Monday, March 31, 2014

Pico Milluni


Alex and I went for a day climb on Pico Milluni which is about 18,000'.

We initially wanted to do the upper ridge which looks pretty good:


But we got distracted by the awesome rock on the lower ridge:


Clouds swallowing Tiquimani helped tilt the balance in favor of the objective we felt more sheltered from the coming storm:


All of the possible lines in this photo are new:


We chose this one around the corner:


No climbs yet done here:

Hmmm.















Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Birds II

I decided to start a new post for birds because the older post became so big it was hard to work with.  So here are some more birds in alphabetical order.

Ash-breasted Sierra Finch:


Band-tailed Seedeater (La Paz, 2/16/14):



Black-backed Grosbeak (Sorata, 3/2/14):



Cattle Egret (Achacachi, 3/3/14):



Creamy-breasted Canastero:


Giant Hummingbird (La Paz, about 23cm btw):


Gray-hooded Parakeet (Mecapaca, 2/10/14):



Puna Ibis (Achacachi, 3/2/14):


Red-tailed Comet (La Paz, 2/5/14, female):


Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant:


White-bellied Hummingbird (Sorata, 3/3/14):



White-bellied Tyrannulet (Mecapaca, 2/10/14):



White-winged Black Tyrant (Sorata, 3/2/14):



Yellow-billed Teals (Achacachi, 3/2/14):




Monday, March 17, 2014

New Route

Roberto and I made a new 10 pitch route in Aranjuez.  It is rated 6b+ which is about 5.11a but most of the climbing is much easier.  The rock varies from pretty good to absolutely horrible.  It's good adventure requiring a range of skills and provided a much needed distraction during this rainy season.

The route follows the obvious rock ridge:


Looking down on La Galleta a popular sport climbing cliff from the top of the first pitch:


Roberto on the first pitch which is a romp up a low angle arete:


The second pitch is quite loose at the bottom:


Look, another low angled ridge for pitch 3:


Pitch 4 is a bit steeper and steeper than it looks in this photo:


Pitch 6 climbs this proud tower:


Roberto celebrates, perhaps because the rock is a wee bit scary:


Looking down at La Galleta again:


Top of pitch 6:



We got some nice light but were afraid we might get rained out:


Not so:


Pitch 9:


Your extremely humble narrator:


And the ever humbling landscape:


La Paz:


Roberto is already psyched for another route:


The crux is at the end:


Looking at the ridge from the other side: