A team made up of Jacob Cook, Hayden Jamieson, and Will Sharp have made the first free ascent of Picaflor, a 1,000 metre route on Cerro Capicua in Cochamó Valley, Chile.

The route, which was first climbed as an aid route in 2016, takes in climbing up to 5.13+ when climbed free, and took the team seven days to climb.

It was Jamieson's second time on the route, having attempted to free the line in 2022 alongside Bronwyn Hodgins, Danford Jooste, and Tyler Karow. On that trip, they came painstakingly close to making the route's first free ascent, but were unable to free just one of the route's twenty-five pitches.

After hearing about the unclimbed crux pitch from Jamieson, a 'steep, cryptic, blank granite slab', Jacob felt as though his many years honing slab skills in Squamish may have been up to the task, and joined Jamieson and Sharp for a seven week stint in the jungle.

Speaking on Instagram after climbing the route, Jacob said:

'We sent Picaflor! A month of prep in the jungle followed by an intense seven day final push on the 1000m wall. Many huge days, an insane amount of work, and some of the most intricate and subtle granite climbing of my life. The route features highly sustained climbing up to about 5.13+, and in my opinion it's up there with some of the best big wall free climbs in the world'.

'It's always so hard to summarise these big remote trips'.

"How was Chile?" "It was……. good?"

'Three things stand out to me:'

'Firstly, I want to shout out the whole team, Hayden Jamieson, Will Sharp and I were joined by an all-time camera team Ian Dzilenski and John Kasaian. We shared endless laughs and jokes at the same time as a deep trust and support for one another and many interesting conversations'.

'Second, it was especially cool to support Hayden on his mega project and watch him seal the deal. The idea that Picaflor could be free climbed was his vision from start to finish, but after freeing all but one "impossible(?)" pitch two years ago, it took guts to plan and execute an entire second trip'.

'Finally this trip was meaningful to me personally because, much to my surprise, it felt like I was climbing a notch better than ever - which is rare after twenty-eight years in the sport!. Somehow I felt more focused, more in control, and more present in my body. It's surprising how performance can stagnate for years and suddenly spike for mysterious reasons. Or perhaps not so mysterious - in the months leading up to this trip I started working with a coach Maddy Cope from Lattice Training, and managed one of the more focused and consistent blocks of training in some time. The weird part is that it felt like the level-up in my climbing was mostly due to focus and technical execution, but I guess the mind and body are so linked that perhaps that distinction isn't as meaningful as one might think'.

Jamieson added in his own post:

'This crazy idea has been on my mind since January 2017, but for the last two years I've worked my ass off to make it a reality. I'm so lucky and thankful to have had the backing of an incredible group of friends and sponsors, especially Rab, who took an insane gamble on me to come half way around the world - not once, but twice - to support my ridiculous vision to climb this 1,000+ metre wall in the middle of the Patagonian jungle'.

'On this trip I lucked out in shining my figurative bat signal into the climbing ether and came back with literal masters of their craft Will and Jacob as my climbing partners, and camera geniuses John and Ian. Without them this would have stayed a dream, but it seems that we're in the business of making those into realities over here'.

'Now it's been two weeks since we sent and I'm still pinching myself, but as I'm getting ready to board a plane home, I feel content and relaxed - ready for the next chapter. More to come soon'.

You can watch the film of Jamieson's first attempt at Picaflor below: