Suesca

Stepping out the front door of our new home for the week, little could be seen but the mist that filled the valley.  Nonetheless, it was immediately clear that we had landed in an intensely beautiful location, the mist was just there to ensure a slow and enjoyable unfolding of all the splendor that Suesca has to offer.  Sitting in front of a small house built solely with the intention of housing climbers during their adventures in the valley, we watched the mist rise and the cliffs were revealed.

Just as I was thinking that things couldn't get any more magical, I detected a faint note of music drifting across the valley.  Much to my delight, as I turned to search for the source of the haunting melody, I was greeted the sight of a lone figure seated at the top of the hill gently blowing tones through his digeridoo.

By this point it was obvious we had landed as close to paradise as humanly imaginable.  I ducked back inside for a traditional climber's breakfast of scrambled eggs wrapped in tortillas and inquired as to the plan for the day.  Apparently the clouds that were hovering so close around the mountaintops meant the chance of rain in the valley was fairly high for the day.  So, rather than risk a soggy afternoon, our friends were headed to a nearby site called Macheta where the cliffs were overhung, and the routes ridiculously steep!  The lowest rating in the whole place is 5.10a, and there's only one of those.  After that there's a couple 11s and a plethora of 12s and 13s.  Knowing we wouldn't be able to keep up with all of those, but happy to explore new places (and lacking transport of our own), we cheerily piled into the car for a very bumpy ride down into the valley.  An hour later we were driving past hotspring resorts when we took a sharp turn up a winding road and reached our destination.

The hike up to the cliffs required some acrobatics in order to avoid becoming entirely covered in slick mud, but the journey was well rewarded.

View from the cliffs

Think this one speaks for itself!

We spent the afternoon working on the hard 10s and easy 11s in the area while our friends, who happen to be some of the strongest climbers in all of Colombia, projected 12ds and 13s.  I did get on toprope try a 12, and was able to make most of the moves, but didn't get past the crux.

Luckily, the rain held off for most of the day, and we were able to enjoy the place thoroughly.  It seems as though each valley creates a bit of a micro climate, so certain ones stay dry and sunny while others are habitually drenched.  This turned out to be the case in the valley of Suesca, where it was drizzling steadily as we drove back, and had apparently been raining most of the day.  A little worried for our next day of climbing, but too tired and happy to be particularly preoccupied, we enjoyed a hearty dinner followed by a well earned night's sleep.

The next day dawned a little gray, but we were informed that due to the afternoon's soccer game between Madrid and Barcelona for the King's Cup, none of our friends would be straying too far from the valley's pizza pub, so any climbing that was going to happen would have to be here in Suesca.  Excited to see the cliffs up close, but apprehensive about the weather, we took that wonderfully bumpy ride back down to the valley and started our walk in along the railroad ties that act as a trail into the valley.  We stopped at the very first cliff and one of our friends started gearing up for a hard 10 that was a mix of trad and sport.  Not wanting to miss out on the fun, D spotted another enticing bolted line just to the right that was in the hard 10/easy 11 range, so we got out gear out and went at it.

Turned out that our route had one very tricky move on it, so we ended up spending quite a while trading leads trying to get past the move.  Eventually I managed to work out a footing that got us past the crux, but was too burnt to finish, so D used by beta and stitched up the rest of the route.  We came down a lunch of bread and cheese as most of our crew headed off to the tavern, leaving their gear up so we could try the mixed route as well.  Just as we swallowed our last bite, the skies opened up in what was by now a rather familiar gesture, and started dumping down with rain.  Luckily, part of the cliff was overhung, so we were able to move all our gear into a dry crevice.  Unfortunately, we had gear up on 2 routes, both of which finished in fully drenched zones.

As we debated whether to try and wait it out or grin and bear getting wet, our final friend took off, sighting his need to keep his dog dry as an excuse to go watch the game.  Since the rain wasn't really letting up, we ended up having to suck it up and do some very sloppy climbing through the downpour to retrieve our gear before hiking back to the pizza bar to dry off.  At least we'd gotten some climbing in for the day...

The following morning dawned clear, but there was something a little different about the landscape this time around...

Where the previous morning we had barely noticed the lazy river that meandered along the valley floor, today it was obvious that the water had thoroughly overflowed it's banks and flooded into the adjoining fields.  From our perspective, it was hard to tell whether the old railroad lines that serve as a path to the cliffs were also inundated, but we were going to have to find out if we wanted to climb there today.

When we got to the cliffs, our friends stopped off to try the same routes as the day before while D and I went off to scout out access to the rest of the cliffs.  For the most part, the slightly raised railroad bed was dry, but the water lapped up on both sides through thick jungle brush.  At one point, the only way to continue with dry feet was to balance precariously on the rail lines and use them as a balance beam to cross through the otherwise saturated ground.  We saw plenty of people climbing all along the cliffs, but it was not really apparent how they had managed to reach their sites, as all visible pathways were evidently flooded.  Nonetheless, it was a beautiful walk with some very enticing routes, so before reaching the end of the cliffs, we turned back to go retrieve our gear and get some advice on how to reach the climbs.

We had been back with our friends for less than 5 minutes when 4 police officers trotted up in reflective vests and kindly informed us that everyone would need to evacuate the valley immediately.  I didn't understand the rest of the message, but our friends translated as they scurried to get their ropes and gear off the wall.  Due to the enormous quantity of rain in the region, the authorities would be opening a dam further up the river in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure upstream.  This would result in the water rising even more than it already was in the valley of Suesca.

Disappointed that we wouldn't get to sample any more of the fantastic looking cliffs today, or most likely for the rest of the week, we tramped back to the car.  After much debate, everyone finally reached the consensus that since it was still a nice day, we should try another cliff that was apparently directly behind the house we were staying in.

We drove up the every so bouncy road with at least 7 people per car and parked at 'home'.

'home' for the week

A few minutes later we were slogging up the path and through a gorgeous valley with cliffs on both sides.  I'm gonna have to say that I think mother nature really had our best interest at heart when she flooded the river, because this place was spectacular!

In the 2 hours or so before it started raining again, we go to sample some really fantastic routes, full of huecos and beautiful friction-filled slabs!

The next day the rain was still coming down, so we accompanied our friends back to Macheta for a day of delightfully strenuous climbing.

My attempt to lead an 11d.  Didn't make it past the crux, but had a lot of fun trying!

Saturday was to be our last day in Suesca, but the river had yet to subside, so our only options for climbing were Macheta or the Valle.  We'd pretty much tried everything we had a shot at completing in Macheta, and I'd kinda fallen in love with the Valle, so when the day dawned fairly clear, we figured we'd press our luck and head for the hueco filled walls behind our abode.

We saw our friends off and set out just as it was beginning to drizzle.  Fortunately, the rain let up a bit as we approached the cliffs and we were able to check out what was available.  Unfortunately, with all the rain of the past 2 days, nearly all the routes were seeping from above, even if the lower section was still dry.  After much debate we finally settled on what looked to be the only option for a completely dry accent.  This required linking 2 routes in order to stay out of the minor rivers running on both sides, but the huecos provided good hands and fantastic feet the whole way up.  Not very challenging in the end, but it was worth coming out just for the chance to be part of this stunning landscape.

On the way back across the valley, we decided to take a slight detour and check out the view from the other side. We were very happy to have done so.  Don't get a view like this everyday!