MOUNTAIN LOG COCHAMÓ EXPEDITION 57 After a couple of hours, the forest begins to thin and the sky beyond the trees looks grey with cloud … perhaps the forecast was wrong? A few more metres along the forest trail and the sky, it seems, is not the sky at all; the grey clouds reveal themselves as a gigantic granite buttress littered with cracks, corners and seams – it’s Trinidad Norte, the left-most of the three gigantic buttresses which make up Cerro Trinidad. Directly above us now is the route Sundance E5 A2+, first climbed in March 1996 by British climbers Grant Farquhar and Simon Nadin and free climbed by Belgian climber Siebe Vanhee and Chilean climber Diego Diaz Aguilera in January 2020. We can see the first compelling 12 pitches (of 21), with the upper section of the route out of sight. Deciphering options for unclimbed lines on this wall proves to be far from straightforward and so the team decides to move on to Trinidad Sur to look for other new route options and perhaps try a few warm-up pitches on an established route called Alandalaca. We stash our camping gear and food below the Bivy Boulder and warm up our arms on the in-situ pull-up bar below its overhanging face. By 9.00am we are racking up at the bottom of the first pitch of Alandalaca E5, 400m on Trinidad Sur. Tim and Kirsten climb ahead of Twid and me, as they have climbed this route a couple of times before on previous trips. Watching Tim lead the first pitch gives us a sense of what the climbing might feel like: a featured granite slab without much protection, “French 6a,” the topo suggests. If experience has shown anything, it’s that the first “easy” pitch of a multi-pitch is never that, especially on granite, and especially in the mountains. Kirsten and Tim are climbing as many American climbers do these days, employing a fix and follow technique. “You can pull on our line if things get dangerous,” offers Kirsten in a friendly, caring tone. “But I’m sure you guys will be fine,” she reassures us. Before long we are greeted by some of the oldest living things on Earth – Alerca trees, estimated to be in the region of 3,000 years old. They are around 50m in height and a distinctive red bark covers their 3m-diameter trunks. The team stops for a moment to appreciate their natural beauty.
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