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Canyon Tajo Report:
2nd Ascent of El Milenio ("The Millennium")
(January
2001)
By Justin Shield and Alan Currano
(Please see Justin Shields's pictures and trip report for more info. http://jshields.cncdsl.com/canon_tajo_main.htm)
----Original Message Follows----
From: Allen Currano
To: John Smallwood
Subject: Canyon Tajo
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 16:15:05 EST
Hey John,
we did find the water stashes, and the one on the 4th class pitch was really
helpful - thanks. (we used one 1.5 L bottle).
i'm guessing we were the 3rd ascent. there were supposedly some Germans there the week before us (according to Alejandro, who we ran into the first day we were there). i don't know what routes they did but it seemed to me that someone had put in a bolt where you said there was a hole for an RB - we didn't have a stick clip or RB and i didn't see any holes. that section went fine though - seemed to be about 11b friction to me, which is about my limit on friction. i led that pitch and took a little bit of tension for one move,other than that it was all free. the roof move was pretty wild! it's a great, sustained pitch, that's for sure! but i think 10c leaders could probably manage to get up it. i'm not real good at rating friction though...so take that for what it's worth.
i also led the squeeze chimney and for me that was the crux - but i'm not much of an offwidth/squeeze aficionado. i was very glad to have a #4 and #5 camalot, but i didn't sling the chockstones or place the bigbro that we brought. i just used both big cams and walked them up as needed, placing smaller gear where possible, so i always had a piece nearby. i did that pitch sort of french-free and it really slowed us down, especially because justin had to follow it with the pack and he had a rough time of it. that was partly my fault as i stopped short of the end of the pitch. i was worked, running out of gear and a bit intimidated looking at doing the last 15 or 20 feet with no pro so i wedged myself in at the last place i could get some decent gear. since i was wedged in there so tight i couldn't help him much and it was a fight for him to follow it.
anyway, we finished that pitch and the next one before it got dark, rested for an hour on the 4th class ledges while debating whether to continue or bivy. we found a bottle of water, which was really helpful as we were almost out, and decided to do the last 4 pitches in the dark. it was pretty exciting as the wind was quite strong and there was no moon, but it went really smooth and fairly quick.
once on top we wandered around for 2 hours, trying to find and follow the cairns, sometimes having some idea where we were going, sometimes not. eventually we were too tired and unsure of our orientation so we decided to bivy and found a hollow with some wood and spent a reasonably comfortable night (under the circumstances) next to a fire and out of the wind. it was my first unplanned bivy, and as they go i think it wasn't too bad. it turns out we were on the right track, near the short downclimb with the fixed line, but in the dark we didn't find the line and it looked too steep so we turned back thinking we had gone wrong.
we found our way in ok (when we got there only one road was blocked off, but aileen tells me they all are blocked off now).
the approach was about 1.5 hrs in daylight, 2 hours when we did it mostly in the dark. finding the route was pretty straightforward, although we weren't positive we had found it at first. we did a recon hike to scope out the approach and find the start to milenio and la joya before doing the climb, and that proved quite worthwhile. the start for la joya wasn't so obvious - we did about 6 pitches, the last 2 or 3 on that route, the first few on something else (the left facing, right leaning ramp/dihedral slightly to the left of the true la joya start, i believe - maybe the south face route, or near it?). the friction crux on la joya was pretty hard and it was getting late with lots of hard friction ahead, so we rapped after the 6th pitch. i was barely able to do some of the moves and my partner was having serious problems following, so we decided it was best to bail. we also wasted some time on routefinding and getting back on route, and we weren't moving very fast! enough). i actually took a pretty good fall (about 20 feet) onto one of those old bolts on the 11b pitch and was pleasantly surprised that it held just fine. i didn't quite finish the pitch though, so if you want a biner it's on the last bolt on p6 of la joya. :)
for milenio we got up at 4am, started climbing about 7am, reached the 4th class stuff (top of p10?) at dark, which i guess was around 5:30 or 6, rested and napped for a while, and climbed the last four pitches by headlamp in about 2 hrs between 8 and 10. so about 13 hrs total climbing time, plus 2 hrs for the approach. i think the squeeze pitch took 3 hrs by itself, but other than that we moved pretty fast. the topo was great, routefinding was easy, and the pro was solid. we found the climbing to be interesting and lots of fun, a very high quality route all around.
thanks again for the topos and the beta, and let me know if you have any more questions.
-allen
(Allen Currano - Jan 5, 2001)
----Original Message Follows----
From: John Smallwood
To: Allen Currano
Subject: Re: Canyon Tajo
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 18:27:08 EST
Allen,
Congratulations, would like to hear the details when you have time. I'm fairly certain that yours was the second ascent. Maybe you found a water stash on the route by the "tunnel" at the top of pitch #8, or at the summit. Hope I gave you directions for the descent route. Also curious about who else was there. I had given some beta to a few folks. Also hope you found the alternate road in as the usual road was blocked off.
In the interest of beta for future parties, how did the friction crux go? I heard you had a stick clip, did you need a removable bolt to get thru that section? I'm guessing that 5.10c leaders can navigate it, what is your opinion? How about the off-width above the roof, what do you recommend for pro to those who are intimidated by crack/off-width ? My partner Gary (loves offwidth) just tied off the two chockstones. I (hate offwidth) figured that two Big Bros would be desired by most mortals. One of the chockstones looked marginal to me.
You guys must have made an early start, been right on target finding the route, and climbed fast together, with such short days. Do you recall the amount of time for the approach and actual climbing (not incl. rests) time? I figure on 1-1/2 hrs. approach. We took 9 hours climbing time.
Any other beta or feedback would be welcomed. Thanks.
Cheers, John Smallwood
