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sonso45
Jan 7, 2009, 4:31 PM
Post #1 of 10
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Registered: Sep 1, 2002
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During October 2006, Mike Knarzer and I drive south to Hermosillo, Mexico for the first leg of our trip to climb El Gigante, a 3,000’ wall located in the Sierra Madre west of Chihuahua, Mexico. We are to rendezvous with Jaime Velasco, a friend from Toluca, Mexico. The longest sport route in North America, Logical Progression 13b/c, goes 30 pitches up the middle of the wall. But that’s not our objective; we’re headed for a climb starting on the left shoulder of this massive stone. This climb, Man on Fire 12a, has 22 pitches of traditional climbing, with all belays bolted and a few protection bolts on some of the pitches. The first crux is finding information on how to get there. I somehow get one of the FA team on the phone, Alex Caitlin, and I am grateful for his help. He provides me with information on the route and is very helpful to someone he’s never met.
Our first night finds Mike and me in Hermosillo, a wonderful town in the sonoran desert. The road from Arizona is fairly straight, flat and fenced from the herds of tasty cattle we see grazing the sparse grass. The town has good cheap accommodations and stupendous beef dishes, my favorite being a caramelo: thin slices of grilled beef with a local white cheese wrapped in a warm tortilla. Excellent. Cheeseburger be damned!
When we awaken early Sunday morning, we are one of the few cars moving around. Saturday night was busy and we are soon out of town on Highway 16. Looking through old maps, I thought we might make good time crossing the Sierra Madre Occidental on this road. According to my map search, all we do is go to Hermosillo, turn left and we’ll be in Basaseachi in no time. Basaseachi is the nearest town to El Gigante and other walls in Candamena Canyon. Basaseachi Falls at 1,000’ is a national treasure and the feature the area is mostly known for. Plus, another couple of climbs ascend the immediate area near the falls so my penchant for seeking new areas and climbs will be satisfied if I can only get there. As it happens, the maps do not show enough detail. Happily, the highway is in excellent condition. Unfortunately, the road winds and winds, twisting ever upward through green forests and streams, we enjoy scenic vistas wherever we turn our heads. Only a few cars are traveling today, making us a bit lonely. We see a lot of climbable rock and interesting features like this spire off in the distance.
As we near the end of our climb up this lonely highway, we reach a checkpoint manned by the Mexican Army. Mike, long blond hair and all, is driving so we are immediately spotted and waved off the road for a spot check. After a brief search and inquiry on whether we had drugs, particularly marijuana, we are allowed to pass and continue our journey.
Jaime Velasco took the bus to Basaseachi, where he hitched a ride to Huajumar and found the only accommodations available, a shed with a couple of beds. Incredibly enough, after traveling continuously for 8 hours, we drive by the house as he is sitting around waiting on the porch for us. Wonderful! It has a wild west feel to it, confirmed by his blow by blow description of a cowboy beating a couple of drunks that kicked his truck, on the street in front of him. No restaurants are open, only a mini-super has any supplies and we are able to beg a humble but delicious meal from the lady renting us the room.
Not sure where to go to approach El Gigante, we make our way to Don Fernando’s Rancho San Lorenzo on the east side of Basaseachi.
The Mexican website: xpmexico.com, describes cabins for rent with climbing on the property. We find his ecotourist ranch and cabins easily, when leaving Basaseachi heading east, turn right on the first highway, and then look for the signs shortly thereafter. The facilities are clean, the surrounding area is gorgeous and Don Fernando is a wealth of information about the climbing around the area. He relates many stories about the euros that have come to repeat Logical Progression and other routes nearby. At the end of the road, you arrive at a mirador (overlook) that has a magnificent view of Basaseachi Falls.
To get oriented, we drive back to the small town of Basaseachi to boulder and check out the falls. The town has one main road leading directly to the falls and a parking area with souvenirs available. We hike to the falls, look over the edge and walk back bouldering along the way. A separate canyon just left of the falls has good bouldering and we wander along that, finding tell tale signs of chalk and the lack thereof on many good boulders.
Jaime tells us an acquaintance of his, Diego Lopez, friend to Dave Graham and one of the boulderers on Dosage III, now lives in town. Jaime was told that he lives in the house with a blue door. Everyone has a blue door. After asking around, we are able to get a message to him and we meet and chat over dinner. Great guy, and very helpful, we get more information on the area and a playdate to go bouldering. He tells us he guides on El Gigante, having done Logical Progression several times, he passes on this bit of info: the crux is passing a low bolt on a vertical face leading to a runout to the lip of a roof. This seems like it would be impossible for me to even think of doing it as an A0; but he tells us that some have taken a stick clip for this move alone! He hasn’t done Man on Fire but heard it was a good route, if you like trad.
Our second acclimation day is fun; we climb at Rancho San Lorenzo’s sport climbing area. Don Fernando paid Carlos Garcia to bolt enough routes to get folks out there. The routes are well bolted and the surroundings are gorgeous, they remind me of Flagstaff, Arizona’s ponderosa forest. The rock is volcanic with many pockets and edges on good rock. The rock did not feel as abrasive as the stuff I’m used to in Queen Creek Canyon, but it was definitely volcanic yet hard. We spend the day climbing and hanging out, nothing too difficult and we leave with intact fingers and skin. Definitely a nice place to climb, you could spend a lifetime developing routes in this area alone.
Finally, we arrange with Don Fernando for a guide and we meet a nice young man, known simply as Vaquero (cowboy). He helps carry some gear and we leave with only the barest of equipment beyond the climbing gear necessary for 2000’ of crack climbing. Our plan is to climb the wall in two days with leads done in blocks. Since the route starts on a buttress on the left side of El Gigante, cutting off 1000’ we figure on moving fast and hauling lighter loads. We head up through a green cool forest for a couple of hours, moving slowly and wondering why Vaquero, hiking in cowboy boots, is carrying a machete. We arrive at the top of Candamena Canyon, approaching from the east on minimal trails. As we peer down a few thousand feet, I can’t spot a way down. Vaquero explains that this is a trail he has created and descended twice before. Nice. Fresh tracks, cool while skiing powder but scary when descending through spiny cactus, thorny plants and loose rocks.
After a couple of hours, we reach the river below. Are we glad to have a guide? You betcha! We can see the river, lined with huge boulders and very green vines and jungle just above, is a wild place. We hike a few hundred yards and take a break in a small cave with a spring. Vaquero tells us to fill our empty containers with water, but we want to get to camp and tell him we’ll come back. He shrugs and we start to head uphill again. Soon, we see why he brought the machete and why he said we should fill our bottles. The jungle above the river bottom is thick and clingy. No trail is discernable by me, and I thought I was experienced enough to find one if it existed. Wrong. Eventually, after very slow upward movement and a lot of machete strikes, we arrive at a shoulder-width trail that goes about 50 feet or so and ends up at the edge of the buttress on El Gigante’s left shoulder. Wow, what a view, Vaquero soaks it all in, thinking we’re crazy, I’m sure. He even pointed out the bolts. Did I tell you he was a great guide?
I immediately walk to the rock and voila! Bolts! Oh my! Jaime and I climb and fix the first two pitches with top ropes for our ascent tomorrow morning.
We should have listened to Vaquero about the water. Mike and he hiked back down to the spring and filled a couple of jugs with water. We bivouacked on a nice platform, three snug bugs wrapped in our bivouac gear, light and fast we thought. After a cold night, we filled a couple of small haul bags with 4 gallons of water, some food, some bivouac gear, etc. I was to lead the first 5 pitches then turn it over to Mike. These pitches were the only bad rock on the route, according to Alex Caitlin. The line goes up broken rock, dihedrals and overhangs; brushy for the first few pitches then cleaner above.
I was comfortable leading; it felt a lot like climbing in my backyard, the Superstition Mountains, in Phoenix, Arizona. One extra bit of comfort Alex gave me was that all bolts were put in on stance. I was prepared for easy clips since I was carrying a huge wall rack. With all the questions about gear, we definitely carried way more that we needed. As I climbed I found myself waiting a bit for Jaime and Mike. Jaime was learning all he had to know about jugging from Mike. I know nothing and I was leading anyways. Unfortunately, Jaime was struggling with the exposure and learning on the fly. The hauling was also slow, with Mike coaching Jaime then having to rappel to free the bags from the various overhangs, palms and agaves growing in the wall.
A nice dihedral that was duplicated somewhere in the Supes, just can't remember where. This one was on the second pitch.
On the 4th pitch, I faced what I think is the crux. I move past a thin crack where I placed a yellow tcu followed by a superlight nut in a flake. Thin protection but I can see a couple of bolts about 15’ above on the left side of an aręte. I climb with my mighty rack to the bolt. I reach the bolt and there is no stance. I expected to have a stance to leisurely grab a quick draw so I didn’t pre select one. Now I’m just keeping from barn-dooring off! I fumble through the wall rack looking for a quick draw and finally find one. My right hand, gripping the aręte’s thin edge is the only thing that feels good, my feet are pasted high on thin volcanic rugosities and my left hand is reaching over with a draw for the bolt when calamity of calamities, I fall reaching to clip! My last piece, the thin superlight nut in the edge of a flake, breaks the rock and I see the nut fly right at me, striking my left hand on top of my big finger’s knuckle. The second piece below, the yellow tcu, holds the 35 footer but bends about 45 degrees. When I come to a stop I am happy that nothing but my hand hurts. I dwell momentarily on my pain and confusion and start up to the tcu, try to reset it and find it will no longer work. It does however, go back into its original placement and since it already worked why change anything. As I reach and examine the rock that broke, I find a bomber placement for a C3 in a deeper crack nearby. Nice and solid, should have done that first time. I’m in a race for time, I can feel my hand throbbing and I prepare the quick draw prior to heading for the first and now scary bolt. Of course, prepared, I clip it from the same “stance” and get to the real crux, a grassy platform just around the right side of the aręte. A scarier mantel I have never done.
As my amigos reach me we begin to confer on our late start, slow jugging and hauling, my swelling hand and all of us agree that we should retreat. It was a relief, really. I was in some pain; tape helped but didn’t solve the problem. The rest of the route was on better rock but with much of it a series of cracks, I was gonna have problems. Our rappel was easy, thanks to Alex and Cindy Tolle for the belay bolts!
Reaching the start of the route was the only straightforward portion of the retreat. We rested and commiserated on our feeble attempt, and then we pulled out Don Fernando’s retreat map. He drew a small map with a suggested route along the canyon back to the Basaseachi Falls trail, just in case, he said. On our way down the shoulder, starting on the 50’ long shoulder wide path (supposedly base jumpers used it as a landing, running to the end and walking back to the edge for a helicopter pick off), we thought we’d be able to back track Vaquero’s hacked trail. No such luck. We quickly got lost on top of the 1,000’ buttress and began to wander generally down hill. Sounds easy enough but we recalled the vines drooping over the walls above as we started hiking up the day before. We wandered up and down, working our way down stream to the last of the larger shrubs and small trees before we entered the vertical territory of the vines. Our anchor was a calf-thickness tree and a couple tough looking shrubs wrapped with nylon slings. Mike agreed to go first and with the water loud enough to block anything but loud shouting, garbled at that, we felt the rope go slack and Jaime descended followed by me.
Every so often, we found a stretch of easy hiking on the trail mapped out for us. Mostly, found our way around a series of house-sized boulders and searched for a path that we never found the first day. Though strenuous, the hiking was very enjoyable; the river would open occasionally to provide a pool for swimming surrounded by rocks to climb on.
We moved slowly after our harrowing descent and found ourselves a great spot to camp. We made a fire, drank the last of the whiskey and slept well. We awoke with a few hours of hiking in front of us. The last of which was the established trail that took tourists from the mirador opposite the Basaseachi Falls down to the pool it formed. This last bit of trail, steep well-maintained switchbacks with views to die for, made the journey’s last hurrah. Exhausted, Mike managed to complete the hike well before Jaime and myself, bringing Don Fernando along to pick us up as we arrived on top for the ride to the Rancho San Lorenzo.
As it stands, we have much to explore and climb in Mexico. The people are great, they are proud of their country and welcome those who come to enjoy it. Next time on it should be just as much fun. Maybe we’ll go for longer days on this north facing wall. This is definitely an adventure worth repeating. But there are many rocks left to explore in this big country.
(This post was edited by sonso45 on Jan 15, 2009, 7:49 PM)
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epoch
Moderator
Jan 7, 2009, 4:55 PM
Post #2 of 10
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Registered: Apr 28, 2005
Posts: 32163
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Exellent trip.
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Gmburns2000
Jan 7, 2009, 6:04 PM
Post #3 of 10
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Registered: Mar 6, 2007
Posts: 15266
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Nice read. Thanks!
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edge
Jan 7, 2009, 6:21 PM
Post #4 of 10
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Registered: Apr 14, 2003
Posts: 9120
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Well done!
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lindajft
Jan 7, 2009, 10:43 PM
Post #5 of 10
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Registered: Nov 14, 2005
Posts: 68
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awesome journey, thanks for the details...
I look forward to part b of the story.
I didn't know you had journalist in ya, Manny!! Great job
Linda
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asiaclimber
Jan 7, 2009, 11:20 PM
Post #6 of 10
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Registered: Aug 21, 2007
Posts: 214
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sounds like a good place for to take a vacation when i move back form Asia. Great trip report by the way, those pictures make me want to quit my job and head over there now.
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dlintz
Jan 8, 2009, 3:50 PM
Post #8 of 10
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Registered: Sep 9, 2002
Posts: 1982
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Nice TR. How's the hand? Nothing too bad I hope.
d.
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sonso45
Jan 8, 2009, 4:29 PM
Post #9 of 10
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Registered: Sep 1, 2002
Posts: 997
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It swelled up and felt painful for a couple days, nothing more than an easy excuse to bail. I could have gone on like my bud, Andy Marquardt, when he finished the Nose with a broken shoulder. Now that's manly.
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lvpyne
Jan 8, 2009, 6:32 PM
Post #10 of 10
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Registered: Jan 7, 2005
Posts: 207
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Awesome TR! Missed seeing you at Potrero this New Year's...
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