The Argentine Adventures of Brad and The Bash Brothers

After our day climbing near the lake, the storm really started to move in. The weather did not mess around switiching from hot hot summer to cold fall and winter in alpine areas like Frey, dropping snow in the mountains. Since we didn't want to wait around 2 days for the storm to pass, we decided to head to the desert (only 40km away) for dry climbing! Thank God that the Bash Brothers have a car and can make this possible. We headed back to Villa Llanquin (where Bob and I previously spend a week) this time with The Bash Brothers, Camila (Marco's Girlfriend), and Tyler (a friend of mine from the Hostel I am staying at). We had a great day escaping the rain and Camila even did her first lead!

The whole crew

Out of the Crux and into the jugs I go!

Rock album cover

The next day the weather was seemingly getting better and we decided to risk our luck being optimists and head to Ventanna to climb (an area beautifully situated above the lakes in town). Although the day was partly sunny and we got glimpses of the snow covered peaks and Fray, it was also partly rainy and we were constantly switching coats.

First sunshine and views in 2 days! The Mountains got quite a dusting of snow

The distant view of Frey

Deciding that we weren't going to risk our luck again with the bad weather, Santi and I decided to head to the desert again this time to the Enchanted Valley with his friend Thomas from Buenos Aires. The Enchanted Valley is this amazing sport climbing area on super featured volcanic towers perched right next to the Limay river. The weather was perfect, with beautiful blue skies and sunny weather for the first time in a few days! Santi and his friend Thomas were busy working on 8a and 8b projects respectivly (wicked hard!!!) while I was having plenty of fun climbing in the 6's!

Thomas projecting an 8b

The beautiful view across the Limay.

The next day, Santi needed rest and Marcos and I decided to head out to a sub alpine granite area called Cerro Lopez only 15 min from where we were camped. We could not have picked a better day and climbed an incredible 6 pitch route called the Thunder and The Zebra! The route was a little slabby and run out for my liking, but I was able to free my mind of fear and truck on when it was my turn to lead.

Marcos and I pre climb!

the wall we were about to scale!

water fall on the hike in!

Awesome summit pic from the top of Cerro Torre what a beautiful day!

After getting down the route safely (thank God we had a 70m rope, ARG guide books aren't reliable), we were welcomed back to our cabin with a big Argenetine asada (BBQ) dinner!

Santi the Asadador! (you always clap for the griller when the food comes to the table)

The BBQ included 2 types of chorizo and steak with a salad! It was grilled over wood and charcoal. Mmmmmm! We even finished the night with some Malbec and a few games of Truco (the national card game).

The next day Santi wanted to finish his project at The Enchanted Valley, so we headed out for another day in the sun and finished with a dip in the beautiful Limay River!

Down valley on the Limay

Acorss the river more climbing is to be had, as long as you have a boat!

Santi almost finishing his 8a project (1 take.... soooo close!)

Me flailing on a hard overhanging route!

Yesterday was my last day with the Bash Brothers and thus, we decided to go out with a bang and head to the Psicobloc for the day for some deep water soloing. It was a great way to finish off a great trip with them. They provided me with such great Argentinian hospitality and it was great being able to get a closer look to the culture of the country. Mate, asada, mayo, cookies for breakfast, driving ARG style etc... Hopefully it will not be the last time that we climb and adventure together!

Here are some fun pictures from the sunny day!!

The Beautiful Psicobloc!!

Bash Brothers going Bash Style!!

Marcos sending high as Santi hits the water!

Me, getting scared!!

Santi attempting the hard side (of course).

Now that the bash brothers are off to El Chalten I am taking a rest day or two to do laundry recoop my muscles and get ready for the next 2 weeks, when my awesome girlfriend Sarah will come to town (on Thursday!) and we will rent a car and head to Piedra Parada, and who knows where else!

Ciao for now!

Deep Water Soloing and Rainy Days!

After Villa Llanquin Bob and I unpacked our things, recouped from our last adventure, and bought 1 kilo (~2 lbs) of beef tenderloin steak (56 ARG pesos= dirt cheap) and cooked it up in celebration of our trip along with some Argentine Malbec (an average bottle is + or - 40 pesos). The next day we only had a few hours before Bob left on his bus back to Mendoza to begin his guiding season on Aconcaqua. After realizing that we missed the bus that would bring us to the climbing area close to town, we were sad to realize that without a car, we would be spending the day at the Hostel. Soon after, I got a Facebook message from a local climbing club that included detailed directions on the whereabouts of a Deep Water Soloing or Psicobloc area on a regular bus route!! Woohoo lets go Bob and I said and we quickly packed our board shorts headed out! After a bit a tricky bush wacking and navigating, we found it!

It was beautiful! The spot had a nice swim deck/dock, a beautiful overhanging rock wall to climb, and crystal clear deep dark blue/green water to fall into!!

The spot was a great last min suprise and a good end to a very fun stint of my trip with Bob!

My Argentine friends I met at Frey, Santiago and Marcos or The Bash Brothers as Bob and I called, are back in town and are down to climb with me for the next week or so! We managed to sneak out before the storm hit on Monday and climb at Morenhuapi, a small limestone crag close to town.

The Bash Brothers and I rigging up to climb!

Getting pumped in the crux!

Santi sending hard!! 7c (5.12d for all you USA climbers!!)

Marcos layin out the smooth moves!

Unfortunatly, Bob seemed to have brought the sun with him when he came and it has been raining and very windy the past two days. Time to drink some mate rest and let the rain pass. Santi and I managed to fish for 2hrs yesterday evening and today the Bash Brothers and I are going to head to the desert for some climbing and hopefully dry conditions! Although its bad today the weather is supposed to shape up tomorrow and be nice for another week+! Woohoo!

Ciao for now!

Villa Llanquin!!! Rio Limay Fly Fishing and Sport Climbing!

Off on our next adventure to a small "Gaucho" (cowboy) town named Villa Llanquin for volcanic rock sport climbing and fishing, Bob and I were faced with a predicament of transportaion. The town is only located 40K from Bariloche, but is in the middle of nowhere, no buses go there, and hardly anyone has heard of it. Between the only 2 options of renting a car, and hitchhiking, Bob and I chose the only sensible option and decide to hitchike!

A hot day and full of groceries, trying to get a ride!

Finally an hour later, after trying mutiple techniques of dancing, thumbing, and waving, we got a ride! It was from a tatoo artist from Buenos Aires, who used to live in the area and had actually heard of the small town! He said he could not take us there, but instead would get us to a much better spot to hitchike toward the highway we needed to get there. He dropped us off and again, we bagan thumbing! We were reluctant to come upon a semi driver, who just had stopped at a check station, and decided to give us a ride. I had never been in a semi truck before, but the bed/backseat is super plush for hitchhiking and Bob and I made good conversation with the spanish we know. Luckily, upon coming to an intersection, I realized he was turning the wrong way and misunderstood our final destination, as it is a very small town. Bob and I, saddened that we were going to have to hitch another time in the heat were reluctant to find out that the trucker immediatly radio'd the truck behind him and got us a direct hitch to Villa Llanquin, no thumbing needed! We finally arrived and walked aross the foot bridge since the ferry across the river only runs a few hours a day. 

WE MADE IT!!

The foot bridge, from the Villa Llanquin side of the Limay River.

We found a beautiful campsite on the river owned by Pancho and Clari (or Lefty as we wished her name was). They had a nice lawn and cooking area and we could pitch our tent under the shade of cherry trees which ended up being our nemesis. But the cherries were delicious (just don't let Lefty see you eat them... she will charge 1 peso per cherry)!!

We were even able to buy 2 dozen fresh eggs from Lefty for breakfast!

The town was very Gaucho as people told us, and had a church, a small grocery store, and a school, not even a bar! Many of the people in the town were ranchers and rode around on horse.

We climbed most days on the very featured red volcanic rock.... 

....and fished in the late evenings (after a siesta in the afternoon).

We caught many small fish and drank many big beers. Although we had no problem cathing the small fish with our montana fly boxes, we later learned from a fishing guide that the larger fish escape the Limay River in the heart of summer to the deep lakes and return again in the fall, oh well, we still had a hoot wet wading, watching the little guys sip our dries off of the crystal clear blue waters!

Sadly though after 5 days, our time in Villa Llanquin needed to come to and end. So we set off to hitch a ride back to Bariloche, which we hoped would be a much easier hitch since it is a very large town...

We were right!! and after only 5 min we had a ride in the back of a ranch truck all the way to Bariloche, PERFECT!

Or so we thought....

Aparently it isn't legal to ride in the back of trucks. (I guess were not in Montana anymore).

Back to hitching after a 1/2 way ride and we got a ride quickly within 10 min once again! This time we threw our bags in the truck bed and piled in the cab, to find out that our driver was the resturant owner from the meal the previous night! Crazy! He was headed to town to get more beer and saw us thumbing our way home! 

What a fun adventure!!!

Back in Bariloche it is time to catch up with society and start planning the next 2 weeks of my trip, Bob sadly leaves tomorrow, and once again I will be on my own out to try and find climbing and adventure partners! It is full on summer here though and too hot to climb today, maybe some deep water soloing... who knows?

Caio for now!

Newly aquired chaco tan... a good sign of summer!