This post is (a somewhat disjointed) part 2 of “El Potrero Chico 2023, Vamos a México!”
Early in 2023, Jess and I decided to give EPC a shot. We had thumbed through the famous guidebook multiple times, taking it on and off our shelf. But, we had also heard a lot of warning about safety, which had us putting it off as a serious destination. Ultimately, safety ended up being a non-issue, the area we stayed in ended up being super poche, and it ended up being one of our favorite climbing destinations ever. I mean, what’s not to like about 20 pitch bolted routes and some of the best food in Latin America?
In February, we stayed for 5 weeks, got a ton of amazing climbs in, and left knowing we’d want to come back again the following year. But alas, I encountered some work commitments that were immovable in that same February-March timeframe for 2024. So, we opted to come back for one last hoorah in 2023!
Check out my more comprehensive trip report here, including travel, safety, gear, and logistics information. I opted for a “mini trip report” format, which seemed to work well. So without further blabbering on my part, let’s skip to that!
- Pepe y Lupe (5.10c, 3p)
- Pancho Villa Rides Again (5.10c, 5p)
- Estrellita (5.10b, 12p)
- Excalibur (5.10c, 6p)
- Will the Wolf Survive? (5.10something, 4p)
- Interstellar Overdrive (Super Nova + Lucy Goosey, 5.11a, 16p)
- 5am Breakfast (5.10b, 6p) DNF
- Space Boyz (5.10d, 11p)
Pepe y Lupe (5.10c, 3p)
El Fin de Semana
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Jess and I rolled out of bed at 11am, probably because we had arrived to our rental apartment in San Pedro at 3am the previous night. As we headed to the park, we weren’t fully convinced we’d climb anything- it was late, the weather was marginal, and we still needed our permits, but we still wanted to make the most out of our time.
We had our eye on Pepe y Lupe all last season as one of the shorter-day climbs. It’s pretty in-your-face as soon as you enter the park, and from what we had seen last year, there was nearly almost always traffic on this route, but today the park seemed nearly empty.
The pitch that really defines the entirety of the route is pitch 2. It was more bold than we expected for the grade, and I definitely grabbed some draws. Making it to the top, we found an anchor down to Los Lobos Canyon and rapped down with our single rope. Part of me wished we continued on to climb the entire Razor Blade Ridge, but the other part of me knew that kicking down rocks down on the unsuspecting climbers below would be less than cool.
Pancho Villa Rides Again (5.10c, 5p)
Mota Wall
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Jess and I were still a little jet lagged, and 2 hours can make a big difference between an “early start” and a “let’s bring headlamps start”. What also took us by surprise the previous day was how early the sun goes down in November. Rolling into the park around 1pm, Pancho Villa Rides Again seemed like a perfect choice.
We knew the climb was a trad climb previously, so we racked up a very small rack of cams just in case we wanted some extra pro. While the stereotype of EPC seems to be closely bolted climbs, I haven’t found that to be the case, at least compared to where we have been climbing. It just feels pretty typical, if not sometimes runout. We had recently purchased an Angle cam, which felt perfect for this kind of thing.
The climbing definitely felt like trad climbing, just with bolts, for the most part. There were a few sections that I would have been throughly afraid to lead on gear-only, so we appreciated the bolts. We topped out in the dark, and rapped down with what sounded like a swarm of bats surrounding us. Sometimes is better not to see, I guess…
Estrellita (5.10b, 12p)
Las Estrellitas Canyon
Saturday, December 2, 2023
This route had been high up on our list since we were here back in February. However, with lots of traffic and lots of sun exposure, we left our last trip with it unticked. Coming back now in the early season, with the temperatures slightly chiller and the park less busy, we figured it would be the moment to get on it.
Arriving at the route just an hour after sunrise, we were (maybe not) surprised to see a party already on pitch 1, and another party waiting. We figured it was still early and we’d still have plenty of time to top out before dark. We also didn’t have any backup plan that didn’t involve a lot of walking, which we didn’t feel like, so we queued up.
The climbing went by quick and was more straightforward than we expected. The route was also not nearly as polished as we expected for being such a long term classic. Even the offwidth pitch felt more like a #4 crack rather than a true burley offwidth, say, compared to a route here like 5AM Breakfast. If it wasn’t for the traffic from the couple parties on the route, this would have gone by really fast. Eventually, in an effort to get to the ground before sunset, we joined up with a friendly couple from Portland and linked rappels down to the ground.
I felt like this was an A+ route, but it definitely suffers from D- traffic. I don’t think I’ve ever not seen a party lining up to climb this thing!
Excalibur (5.10c, 6p)
Ivory Tower
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Having climbed Estrellita the previous day and getting to bed pretty late, we slept way past our 6am alarm. By 9am, we had pretty much both determined that this would not be a big climbing day, and that we’d shoot for one of the shorter classics we hadn’t climbed yet. Being a sunny day, we figured Excalibur would be the perfect shaded option. Getting to the base around 12pm, I was tired.
I was a bit spooked with the first pitch’s climbing, things were pretty run out with some ground fall potential. “The bolts are exactly where they don’t need to be”, I yelled down to Jess as I put her on belay. The group above yelled down that they were thinking the exact same thing. But after that, the bolting became fairly standard EPC bolting.
The crux roof proved to be harder than we anticipated for 5.10c. Jess led it, and I shamelessly pulled on a draw to get through it quickly. I actually left the draw there and retrieved in on the rappel down. Overall, it was nice climb, and slightly more challenging than we expected. We made our way down the rappels while listening to at least 5 different songs echoing from truck-parties in the valley. A true classic EPC descent.
Will the Wolf Survive? (5.10something, 4p)
Los Lobos Canyon
Monday, December 4, 2023
With two days of climbing and two late nights behind us now, we were downright tried. My body didn’t feel particularly muscularly sore, it just felt tired. We chose to have literally zero rush this morning, and went off to our favorite bakery in San Pedro. After a few pastries, a latte, a 1 hour drive, and a 10 minute walk, we found ourselves at the base of this climb.
The first pitch of the climb really set the tone here. I guess at some point in history it was a 5.8, but after thousands of climbers taking their turns at rubbing their shoes and chalk against the limestone, the climbing felt pretty stiff and the bolting felt pretty sparse. We wished we had brought our light rack up with us for this climb. Pitch 2 and 3, contrary to the beta, seemed like the hardest pitches of the climb.
Finally, Jess pulled off the ledge for pitch 4, climbed the airy crux boulder problem, and fired off to the “summit”. After 2 days of climbing in a row, this was a bit more than we expected. Definitely one of the shorter climbs worth doing, but I think it’s about time we give this climb a re-grade.
Interstellar Overdrive (Super Nova + Lucy Goosey, 5.11a, 16p)
Las Estrellas
Friday, December 8, 2023
This was one of our favorite climbs from earlier in the season, and we had it down on the “definitely to repeat” list for this trip. Learning from our past mistake of starting too late and running into the dark, and choosing a day too cold and freezing the whole way up, we came in with a modified strategy. We choose the warmest day possible for this, and got a an early start.
Jess and I were both happy with the improvement in our climbing since we had been here a few months ago. We felt a lot more confident on the harder pitches than previously and moved smooth the whole way up. At least, until where we turned around last year. We had 2 pitches to go, and a bit of loose dirt walking. It turned out that the loose dirt was actually fairly exposed and felt like possibly the most dangerous thing we’d done in the park. (Still a cakewalk compared to something like the Torment Forbidden Traverse.) The final 5.10a pitch turned out to be the most challenging for us on the whole climb. My guess was that maybe the route had eroded, turning it into a weird loose boulder problem. However, getting to the very very top was worth doing once for sure. The view is wild up there.
Going down involved more exposed dirt wrangling. (Apparently one day there will be an easy rap from the top, that will certainly be a good addition.) We also encountered a somewhat friendly rattlesnake on our way down. Once we finally got to the top of Supernova, it was dark, but we felt relief knowing it was just a few straight raps down.
A+ route, for sure.
5am Breakfast (5.10b, 6p) DNF
Breakfast Club Peak
Sunday, December 10, 2023
This was another one of our favorites from our last trip here, feeling far more akin to a desert alpine climb than a multipitch sport climb. We also had the ambition to climb Blackstar (5.10d, 3p), making for a pretty sweet looking 9 pitch route to the summit. However, we chose a colder day than we should have, and froze our butts and fingers off like crazy. We were moving slow due to the cold, and we were still a little tired from our climbing over the past couple days. After 3 pitches, we bailed. This linkup will be for another year.
Space Boyz (5.10d, 11p)
Jungle Wall
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Driving in, it was straight up raining at the park entrance. But we had driven the hour from San Pedro, every few minutes hoping it would clear up a bit ahead, so we figured why not just drive a couple more minutes to the base of the wall to check it out. Surprisingly, the Jungle Wall was bone dry. We figured we’d go up until it would rain, and then rappel in the wet. Happy spoiler alert- the rain never came!
I honestly do not remember this route very well after the fact. I was pretty physically exhausted, kind of mentally exhausted form the runout climbing, and we jumped on a flight shortly after. Usually, I jot notes down to come back to when writing these blog posts, and all I wrote down was:
- “Should be renamed to Spaced Boltz”
- “Harder than 11a in EPC”
I think we may have climbed the crux very very wrong after watching some beta videos once we got back to Seattle. But regardless, climbers should be prepared to be solid at the grade, because the pitches are stiff, slippery, worn, sometimes loose, and very often runout. I can see that at some point this route was a classic, but unless it gets more bolts, I think it’s glory days may be behind it.
El Potrero Chico 2023, Vamos a México!
February 3 – March 7, 2023
Earlier this year, we visited EPC for our first time. We fell in love with the climbing and the location. During that time, we climbed:
5am Breakfast
Gettin’ Wood
Interstellar Overdrive
Dope Ninja
Rock Hard Weekend
Yankee Clipper
Off the Couch
When You’re Lost in the Wild
Ramsey’s Shenanigans
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Read the full trip report, along with logistics and gear info here!