered with various buttress' and crags as well as boulders in the valley floor

That is just the start, the surrounding valleys have an incredible amount of rock and for future investigation the mountains around the rim of the valley look to contain alpine style rock, big cliffs, slabs and crags and some awesome looking ridges. The best part is as far as I can gather all the cliffs and crags are waiting for first ascents from trad, sport (need bolts and a drill) and bouldering of all grades!!

fyi this "boulder is about 25ft high and its one of about 20 in one of about 10 spots is spied on our quick walk through.

If you want to get out here and join what i hope will be a 1st ascent rampage then shoot me a message at

                                 verticaljourneys@hotmail.co.uk

As ever I am battling with the Bolivian Internet connection but I will try to update this blog when every we explore more places and put up some new routes... until then... get cranking...

Bolivian Jungle

Heading down to pampas in the Bolivian lowlands required yet more bumpy travelling in land cruisers on extremely dusty roads to reach the Yacuma river. Our journey was only interrupted by typical traveller problems of broken down vehicles, a snapped throttle cable being mended with wire scrounged from somewhere in the back of the truck. Our thrash down the road was also intterupted when we came to a screaming halt and raced out to take photos of a sloth.... slightly hasty actions since they are not known for running away in a hurry....

 The view down the road, sporting the red markings that the local indians use as a dye gotten from a fruit with blood red insides.

 On the river there are literally hundreds of alligators on show, plus the more elusive and more malevolent black caimen.

Cruising up the river listening to tunes on my ipod watching out for the wildlife, not a bad days work

On the 2nd day we got to go fishing, quite an experience pulling in pirañas with chunks of meat on the  hook. Got to be careful though, especially with the red ones, large teeth have a wicked bite if you slip!

sunset over the river from the lodge, beautiful day

Spider monkeys, inquisitive little creatures that jumped on our boat  to investigate us.













So a fantastic trip was had by the group, far too many stories to type them all up, I am staying in Bolivia as a base until next year, upecoming blogs should include some alpine ascents in the corderilla real and first ascent rock climbing.

Vertical Journeys will be offering first ascent rock climbing to Bolivia soon as there is such a huge potential here in bolivia for exploratory climbing. Ill be documenting areas as I find them and posting pictures of the cliffs and routes. If you want to come and make your mark and put up first ascents then get in touch and I will put together a tour for you and your team. verticaljourneys@hotmail..co.uk

South American Adventures and Pictures

South American Adventures and Pictures

As its the end of July I will update the blog with a few recent adventures and shots I have taken, I recently led an expedition out to Bolivia with a group exploring the mountains, jungle and the other worldly area of the salt flats of the volcanic Chilean/ Bolivian border.

The Bolivians always love a good party and any excuse to block a street, dance and eat fast food is take up with glee, this is what greeted us on the street outside or otherwise quiet hostel... if you can't beat em join em.

While in La Paz I got to work with a children's project that provides alternative and creative learning through games, art and other interactive mediums. This was great fun and rewarding although playing tag at 4000m above sea level is a bit taxing on the lungs!

The next part of the trip took us to the otherworldly land of the Salt flats down by the Chilean/ Bolivian border, and area i have been to before but one that is so photogenic that its alway a spectacular chance to get some new shots.

The salt and mineral train graveyard near Uyuni, many of these locomotives from the 19th century mineral boom were manufactured u

in the factories England, they've come a long way to finally rest in this eerie land. 

Salt is still mined here using the most basic of labour, a man and his shovel, hard work in what is an incredibly bright land as the sun glares down and bounces off the white salt all day.

The classic team picture of the spectacular flatness of the salt flats

 The volcanic mountains of the area are spectacular and have many beautiful mineral lakes below them, fantastic area apart from the smell of eggs from all the sulphur.

The wild world of the volcano area and the salar means that some pretty interesting adventure travel must occur, usually in the back of a land cruiser, these shots of our convoy whipping up the dust convey the scale and scenery that you thunder (and bounce and shake....( across for days.

and finally the spooky geyser area at a very cold 5am, some cold tourists watching a steamy sunrise.

thats is the first part of the Bolivian expedition adventure, i will update next with the mountains of the north of Bolivia and the jungle tour down in the pampas/ amazon area and there will be more from Bolivia as well as i will be located here until next year scoping out venues for first ascent rock climbing, keep checking back.