Something we were excited to do on our adventures was to open new climbing routes. In Arenales, we scoped a beautiful formation and a few lines that were surprisingly not already established. What an opportunity!
We spent a week climbing, cleaning and equipping two new routes near the Aguja Carlos Daniel, Panflaque and Carlitos Way, on a formation we dubbed Aguja Carlito.
Each route offers a variety of climbing from cracks to face holds, and chimney/offwidth.
Panflaque's namesake comes from its second pitch: an exciting left arching crack that is reminiscient of the pancake flake on the Nose of El Cap.
Each route offers a variety of climbing from cracks to face holds, and chimney/offwidth.
Panflaque's namesake comes from its second pitch: an exciting left arching crack that is reminiscient of the pancake flake on the Nose of El Cap.
To gain the summit, there's an option to climb a well protected chimney.
Carlitos Way shares the same start with Panflaque and after pitch one, shoots off left with two more pitches of wide crack, offwidth and squeeze chimney. Each route shares a finish on an exciting summit.
above photo courtesy of Rodrigo Muñoz Luconi
It was fun, and rewarding, to clean and bolt the anchors and rap station. Our goal was to make the route accessible, so climbers can use a single 70m rope to get to the top and rappel down.
It was a lot of work to open these new lines, but totally worth it. We were psyched to contriubute a few routes to this already amazing climbing area. If you find yourself in Arenales, let us know what you think!
