La Vigilancia is a 1,000 foot high mesa-like hill about 250 miles south of Buenos Aires and about 20 miles from my house. Some of the best clip-ups in all of Argentina can be found on the steep crags guarding the top of La Vigilancia. There are even a handful of good gear routes, in case you're a hard-core gear placer.


The area is on private property and in order to climb you have to register (at least 24 four hours in advance) and pay a fee (note: if you plan to visit Argentina in the near future, make sure you learn your way around the black market dollar, so as to get the maximum spending power from your foreign currency).

Last weekend we went to La Vigilanicia.


This was a family outing, with lots of moderate sport routes for everyone to try. Thus, there is very little radness or awesomeness to be found in this particular trip report. However, there was a pretty rad-looking goat skull marking the trail up to the cliffs (we climbed in a sector known as "El Bosque").


When we got to El Bosque, we met Martín, his wife Analía, his son Rafael, Adrian, Hugo and Hugo's girlfriend, who had gotten there earlier.

Martín got real serious climbing this 5.9.


Later Ceci top-roped the route.


Martín doing a foot-lifter move on the 5.9 right nextdoor.


The highlights of El Bosque are three 5.10 face climbs right at the entrance to the sector. The routes are a bit squeezed, but they do offer steep, interesting and continuous face climbing.

In order to get to the first bolt on each of these, you have to do a little move. Gaby offers me some hand-jiving mojo.


The middle face route is probably the hardest (maybe 5.10c) and has a tricky part near the top.



There are four other bolted 5.10s in El Bosque. Here's Ceci top-roping one of them


Back at camp, Rafael gives Ceci a hand on the slackline


Then Ceci managed the slackline alone


That night, we chowed-down in the dining tent