Cuba 2023

Pictures from a recent trip to Viñales, Cuba.

January 2023

Arrival in La havana

Sight of old cars in la vieja habana

So the capital city is nice, but I was there to climb. So I took a cab to viñales. You can get cabs from 50 USD to 100 USD for Viñales. 

Arrival in the climbing town of viñales.

The cab driver that drove me from la Havana to Viñales.

Walking through Raul Reyes's farm.

View of crags Los tormentos left and Milenio right

Vinales is where most of the Rock-climbing happens in Cuba. There is only one Guidebook for Vinales, it's the 2009 edition. It was impossible to get the book once in Vinales. I reccomend asking around for a guidebook before leaving. Pdf versions also exist.

Climbing with french guy Raph in Paredon de Josue

Yelda, Cuba's strongest female climber in La cabeza de la Vaca

A really nice couple from Montreal climbing one of the 
only routes free of wasps on the Jagueyana wall.

Inside Cueva Larga is some of the best climbing

Crossing the fields to get to the crag

Arrival of my good friend Jeff

Jeff's first day climbing after arriving

Wild horses are found here and there.

Cliffs near Palenque

 

On one of my days off, I rented a bike and went looking for beehives. As a beekeeper back home it was interesting to look at these cuban bees.

On another of the off days we ent to the beach in Cayo Jutias

The quality of the rock was really good.

Looking forward to doing it again sometime.

!Misericordia por dios! 7b / 5.12b

Vincent

My climbing days in China

China, is... hmmm how can I put this? 

Yeah, it’s China.

It's the most densely populated country in the world and it's completely bonkers. China's hard to describe because it's not comparable to any other country I have been to! If I had to say something, I’d tell you that it's a place where peace & chaos collide. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s also a climber’s paradise and that’s why we get attracted to China! We are magnets; we need to let ourselves float to Yangshuo, the heart of China’s rock-climbing world. We must accept that as a climber, time spent in Yangshuo is precious time. Going to Yangshuo is essential for any climber who thinks he's seen it all!

Riding the bus in to Yangshuo for the first time, you get the opportunity to witness a multitude of incredible karst towers along the way. With good eyes you might even spot climbers hiking in or out of the paddy fields. Normally, the first thing you'd do as you jump off the bus would be climbing. Well, that's only if your not sick from the bus ride. Traffic tends to get a bit hectic. This is the reason why I highly recommend purchasing or renting a bike. It really depends on how long you plan on staying there. When riding a bike around Yangshuo you will easily be able to squeeze through narrow alleyways and jammed packed traffic whilst others won't. The best is that you can bike to 90% of the crags which are all within a 10 kilometers of Yangshuo's centre.

The most attractive crag would surely be ``Moon Hill``. This surreal looking mountain with an arch in the middle beckons to be climbed.

Moon Hill is one of many Karst towers in Yangshuo. It’s located about 6 km from the city’s busiest street. Unfortunately, there have been access issues regarding climbing at this crag. While I was there, the Moon Hill park changed ownership with the new guys being really intense about keeping climbers off the arch. This was a bummer for us and the climbing community since we all spent so much time there. But then again, it’s China. Things change all the time! Hopefully, it will be back up and running soon! In the meantime it's an opportunity to explore the other nearby crags! Maybe White mountain? How about Chicken cave? Perhaps Wine bottle to warm up, then Twin gate mountain? It might be hard to choose with more than 45 different crags in the area.

The amazing thing with the karst towers in Yangshuo is that they are everywhere, they seemed to have popped out of the earth thousands of years ago, just like mushrooms, and to climb all of them would take a good couple of months. You definitely need a guide book as it’s sometimes tricky to find your way around. Even with a guide book in hand, we still got lost more than a few times. Not to take anything away from Tyson Wallace & Paul Qiu’s wonderful book, I couldn’t have made a better guide! It’s just that there are so many towers, the obvious one isn’t always that obvious. The book can be bought at the Black-Rock shop just in town.

 I want to specify that there are many methods to extend your stay. For a low-budget traveller like me to stay for a long-time, the only way was to have a small income. Upon getting there I completed a teaching course so schools could give me a contract if that was even possible. It sure was! Teaching in Yangshuo is accessible, it’s a lot of fun and it’s worth the time off for doing what you love. The school was called ‘’Omeida’’. It's run by good people who make sure every one has a good time. It’s definitely worth a visit. If you plan on staying a while without being a teacher you can still get to help out and volunteer in exchange for accommodation.

A day where I got my adult students to come out and play!

The school is also a great way to meet other climbers. After a few days at the school I bumped into Dan who was there for volunteering. I had met him on the crags and beaches of Thailand. How surprising! Well you realize that the climbing community isn’t all that big, especially in Asia. So we hit the crags and spending days and weeks working climbs all around the area. We’d all ride to the crags with our gear tied to the back of our bicycles. It's funny because I remember Dan always wanting to climb 3-4 crags in a single day!

The interesting thing about this immensity, is that some crags see little or no traffic at all. One of the best kept secrets for me, was a crag called ‘’the neighbourhood’’. You can easily walk to this place from town without using the pedal bike at all. Most routes were developed by Andrew Hedesh and are all 5 star climbs. Although, to get there the hike goes through a bit of a bushy section. It took us a full day to clear the 150 meter path where the old one had been overgrown.  Nobody ever goes there so you get the whole wall to yourself. Most people don’t bother going there. The reason behind this is probably because there are fewer routes than other crags, but it’s worth the walk and the climbing, believe me. Fewer doesn't mean lower quality routes. At the neighborhood you will find 8 awesome routes between 5.10 and 5.13.

Now it's not a real climbing trip without refreshments. In the name of beer… make sure to visit the Rusty bolt. This is the go-to climbing bar that will make any climber feel at home in China. It’s a good place to start and to meet other climbers. There is also a bouldering bar called Rock-Abond named after local legend Abond. He is a fun character with big arms and his bar is a neat place to hang out. They often have events worth attending. There’s also the ‘’Lounge’’ run by a friendly expat named Adam. It’s a quieter bar that merits a detour for a game of pool and a larger variety of drinks.

On days off, it's always refreshing to go chill by the water. The struggle is which river to choose from, as you have two different rivers near Yangshuo. The locals offer bamboo rafting descents or the rivers which can be an amusing on a hot day.  Other options are going to the tea shops for an exhilarating tea session where you learn everything there is to now about the art of drinking tea. Also visit one of the kung-fu schools and learn the fighting skills you always wanted to master from the greatest of the greatest. Who knows maybe martial arts training will help solve that boulder problem that's been nagging you for a while.

Photos are from the time spent in Yangshuo in 2014.

Reel Rock 2020

This past week-end was a treat for many climbers around the world. The Reel Rock aired online. It was a special event.

No proper tour, No theaters, No public speakers and different hosts.

The presentstion was online for the entire world at the same time. Alex Honnold, was the online host, speaking live from his van in the middle of the desert.

We where delighted to wstch all 4 clips, for differdnt reasons.

The first 45 min film, was above expectation!

Let me explain. The premise took gym staff members to go climb Ice for the first time.

Now, I wouldnt expect a great movie from begginer Ice climbers. But the storie is so warm and human and real. The climbers comme from a black community in Memphis. They go hang out with Connrad Anchor in a setting thaf is the complete opposite of thrir life back home.

The climbers from Memphis Rox Gym are funny and climb actually very well, but on the other side the movie exposes the toughness of life in Memphis.

We also get to see Dr.Fred & Manuah (2 amazing Black Pro Ice-Climbers).

The 2nd presentation, was a shorter clip.

We heard the storie of Melissa le Neve working her project for 6 years before sending. We go through ths process of working out the different moves. 

The climb is non the less than "Action Direct".

This route at 5.14d was once the hardest climb in the world.

We went on to watch an inspiring Movie with Hazel Findlay. The movie is set in beautifull Mongolia where Hazel and her friend Maddy search for cliffs on horseback.

The find a few decent climbs but mostly loose rocks. 

The title of the film is "First Ascent, Last Ascent" which is to say they believe maybe no one will return to try their climbs. The scenery is amazing.

The last viewing was a juste a pleasure to watch.

We discover Ron Kauk's son Lonnie and the rest of his family.

Lonnie has a goal to repeat all of his fathers hardest trad lines. Those lines where some of the toughest in Yosemite at the time.

Ron Kauk seems a little distant or disengaged at times. The movi is all about Lonnie's project with this mythical delicate trad climb called Magic Line. It sll lesds to this climb. This movie was a real treat!

Stay Rad

Tocllaraju

This is an account of climbing the North-west face of tocllaraju in July 2017.

 

The lovely thing about mountaineering in the Cordillera blanca is that all these high summits are crammed together and you can do things very quick.

Tocllaraju is known to be a 4 day climb for acclimatized mountainneers, we decided to do in 3 by linking the first two days together. Some local guides told us it was impossible, which made me want to try this fast ascent even more.

Most leave huaraz to go to basecamp on the first day which is an hour and a half drive plus a 4 hour walk to basecamp. The second day is another 4 hour scramble to moraine camp.

So Julian, my colombian partner, and I left Huaraz at 6am to reach the trail head at 7:30. By 8am we had hired a mule and its driver to carry our big packs to basecamp. We reached basecamp just around 11:30, relaxing for an hour From there we carried our big backpacks, 30 kilos, to moraine camp at around 5000 meters. We arrived at around 4:30 pm just in time for supper. Passing all the comemorative plates and crosses on the way up to moraine camp let's you remember that here, mountains are king. To me this was possibly the most intimidating part of it all. A lot of people have died on tocllaraju and it's not an easy walk like some might think.

Crossing the Bergshrung before the last pitch

Reflecting on this we woke up at 2 am the following day to attempt the summit. It was a super windy night, so windy I took the poles out of my tent and had to lay rocks on the top of it all so it wouldnt fly away. We put our boot, crampons and tied in to our ropes directly from camp. As we walked up through the glacier we could feel the wind pick up, it was so strong at times that we had to throw ourselves to the ground and dig our axes into the snow, then we'd wait a few minutes for it to calm! When the wind would calm down for a few seconds we'd hurry as far up the glaciar as possible to gain the time we'd just lost staying still. It was exhausting. It used up all our energy. Most teams turned around because of this. The only team that followed behind was a team of two mexicain Mountain guides.

As we progressed up the glaciar we started to get severely burnt and tired from fighting the freezing wind. I got so cold I couldnt feel my toes or fingers. My body started shivering a lot and at one point we barely moved for 20 minutes. The wind got really crazy on us. I feared I might be starting to be hypothermic if we didnt get a move on! I told my partner I was tired and frozen and had no energy to keep going. At this point the mexicans caught up. When they saw my face, they tried to cheer me up by saying the sun would be up in less than half an hour and that the summit was close. One of them even gave me one of his coffee flavoured energy gels screaming through the wind; TAKE IT, THIS IS ENERGY! VAMOS!!! They where really trying to get my adrenalin pumping again. So I took the gel and tried to follow behind them as we switched leads.

The time it took before the sun came out was excruciatingly long. But it's first rays were enough to give me some warmth and motivation back. I felt better, like I was actually going to make it! There is a section where you climb up and right of seracs. You need to go quick in this part, apperantly it killed two argentinians the previous year. It scared the shits out of me. As we raced up, Julian, started to throw up from altitude. I screamed to him to keep going a little farther. He pushed on in a warrior atitude and we made it passed the serac. Once you pass this point there are three technical passes. All of them more or less similar. The start with a snow bridge travesing a crevasse to a 45 degree wall. The last pitch is the hardest. I led the steep pitches since Julian had only brought one ice axe. We reached the summit around 9:30 am. The mexicans pulled out their flags and Julian pulled out his colombian flag as well. I almost felt ashamed to not have a canadian flag for the picture! I was still happy, this was our first 6000 meter summit. I couldnt beleive it! We battled hard but it was all worth it. The view from the top was mindblowing.
We took a few pictures but we knew the glaciar was warming up and we needed to get the hell out of there! So we prepared our descent. We joined our ropes together for one big 70m rappel off the summit.

Summit! Credit : Daniel Alba Iniestra

We teamed up again for the other two rappels. Before running down pass the warming serac! We were anxious about getting off that glaciar!
We made it down for 2pm. I had an hour rest at high camp and then, I packed up my things in order to walk down to basecamp. As I packed my gear I gave my fairwells to Julian. This makes for a big day but it feels good to end the summit day in base camp.
Julian wanted to stay in the Ishinca valley to try the other peaks in that area. The next day I walked vback out of the valley and hitched a ride back to the city! What an adventure. I'm Very happy to have accomplished the 3 day mission! Such strong winds, such amazing friendships, such imense beauty!

Julian catches a glimpse of the 2 mexicans and I on the summit

We sumited toqllaraju on July 22nd.
Muchissimas Gracias Julian Bernal!
I hope to climb with you again soon!

Vincent Kneeshaw

Interview with Denis Urubko following the rescue on Nanga Parbat.

RESCUE IN THE NANGA PARBAT

This is a rough translation of :
Original interview of Denis Urubko in Spanish by Darío Rodríguez / DESNIVEL - Sunday, January 28, 2018 - Updated at 9:10 p.m.

.................................

Denis Urubko "It has been a wonderful experience to help a person as extraordinary as Elisabeth Revol survive"
This is the conversation we have had today with Denis Urubko. He had just arrived in Skardu, he had not yet been able to sleep and, despite the fatigue, he did not hesitate to talk to us and explain how the rescue of Elisabeth Revol was developed and the reasons why it was not possible to rescue Tomek Mackiewicz

Congratulations for what you did Adam Bielecki and you ...
People have to help each other, especially climbers, and more so when it comes to someone as extraordinary as Elisabeth Revol, whom I respect a lot. It has been a unique experience to help her survive in such a delicate situation in winter in the Nanga Parbat.

You must be very tired, you have not slept yet ...
Of course. I have not drunk in 20 hours, my eyes are a bit burned by the sun, but we are also very satisfied. Now we meet Adam and I at the hotel in Skardu, resting and feeling that we have done what had to be done. Of course we are not totally satisfied because we could not help Tomek. But it has been great to be able to rescue Elisabeth Revol.

"No helicopter had landed before in this place, so close to camp 1"
Why did you make the decision to do the rescue on the Kinshofer route?
It is equipped with fixed ropes installed by commercial expeditions and, also, because this season did not have much ice, there was something, but not too much. We were able to climb so fast thanks to the fixed ropes, this allowed us to ascend without any doubt, and thus focus on climbing, climbing, climbing ...
We went with the ice axes and had to overcome some ice slopes, but we were also very lucky, because -as I told you- we found many fixed ropes in the route, and this allowed us to ascend quickly. The fixed ropes in the Kinhsoffer wall were in good condition and we were able to overcome it without any additional risk.

How much did you ascend until you reach Elisabeth? A thousand meters?
No, more ... around 1,200 meters ... What is clear is that we could not sit idly by. We had the possibility of doing it and Adam and I have been lucky enough to be able to help another person, showing that we are athletes, that we are human beings.
The helicopter left us one hundred meters below field 1, at about 4,800 meters. No helicopter had landed earlier in this place, so close to camp 1. When we approached, I was guiding the pilot and I said "If there is a possibility, leave us here" and he said "Let's try it" and he deposited us in that place. The moment the helicopter left us there was also an epic, heroic moment of this rescue.
Immediately, we begin the ascent.

"We were very lucky: we were able to use the helicopter, we were acclimatized, we had the necessary material ..."
How many hours did you delay since the helicopter left you until you got to where Elisabeth was?
About 8 hours .. It was night. We wanted to go light but we had no choice but to carry weight because we had to transport rescue material: store, medicines .... We made a great effort that we are absolutely satisfied with.
I think that any climber, in case of a similar situation, would do the same thing that Adam and I have done. We were very lucky: we were able to use the helicopter, we were acclimatized, there was a budget to carry out the rescue, we had the necessary equipment ... We just had to give our best. We had to do it.

How high did you find Elisabeth?
At six thousand meters, about fifty above camp 2. We had just passed camp 2, which is about 5,950 meters. When we arrived everything was totally dark, I could not see anything. On the radio someone told us that he had seemed to see a light descending. I started to scream-it was windy, it was a real miracle-and we heard a voice in the darkness. It was a great joy because we knew that we were close to her and that we were going to be able to help her.
She is a very strong woman who came down by herself, in a really extreme situation. He managed to descend slowly until we met.
At that moment we felt that our mission had been a success. Everything has been a miracle. The helicopter pilots landed in a truly incredible area a little below field 1 of the Nanga Parbat. This helped us a lot because it left us relatively high. Immediately we begin to ascend. And Elisabeth kept fighting until the end, descending with a very strong mentality. She is a totally incredible woman.

"We rested four hours in a very small tent in camp 2 and at 6 in the morning we started the descent"
How was Elisabeth when you found her?
It was totally destroyed, its fingers were very white, it descended to -perhaps- 20 meters an hour. She was freezing, very cold, she was very tired but, in any case, she is a very strong woman who was doing something extraordinary. A woman who can do great activities in the future because she is an authentic climber.

It has also been very important that Elisabeth had the willpower to continue descending
Yes, she is a very strong and motivated woman.

How was the descent with Elisabeth? Very difficult?
It was not difficult. We did what is normally done in a rescue operation. You have to be aware of a person who raps very tired at high altitude and this takes a long time. We rested four hours in a very small tent in field 2 and at 6 in the morning we started the descent, rappelling, always step by step; It took a lot of time but, in any case, we did it the way we have to solve this kind of situations.

How did Elisabeth spend the three nights until you rescued her?
It is better that she tell you, that she is the one who tells you her adventure.
The few hours we rested we did in a small bivouac tent for two people, but there were three of us. We gave her some water, medicine, and she was able to get some sleep sometimes leaning on me, sometimes on Adam. We were happy to be able to help this great woman and mountaineer. Adam and I did not sleep at all. The important thing was that Elisabeth slept a few hours.

Was it a tent that you found or did you bring it with you?
We went up with a very light bivouac tent. We found a very good platform to install at an altitude of 5,950 meters, in camp 2 and we could rest for a few hours, enough to heat some water and give some medicines to Elisabeth.

"We had to make a decision: either help Elisabeth survive or continue up with a very slight hope of being able to find Tomek"
How are the freezes that Elisabeth has? Very serious?
They are not terribly serious, they have frostbite, I have seen much worse ... I think it is even possible, I hope, that she can overcome them without major operations and that within a year she might be climbing normally and we can see extraordinary climbs carried out by this woman .

Where do you have the most severe freezes? On the hands or on the feet?
Regarding the feet I'm not sure, but the fingers of my hands I saw them at night. They were very white and when they started to warm up they went black, but they did not look extremely black either; It was like a shadow on the top of the fingers. I think they are not excessively serious freezes.

So the Tomek rescue was impossible at this point...
At that moment we had to make a decision: either help Elisabeth survive or continue up with a very slight hope of being able to find Tomek. We also had a very bad weather forecast for the following days. It was evident that we had to stay with Elisabeth, who was very weak, and that is why we decided to focus on helping her.
Both Adam and I are not in a position now to face the rescue of Tomek, in case anyone wants to try ... But it has been three or four days since Tomek had the problems due to altitude sickness and Elisabeth told us that he was in very bad conditions. It is very difficult to think that nobody can help you now.

Do you know if they reached the summit?
Yes, Elisabeth confirmed it to us.

Do you think Elisabeth could have survived without your help?
Miracles happen. I think she is very strong, but in the morning the force of the wind grew a lot until it became a real hurricane, and I have many doubts that the helicopters could have flown to help her at that altitude. And, also, her fingers were so bad that it was very difficult for her to rappel on the Kinshoffer wall. Our help was key.

What is your plan now?
"We want to return as soon as possible to the base camp of K2 to continue with our objective"
We have to rest one night in Skardu and then, of course, we have to return to our expedition to K2 because our goal this winter is K2. It has been a pride to be able to rescue Elisabeth in Nanga Parbat but our goal is K2.

And how are you going to return to base camp? Trekking?
No ... the helicopter will take us back to base camp. But now it is very bad weather there and we will have to stay two or three days in Skardu because it is impossible for the helicopters to fly to the base camp.

It will be good to rest ...
Yes, of course, but I can not say ... [laughs]. Our leader, Wielicki, wants to see us again in the base camp focused on the ascension of K2.

By the way, how are you planning to climb K2?
As in any expedition: we go step by step. Acclimatizing and equipping the mountain. There is a good weather forecast for the beginning of February and I believe that, step by step, we will reach the top. The team is very strong, is very motivated, we are also very strong psychologically, we are enjoying the mountain ...

You always said you did not want to go to Nanga Parbat in winter. And suddenly you have seen it in the wake of this rescue ...
Now I am on the winter expedition to K2. If later I set a goal in winter, it will be the Broad Peak and Gasherbrum 1, to acheive them in the real winter. You know my opinion: winter is December, January and February. If later I have any chance to go to Broad Peak and Gasherbrum 1 in winter I would like to go.

Adam Ondra Sends "Project Hard," possibly the first 5.15d.

Yesterday, on September 3rd Adam Ondra sent what would be the first 5.15d.

His route called ''Project Hard'' is found in the massive granite grotto of the Hanshelleren Cave, Flatanger, Norway.

The futuristic line is basically a 45 meter overhang linking a few of his previous routes in the cave all together.

It follows 20 meters of 5.13+ to a kneebar rest; then, a few meters of jug hauling lead to a 10-move V15... hahaha. Obviously, this is the crux involving upside-down toe-jamming and impossible fingerlocks on a hanging prow. Two more cruxes follow: one V13 and the other V9. 

Here is a little teaser video of him working the line back in May this year.
In this video, he links an adjacent 5.15b into the second crux of the project. 

Seriously though, this is just insane!!!
Cant wait for the full clip to come out!

Climbing in the Grands Jardins!

Climbing in Charlevoix region is heaps of fun. We drove up for a late august week-end.

We climbed on of the most famous cliffs in the area called Gros-Bras.

Gros bras is a 250 meter rock-wall which is known for adventure type climbing. 

You have to expect loose rocks, wet cracks and lichen everywhere.

For this reason, we chose one of the more traveled lines for our first time in the area.

We climbed ''Hals Und Bienbrunch'' which means good luck in german.

We started at 9:30 am

As I was climbing up the first pitch Roxanne screamed to alert me there was a black bear no more than 20 feet away from her. So I built a quick belay station in the middle of the pitch so we could get her off the ground as quick as possible.

From there every thing went pretty smoothly until the top.

It was a great week end.

Here are a few snaps from the climb!

Stay Rad,
Vincent Kneeshaw