Alpine Cragging at the Frey

Rapping with Monte Tronodor in the background

Alright all you cubicle jockeys, dirtbag rock monkeys and other riff-raff out there- grab a beer, kick yer feet up, and enjoy the latest cheap thrills coming at you from the Fin del Mundo in Patagonia.

La Tapia

I just got down from 14 days of great tower climbing up in the alpine playground known as Frey. Just a 4 hour hike out of the town of Bariloche, this place has got it all to keep even the diehard crack addicts and slab masters happy. But what really gets this place on the worldwide climbing map is the sheer amount of towers which end in super small summit needles.

Camponile Esloveno

Amir and I did 2 separate trips up there, as the initial haulbag load of almost 90 lbs (food and gear for 7 days) nearly killed me.

Me climbing up the 5th pitch of Imaginate (Camponile)

We climbed on nearly every major formation, completing several long notable routes on the Camponile Esloveno, Torre Principal, and the Cohete Lunar. Frey is known for its sandbagged grades, and didnt disappoint in this regard. Much of the climbing is pretty heads up, which makes for quite an exciting experience on lead here.

The weather stayed pretty good for the most part: we only lost one full day to a storm that blew in, and had several late starts due to morning squalls. Some of the days definitely gave me some preperation for heading down south, the wind coming over the Andes on the Camponile and Principal was pretty intense.

The scene up there is much more hectic than Arenales, as there are many more non-climbers hiking through, and much more crowding on certain classic routes,. but the spread out nature of climbing at the Frey mitigates some of these downsides.

Over all, it was a great 2 weeks, getting a lot of routes ticked off with Amir before I take off in a couple days to head down south and he heads back to the states.

Hopefully I can figure out a way to get pics off my camera soon, so again, all the shots are from Amir.

Until the next one, which will be coming straight from the deep down south, the icebox of El Chalten.