"Nobody can take away
the dances you danced
the food you ate
the travels you travelled!"

Rock climbing in Rio de Janeiro

Since Huaraz (Peru), after exactly 7 months and 19 days, I am back on ROCK!

	Bouldering along the Pista Claudio Coutinho at the foot of famous Pão de Açúcar (”Sugar Loaf Mountain”)

And some easy “warm up” climbing: 46 °C during the hottest days Rio had seen in over 50 years…


@ Opposite Urca - Babilônia wall behind the teleferico station	& @ Urca North Face - Sector das Falesias

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It has been raining for days now - so time for some sight-seeing and HP updates:

cirio03

@ the Christo Redemptor statue: Heute schon gestürzt?

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Tomorrow is my last day in Rio. I want you all to pray for good weather so I can climb up
Pão de Açúcar:

cirio06

March 1, 2010 Tags: (Rock) Climbing, Brazil, Pão de Açúcar, Rio de Janeiro Posted in: Brazil No Comments Views: 34

Carnaval en Rrrrrio de Janeiro

cirio00

cario01

Well, I guess…

Since I have passed my final exam (Aconcagua)…

It is time for some serious PARTY!

More pics? Click here: Read the rest of this post »

February 18, 2010 Tags: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Posted in: Brazil No Comments Views: 71

Montevideo

At Montevideo airport passengers are only allowed up to 8 hours in the transit area and since my stopover was 8 hours and 25 minutes they made me leave the airport for half an hour. When I wanted to re-enter I had to pay the full 32 U$ airport tax!

So, why not go and check out the city then?

February 11, 2010 Tags: Montevideo, Uruguay Posted in: Uruguay No Comments Views: 25

Aconcagua (6962m)

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Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain of Argentina and the South American continent,
highest peak of the Andes mountain range,
highest point of all the Americas
& the world´s highest mountain outside the Himalaya!

Its atmospheric pressure
= 60 mm of mercury which equals 37% oxygen proportion of sea level

2nd February 2010, 14:32 o’clock:
After exactly 5 days, 8 hours and 32 minutes I summited Aconcagua together with William Chidzey (my climbing buddy from Australia I met months earlier in La Paz, Bolivia) via the Valle de Vacas and the Falso Polaco Route. We hiked and climbed the entire route unsupported, carrying around 35 kg each - including all gear & supplies for 10 days - without the help of mules, without porters and no guide. “All-inclusive” expeditions take on average 16-20 days, with a summit success rate well below 10%…

The full story with some seriously breathtaking pictures will be on-line as soon as I find the time!! Need to rest my bones first…

February 5, 2010 Posted in: Argentina No Comments Views: 42

Ojos del Saldo (6896m) Act II

Ojos del Salado is the highest peak in Chile and the same time the highest volcano in the world. It is also the 2nd highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.
During last week I have reached beyond a level of exhaustion I thought would exist:

I hiked 145 km through the “Atacama“, the driest desert in the world. 8 days without shade, without seeing a single living being - only sand, ice & always that fierce wind - the remotest I have ever been. From 43.7 °C @ 400m in Cordoba to a good -25 °C @ 6896m only a few days later.
If I had known before what I would have to go through, I certainly would not have done it.
Only a handful of people have ever done this climb entirely unsupported.
I made it to the top of Ojos del Salado, Chile’s highest peak and hence will be proud the rest of my life!!

And as soon as the feeling in my toes and fingers comes back I will write the full stroy…

January 18, 2010 Tags: (Rock) Climbing, Argentina, Chile, Ojos del Salado, Summit Log Posted in: Argentina, Chile One Comment Views: 137

Córdoba

I am currently in Córdoba, Argentina eating a lot of beautiful cows and trying to make plans for climbing Aconcagua & Ojos del Salado. In the meantime I will get my “guns” back into shape at the local crags in and around town…

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Aconcagua (6962m) - the world’s highest peak outside the Himalaya

Advise and assistance is very much appreciated:-)

My Argentinian cell phone: +54 9 351 2074742 / or from inside ARG: (0351) 152074742

Nos hablamos Zigeiners!

P.S.: Do not ever, NEVER, think about spending New Year’s in Argentina!! These freaks here don’t leave the house before 3 am when they wanna go out clubbing. And they DON’T make an exception for the world’s biggest party: U will b the only 1 on the street at midnight and there won’t b fireworks! It was tremendous - the most boring New Year’s of my life - I still can’t believe it…

December 15, 2009 Tags: (Rock) Climbing, Argentina, Córdoba, New YearÂ´s Posted in: Argentina No Comments Views: 97

Ojos del Saldo (6896m) Act I

To be continued…

“What! You wanna leave tomorrow?! And you are alone? People organize this kind of expedition at least 6 months in advance!!!’

Ojos del Salado is not only Chile’s highest peak, the highest volcano in the world, the second highest mountain in all the Americas and a serious 8-12 day climb to almost 7000 Meters, it is, apparently, also bureaucratic madness to get the permit for the Chilean side!

For the last three days I have been missioning around Copiapó (which is starting point for most expeditions from the Chilean side), trying to find information regarding access, the climb & permit and maybe/hopefully to be able to buddy up to climb with other climbers in order to share expenses and effort. Read the rest of this post »

December 2, 2009 Tags: (Rock) Climbing, Chile, Ojos del Salado, Summit Log Posted in: Chile No Comments Views: 93

Salar de Uyuni (4 days)

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1 jeep - 4 days - 5 people from 5 countries - 1000km & a shit load of salt!

To read the story and see some more seriously amazing pics click: Read the rest of this post »

November 26, 2009 Tags: Bolivia, Salar de Uyuni Posted in: Bolivia No Comments Views: 85

Potosí Holocaust

Potosí, once one of the richest and largest city in the world - bigger than London, Madrid, Rom or Paris - is also the place where the biggest holocaust in human history took place.
It is estimated that in the last three centuries Potosí’s Cerro Rico consumed 8 million lives of Indian and African slaves.

After the discovery of silver in 1545 and the foundation of Potosí two years later by the Spanish conquistadores, the mining town soon counted a population of 120.000 in 1573. It is claimed to be the highest city in the world at a nominal 4,090m and hence an unbearable place to live and work.

The metals taken from the colonial dominions not only stimulated Europe’s economic development, one may say they made it possible.

800m high rainbow coloured Cerro Rico

A must read:
“Open Veins of Latin America - Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” by Eduardo Galeano.

A must watch:
“The Devil’s Miner” is the story of 14 year-old Basilio and his 12 year-old brother Bernardino, as they work in the silver mines of Cerro Rico.
It is one of the most powerful documentaries I have ever watched.

Yesterday I joined an organized tour to the mines deep inside Cerro Rico to experience first hand the medieval conditions in which over 10000 desperate miners and around 800 children between 10 and 14 years still work trying to scrape a living out of the depleted veins.

At the miner’s market in town I bought cigarettes, coca leaves and dynamite as presents for the miners.


We went over a full kilometer into the “Candelaria” mine, up and down ladders, on our knees, squeezing through tiny holes and marching across cathedral sized caves - only secured by hundred year-old, rotten, wooden planks.

The temperature was close to freezing point outside, then reaching above 30°C inside the mountain. We were always short of breath, with sand & sweat in our eyes and the dust filled air burnt in our lungs making breathing painful and almost impossible.
Half of the group didn’t finish the 2 hour tour inside the mountain.

In the mine I spoke to a miner who has been making boreholes for dynamite with a stone-age hammer and an iron bolt for the last 20 years, 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, starting when he was 12 years old!
A normal 10 to 12 hours shift pays between 35 and 40 Bolivianos (~ 3.50 EUR) for the ordinary miner.
The miner told us, he needed about 3 hours for 20 cm & the hole has to be at least one meter deep before he could place the dynamite.

I did the tour with Koala Tours in Potosí. Ask for English speaking guide & ex-miner “Reynaldo”. He is exceptional! One of the best guides I have come across my travels in whole Latino America. The respect he showed and the way he communicated with the miners was exemplary.
It is not the cheapest tour operator in town but definitely worth paying the couple of dollars extra since 15% of the company’s profit goes directly back to the miner’s community.

Our guide “Reynaldo” giving an example of a dynamite explosion on the slopes of Cerro Rico