I’m sitting in the airport of Buenos Aires and I’m thinking about the last 6 weeks of my life here in Argentina. All I can say is: WOW!
After one week of traveling and organization, 7 French guys and myself left Jujuy with a super overloaded pick-up truck into the desert.
After 2 nights of acclimatization we arrived at our destination: a large canyon on 4200 meters in the middle of nowhere in Argentina. An area full of boulder problems and climbing lines.
Everething to discover, nobody toutched this rock before!The potential was so immense that it was hard to decide where to start.
After setting up our nice base camp in the middle of the canyon, we took our crash pads and started to search for new boulder problems on the big blocs that are everywhere around our camp. It was fantastic!!
Discovering new lines, brushing and the climbing on it, something really special.
We soon realized in the first few days that climbing on 4000 meters and in an ultra dry climate is not an easy thing. The physical effort needed was so much more than at home and the skin was so dry and fable that our hands were full of big cracks and cuts all the time.
Besides climbing, our life was really simple and basic: We woke up with the sun and after a long breakfast we played cards, took a bath in the salty river beside our camp and cleaned the dishes and our cloths in it.
Each day we went out for bouldering or searching new problems til the night.Then the temperature dropped from 25 degree until 0 degrees Celsius.So we usually went home, made a big fire and cooked simple meals on it.
After the first week, Mike Fuselier arrived with his Girlfriend and a drill machine. That was great and allowed us to bolt some sport climbing routes. Fantastic lines in perfect volcanic rock.
The climbing was perfect, the landscape incredible beautiful and in the group there was always a super fun ambiance. I was really, really happy because we were absolutely timeless. Everybody was just there to pass a good time. No stress, no contact with the rest of theworld. Just the good group, the nice camp, the lines and one big project: the vulcan Tuzgle ( 5460meters). And we did it!!!;-)
After a month of just cleaning, climbing and filming, I sure missed having a good, hot shower after a long climbing day, or to just sit on a table and eating a real meal.My body felt a little bit burnt out too. It was time to return into the civilization.
After one month we came back to Jujuy and it was so bizarre! So many people, cars and traffic. Anyway, only after 3 days we adapted on the normal life rhythm.
The last week I spent traveling around in the beautiful paye with Mike and Anais. The rest of the group had already gone back to Europe or continued the journey in the South.
A funny week, full of new places and travels, a lot af good meat and Empenadas, wine testing, horse trips in a thunder storm and incredible landscapes. To that always lots of laughing, laughing and laughing.
Photos and route descriptions will be coming as soon as possible, for the film you have to wait a little bit!
