In casual conversation Esteban mentioned his dad would be working in Saltillo, Mexico one hour away from a little limestone mecca: El Potrero Chico. We immediately booked flights, and then started figuring out what we would need to learn to make the most out of the thousand foot faces. We enrolled in a class at Urban Krag to learn as much as we could about climbing multiple pitches, including anchor building, belaying from above, what to do if you drop your belay device, and some rope management and rescue techniques. We spent plenty of hours in the garage practicing and perfecting belaying each other as if we were on the wall.
Upon landing in Mexico, Papa Esteban, aka Sal, aka The Sultan picked us up from the Monterrey airport and hauled us back to Saltillo, introducing us to the pad and even providing the opportunity to boulder with some locals before getting on some real rock.
Driving thru Hidalgo the next morning, then up to Potrero was a proud first sight. Rippling walls rode up like vertical waves on both sides of the canyon, much more prominent than anything we had yet experienced. Tim and I partnered up and hopped on Las Chimuelas, while Matt and Esteban cruised up Jungle Boy. Our first multiple pitch routes were in the books! (and we didn't die)
Next we opted to top out a spire, and navigated Crack Test Dummies to the summit. This was certainly an introduction to adventure climbing with spaced out bolts and in one spot clipping an old piton, even if it was just for the mental edge. A victory clamatos after a doing the first pitch of Space Boys solidified one thing, I do not like clamatos. From here on out it would be Tecate light for this guy.
The next day the stoke was high, but we were looking for a few single pitch routes to get our confidence up as the beating we took from Crack Test Dummies was still pretty fresh in the memory. We climbed the following routes, while trying to do the area justice (and to showcase the cacti population): Caguama Queen, I Believe I Can Fly, and Emilio's Posse. From there we moved on to the Virgin Canyon and ticked off routes like Gracias Mi Amor and Chicaboom Nights (a 90' 5.9 with 5 bolts). While here we ended up meeting the author of the guidebook who signed them and left an inspiring message for Tim.
We opted next for a rest day, spending our time at a market in Arteaga where the most memorable event was walking past a couple ladies who whisper and point at Matt. Esteban erupted upon hearing it, and translated for us: . Battle tops and grilled corn wrapped up our time in Arteaga making for lovely evening entertainment.
With aspirations to climb something tall the last day, we were shut down from multi pitch routes by the rain. This still afforded the opportunity to scope out the Plutonia bouldering area and do some cave exploring. The flight home was smooth but it snowed while we were gone. Gross.
