Cochamo
Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:30am on a ledge 1/3 of the way up a 1000 meter wall called Cerro Capicúa in Cochamo, Chile. The stars were out in full force as I collected my gear, tip toeing around Hayden Jamieson, Danford Jooste, and Bronwyn Hodgins in order to not wake them. The four of us had just come down from an 18 hour push which resulted in a summit of the mountain as the sun began to set the night before. We accidentally left our headlamps in our haul bag 3 pitches below the top, but managed to reach them right as it became dark… a just in time moment that seemed to be the perfect prelude to my next day. We continued to descend before being deposited on our plush bivy ledge around midnight for a dinner of the Chilean equivalent of Tasty Bites. I was exhausted from our effort but didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in the next morning like the rest of the crew. I quietly slipped away and began repelling down the mountain at sunrise. An hour and fifteen minutes was budgeted to solo rappel over 500 meters of terrain. I made it in just over an hour, stripped down to my underwear and proceeded to run through the jungle for another hour to the camp site that had been our home the previous 3 weeks. I threw my dew covered belongings in haul bags as fast as possible and met the legendary packer Fabian to load my bags on his horses. Knowing the horses would take an extra hour to hike 14 km back to civilization, I spent the next hour drinking Mate and saying my goodbyes before linking up with some new friends from Alaska and hiking down the trail in constant quality conversation. I arrived at the trailhead and had just enough time to grab a bite to eat and wash it down with a sip of Fabian’s beer before being offered shotgun on a bus to Puerto Montt. Between practicing my Spanish with the driver and making some calls to my fam, I was able to book a string of 3 flights, and covid tests that will hopefully get me to El Chaltén mid day tomorrow.
March 2024 Afterward
My 3 weeks in Cochamo were quite memorable and full of a lot of type 1 fun. We had an incredible crew of friends and managed to climb many of classics throughout the various high valleys. After I left for El Chaltén, the crew spent the remaining time on Cerro Capicúa and managed to freeclimb all but a single move on the route Picaflor. In February 2024, Hayden, Jacob Cook, and will Sharp, each fully free climbed the route snagging the first free ascent of this epic line.
A film by Jaran Pham documenting Hayden, Danford, and Bronwyn’s effort on Picaflor after I left.
