Cochamó Trip 2020 - Part 1
Up High on Arco Iris
Before I knew it, I was once again on a plane headed south in search of warm, sunny, soaring, granite big walls. How am I lucky enough to find myself in this position again? I was leaving Las Vegas amidst a cold and wet fall season that wasn’t quite as fruitful for climbing goals as I had hoped. Throughout the year I had been focusing on work and had skipped some of my normally scheduled vacation trips in favor of financial stability so I could take one long vacation during the winter season. I questioned myself on whether 2 months was too much time to spend on a vacation that my significant other wouldn’t join me on. As I sometimes [and maybe regretfully] do, I impulse purchased the plane ticket. I decided the dates based upon my last two trips to South America which were each two months long except with one important differing detail: I was single both of those times. Hmm, I may have settled on those dates a bit too quickly...
“So, heyyy Steph, how do you feel about me going to Patagonia for 2 months?”
Steph quipped, slightly begrudgingly, “Do I get to keep the van while you’re away?”
I replied with an “Of course!” in hopes she would oblige.
Permission granted and time to start prepping! This would be my third season to Valle Cochamó so you’d think I’d have all the logistics and gear dialed by now right? Well, for the most part I do but Valle Cochamó is unique in that it could be considered a rock climbing expedition and with the additional complications of being an international destination, it’s not quite as easy as packing up and heading to, let’s say, Red Rocks for spring break. To further complicate things, as anyone who knows me knows, I am quite particular [read OCD] when it comes to gear. After lots of research, decisions were made, credit cards swiped, and soon enough I had a fresh quiver of gear to accompany me on my journey. Time passed quickly leading up to my departure and before I knew it I was embracing Steph at the airport drop off whilst saying our goodbyes.
Volcan Osorno
After two days of planes, layovers, and “sleeping” in airports, I finally arrived in Puerto Varas, Chile, the town I use to supply for Valle Cochamó. Puerto Varas is a bustling summer vacation town in southern Chile on the shore of Lake Llanquihue. The snowcapped Volcano Osorno stands watch in the distance on the opposite side of the lake. I rendezvoused with Dominic who would be my partner for the first third of my trip and we spent a day and a half shopping for food and lining up the remainder of our logistics: a ride to the trailhead, and confirming our Pilchero (horsepacker) as well as our camping reservation.
The forecast showed that it had been pouring rain the previous week but luckily the precip would subside just in time for our hike in. We shuffled our loads to the trailhead and met with our Pilchero to pack our horses. Even with two horses carrying roughly 140 pounds each, we ended up each carrying 50 pound packs on the 7 mile trail to Camping La Junta. I did mention this is a rock climbing expedition, right?
With the recent heavy rains the trail was a mess. Anyone who has done any research into Valle Cochamó has probably read about how muddy and challenging that trail can be. Our strategy was to just not care and plow head first straight through every obstacle; this meant sometimes finding ourselves knee deep in water or worse slick, slimy, suction cup mud. Our excitement ruled supreme and we easily conquered the trail in a rush to take advantage of the weather window which was upon us.
We arrive to Camping La Junta, which is located in a flat pasture in the center of Valley Cochamó, and we felt like little kids entering Disney Land; I mean rock climbing is like an amusement park activity for adults anyway, right? Disney Land for adventurous adults where instead of looping rollercoasters and log flumes, there are 3,000 foot tall big walls and natural water slides to catch our thrills.
One could say that Cochamó even has its own “mascot”, the Tabano. The locals joke and say the tabano is what keeps Cochamó from becoming more popular; but what is a tabano, you ask? Well, it’s a hellish little creature (horsefly) that has a pretty nasty (although harmless) bite. Anyone who grew up on the East Coast and has had the displeasure of experiencing greenhead flies can relate to the attack of a tabano.
I find it unusual and strange that Cochamó, a rainforest lush with all sorts of flora, doesn’t have as much fauna as you would expect. In fact, you may be imagining this place similar to the middle of the Amazon rife with poisonous snakes, frogs, plants, and bugs everywhere but in reality Cochamó is very tame in the fact that there is essentially zero dangerous plant or animal life aside from an annoying biting horsefly. Spend enough time here and you will quickly forget these little bastards even exist until you find yourself runout on a hot sunny slab trying to pull a crux while 10 of them are trying to bite you all at once. Let’s forget about the tabano for now and focus on the beauty and natural wonder which is Valle Cochamó…and climbing!
The brief history of climbing in Valle Cochamó began in 1998 when British climber Crispin Waddy macheted a trail up to the base of Cerro Trinidad and established the first recorded big wall ascents. [Read his entertaining tale here: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web07-08w/wfeature-cochamo-waddy-forest] Popularity began to exponentially increase in the early 2000’s when word got out there was a pristine “Yosemite Valley” in Patagonia that no one knew about with first ascent opportunities beyond the imagination. Many route developers religiously return, season after season, for four, five, or even more years in a row. Currently the Valley boasts over 200 big wall objectives and even still has almost limitless first ascent opportunities. While many climbers are drawn here in hopes of establishing new lines, I am still trying to repeat all the classics even while on my third season.
Dominic and I unloaded the gear from our horses and set up basecamp in Camping La Junta. We developed our plan of attack: pack enough food to last our 5-day weather window and head up to Anfiteatro to acquaint ourselves to the foreign rock while ticking as many classic routes as we could. Although there are at least 6 main climbing areas, Anfiteatro is one of the two most popular valleys, the other being Valle Trinidad. Both of these valleys require a roughly 2.5 mile approach gaining about 2,200 feet of elevation while wandering and switchbacking through breathtaking Valdivian Rain Forest. We spent the first night in basecamp and began our journey to Anfiteatro first thing in the morning.
The journey to the valleys always begins by crossing Rio Cochamó. This is accomplished by pulling yourself along a Tyrolean cable car (another amusement park similarity). The first time up the trail while carrying a 50 pound pack will definitely feel like a slog but the mind quickly forgets the tired legs and hard work as you take in the beauty of the natural landscape while your mind lusts over the perfect granite you are about to climb.
My Old Friends, Whilly and Alerce
On the trail you pass waterfalls of aquamarine snow melt, shimmy across multiple fallen trees, bushwhack through overgrown bamboo thickets, and then eventually you meet your first Alerce tree. The Alerce is thought to be a cousin of the Giant Sequoia found in North America. It is one of the largest and oldest trees in the world with the oldest estimated to be around 4,000 years old. The Alerce tree grows about 1mm in diameter every year and some of them can grow to about 15 feet wide and 150 feet tall! They are impressive indeed and some of them have become old friends to me, greeting me on the trail, season after season, welcoming me back and letting me know that it is just a little bit further (uphill, of course) to the climbing.
After about three hours of heavy lifting, we punched through the forest smack-dab in the middle of Anfiteatro. It’s not hard to figure out where Anfiteatro acquired its name as you are standing in the middle of an amphitheater of sweeping granite rock walls stretching 270 degrees around you. This was home for the next couple days and we could barely contain ourselves. Even after all the hard work to arrive here, the climbers bivouac, we racked up and trudged up a steep scree gully for another 45 minutes to get our first pitch of the season in. Is it obvious yet how Cochamó has earned its nickname Approachamo?
Click this link to explore Anfiteatro: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E4pSYEu7NA7r8Drf7 Click the arrow in the upper right corner of the photo for 360-mode.
Dona Debora Follows the Corner on the Right-hand Side
We arrived at the base of Dona Debora Dedos, an uber classic nine pitch 5.12b finger crack route following prominent dihedral systems up Atradacer. It was already late in the day and we were fairly exhausted. Our goal wasn’t to summit but instead just to climb a pitch or two as a warm up. Luckily the days are long this far south and the first pitch was moderate high-quality 5.10 fingers in a corner. Dominic took the sharp end and styled the lead nicely. I followed behind and inspected the start of the second pitch; unfortunately it was wet from the previous week of rain. No worries though as we were knackered and wanted to save our energy for the following day.
The climbing in Cochamó has helped me to accept that not summiting does not necessarily mean failure, but rather just another experience and adventure to put in the memory banks and learn from. At this point I have bailed off more routes in Cochamó than I have summited. While I don’t know if that is something to be proud of or not, I am still here to tell the tale and I sure had a lot of fun doing it!
We briskly made our way back down the gully to the bivy boulder and heated up some grub. We poured over the route topos around the campfire and discussed all the options open to us. Anfiteatro being our oyster, we just needed to choose a route, and soon, as we would need to get an alpine start if we wanted to summit on the following day.
Moonset Over Cerro La Junta
It’s all these memories and moments combined that I relish and which keeps me coming back year after year…