UKC

Hello all,

I'm going to be in south America (starting Patagonia heading up north through Peru Bolivia and Colombia) for a while and I'm bring my climbing stuff. What I'm asking is does anyone know of any hot tips on climbing hotspots to find partners, or anything of that ilk? I'm going with a mate who's a beginner so would be nice to throw up some more interesting routes with others too. Cheers for any advice !

Puerto Natales is the gateway to the Torres Del Paine National Park. Its been a while but when I was there it was pretty full of outdoor types.

There's plenty of climbing around Bariloche too.

Yes, I know one crag is at Refugio Frey - about two hours walk from the Cathedral Car Park - a lovely spot (but not too sure if it is beginner friendly).

Also El Chalten is surrounded by bolted crags..

Obviously great trekking in these 2 areas as well.

If you are on Facebook, you should be able to find some pages in relation to this.

Cheers/ Enjoy!

It’s been 20+ years since I was there, but Suesca in Columbia was excellent and it appears that it’s still a hot-spot for outdoor activities 

https://www.thewanderingclimber.com/suesca-climbing-guide/

This is my first stop after Santiago so good to hear !

I've heard about Bariloche, another one to add to the list, cheers!

Thanks for the tip, I'll be in el chalten for a bit doing the hueml trail and others, shame it's not the season to do anything serious around Fitzroy but good to hear there's bolted crags nearby!

Thanks! That looks like some great and warm climbing 

When will you be there? I just did the Huemal trail in Dec...

There is lots of scope to do low grade mountaineering (of course as well as much harder stuff!). 

Just back from a trip to south america which included some casual sport climbing. There's a fair bit of single and multi-pitch sport at El Chalten. Didn't do any myself but looked okay. Did rent pads one day which was alright. 

We had about three weeks of chill sport climbing at Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes. We were seeking out crags with mixed grades from 4s - 7a's which kept us busy enough. Didn't have a car in Bariloche  but could get to Cerro San Martin by bus and Cerro Ventana by taxi easily (the bus to Ventana let us down every time!) The other crags in Bariloche looked good but didn't visit as not much below 6b. Rented a car to drive up to San Martin via Villa Llanquin which I would very much recommend. Then had a week in San Martin. I have added a fair bit to the UKC logbook for places I climbed myself. Mountain Project would be the best place to find topos I think, or the bariloche guide might be available as  pdf somewhere?

Stuff near El Bolson also looked good but didn't get a chance to climb there. 

Cochamo is amazing. Like Yosemite (apparently) but more of it. A days walk in, great hosts for a basic campsite (15 years ago anyway) who have put up hundreds of routes around, ranging from humongous long hard aid routes to shorter bolted stuff. 

Fab waterslide to cool down in after hard days climbing

You could spend the rest of your life at Valle de Rocas and Toro Toro National Park in Bolivia and you'd still just have scratched the surface. That area is absolutely unbelievable. You can drive all day through unclimbed boulderfields as far as the eye can see. You can base yourself in Sucre, but there are also plenty of places to stay out in the more remote villages.

I did about 4 months of the inaugural Hot Rock trip to S America about 13 yrs ago, and the 2 places that still stand out were Cochamó in Chile, and all the crags around Refugio Frey, near Bariloche. Both are long walk-ins, committing granite climbing, and tend towards harder grades, so not ideal for beginners. 

The climbing around El Chalten wasn’t great, ok if you’re there anyway and need a rest day from hiking or mountaineering.

Lots of other good stuff along the way, and much that was more accessible and better for climbing with a beginner, but I’d have to look back for names now. 

Personally I wouldn't bother taking climbing stuff unless you climb pretty hard at least e grades. It's a pain to lug around, makes insurance more expensive and there are lots of great things to do which aren't climbing. For Frey you need to be confident at HVS/E1 at the least to make the most of it. There is friendlier sport climbing doted around but it's a bit of a waste going to Patagonia to climb single pitch sport!

Presuming you are going to have to pass through Ecuador as well. I don't think it has extensive climbing but when I was there 20 odd years ago, I bumped into some people who had developed some crags around Cuenca if you are looking for a climb on the way through. Lovely city to spend some time in as well.

Also saw some pictures of the climbing around Chicamocha Canyon in Columbia which looked good.