Climbing in Brazil

Famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio

Getting information for climbing in Brazil proved to be extremely difficult.  I spent literally tens of hours trawling through the internet trying to piece together details on the sport climbing in Rio De Janerio.  I guess I’ve got to bear in mind that I was being rather picky in looking specifically for single pitch non-slab sport climbing, and that with my somewhat limited knowledge of Portuguese had to rely on semi-legible Google webpage translations.

Sugar Loaf, Rio De Janerio

In the heart of the city of Rio De Janerio there is a large amount of slabby multi-pitch granite trad and sport routes, but I really struggled to find stuff that suited my style.  Usually my strategy is to go to an indoor bouldering wall and chat with some of the locals and get my info that way.  What was super surprising is that there are no indoor walls in Rio!  Well, I did find one in the suburb of Botofogo, but as indoor walls go it was pretty dismal.  Perhaps there are some out there, but I spent ages surfing the net and was not successful in finding them.

Keeping in shape while in Rio - monkey bars on Copacobana beach

However, I did speak with a few of the climbers at the Botofogo wall and with their limited English and my limited Portuguese managed to determine that there is some awesome hard sport climbing in the Tijuca National Park, but unfortunately I could not find anywhere that sold the guides books for this area.   One climber did let me take some photos from her personal guide book, but even by combining these with the beta I could find on the internet I was still lacking that one vital bit of information key to any successful day out … HOW to get the crag!  Every online post or guidebook paragraph always assumed I either had a car or was familiar with the park, and the access info would only start from some point totally foreign and totally unreachable to me.

Unfortunately in the end I just couldn’t get enough information to join all the dots and we decided to abandon climbing in Rio and focus instead on Serra Do Cipo.

Serra Do Cipo is in the Minas Gerais province, roughly a 9 hour drive north of Rio.  The closest big town is Belo Horizonte, and one can certainly live a fulfilled and fruitful life without ever having been to this city.  We got a bus from Rio to Belo, and due to the uncoordinated bus times had to stay over in Belo for a night.  8:30am the next day we were back at the bus terminus and on our way to Cipo.

Try putting ‘Serra Do Cipo’ in Google Maps and it won’t find it, instead the town is marked down as being called ‘Cardeal Mota’.  This was the first source of our confusion.  The next came from Google Maps giving the impression that you’re way out in the middle of nowhere, so naturally ones concern is if there are any shops, restaurants, or places for accommodation out in this seemingly-remotest of locations.  But as we discovered when we stepped off the bus, it is actually a quaint little town with a decent supermarket, a sprinkle of restaurants, and loads of pousadas (inns) to choose from. 

Putting in the first clip on 'Herois da resistencia' (7c)

The town is at kilometre 97 on highway MG 010, however the climbing is all closer to the KM100 point, so if you don’t have a car then you’ll probably want to find accommodation further up the road (see below for a list of places to stay).  Since we didn’t know all this beforehand we had booked 3 nights at Pousada Licuri in town.  It is definitely possible to hitch the 3km up the road, or walk if you feeling super energetic, but we decided to use the 3 days to catch up on some much needed R&R (we had just spent 8 days exploring Rio top to toe, inside and out, including of course 5:30am starts for sunrise on Copacobana beach and midnight ends after multiple Caipirinha cocktails, also on Copacobana beach :).  The Serra Do Cipo National Park is close to the town and offers some lovely hikes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons. 

Super breakfast at Pousada Licuri

Before I go any further I need to deviate for a moment from climbing and mention the Brazilian breakfasts … they are scrumptious!  Through our travels in South America we’ve encountered a range of breakfasts – Chile’s standard is scrambled eggs, white bread and maybe a bowl of cornflakes.  Argentina’s was a bowel-clogging plain croissants and white bread.  But Brazil made up for everything that Chile and Argentina lacked with fresh fruit, freshly baked bread, cheesy balls, and cake, granola and fresh fruit juice.  Pousada Licuri laid a spread that even the most hardy diet-conscious couldn’t resist, but much to my surprise our next accommodation further up the road, Pousada Grande Pedreira, put up a damn good fight for the winners position.

Getting ready for the days climbing :)

I could find no reference or link to a printed guide book for Serra Do Cipo, so unfortunately we were once again restricted to what we could find online.  However this website has some fairly comprehensive info on the Group 3 climbing area, and although we were limited to climbing in this area there was still plenty of routes to keep me entertained for the 5 days that we had there.  

The area definitely caters more for the 7a and upwards grade range, with only a very few routes in the 6a-6c+ range.  That said however, I don’t think the online guide we had covered everything in the area, so it’s possible there are a few more out there that we weren’t aware of.  Group 3 does not have hundreds of routes, but where it lacks in numbers it makes up for in quality.  Every route that I climbed I would give top star rating, they were all stunning lines that flowed beautifully.  There are other areas too which we never got to explore, and if they have as many quality lines as at Group 3 then this is definitely an area that could keep you climbing happy for a month. 

QUICK INFO

HOW TO GET THERE

Belo Horizonte has an airport, so if you’ve got the money you could look into flying there.  Otherwise the way for us mere money-mortals is either to hire a car in Rio and drive up, or get a bus from Rio to Belo (Busca Omnibus, companies Util and Cometa).  From Belo you then need to take another bus to Serra Do Cipo. There are 2 bus companies that operate this route - Saritur and Serro – and the journey is roughly 2-3 hours.  The bus destination is actually after Serra Do Cipo, so you just ask the bus driver to drop you off at the ACM (YMCA) at KM100.

WHERE TO STAY

There are loads of pousadas in the town, however if you’re climbing and especially if you don’t have a car then you’ll want to stay up near the ACM at KM100. 

Pousada Grande Pedreira's garden

We stayed at Pousada Grande Pedreira and loved it.  Note however that they were crap at responding to any email queries we sent them, we only managed to book the place once we were physically there.  So if they aren’t replying to your emails then try phoning them.  They have lovely private double & twin rooms with private bathrooms, as well as dorm and camping options.  The setting for this place is stunning, with a beautiful huge garden with flowers, orange trees, swimming pool and luscious green grass.  

Pousada Grande Pedreira

The only downside is that there is no WIFI, but then this is the case with most of the places out here anyway, and they are happy for you to use their computer in the office.  We paid BRL100 (£28) a night for a double room with private bathroom, use of the kitchen facilities, and breakfast included (low season).

Espaco Mandalla Refugio has dorm rooms and one single double room, and WIFI.

2 others that we passed and looked good were Pousada Sitio Xodo and Pousada Quintal Da Serra.

If you’ve got the cash then Pousada Carumbé might be the place for you – a very fancy resort with indoor and outdoor swimming pool, restaurant, massage room and all that kind of extravagant stuff.  It was clearly WAY out of our budget so we didn’t even ask the price.

If you’re looking for accommodation in town then I would definitely recommend Pousada Licuri, it is more on the pricey side but the quality of the accommodation and service it is clear why - we paid BRL200 (£56) a night for a private cottage with breakfast included (no kitchen facilities though).

CLIMBING INFO

This website has sufficient information to get you climbing at the Group 3 area – this is what we used and managed to find our way around.  I couldn’t find any reference or link to a printed guide book covering all the climbing areas, but hopefully there will be one soon!

FOOD

The town has a small supermarket that has a fair selection of fruit, vegetables and staples.  You might not have the range of choice that you’re accustomed to at your local Tescos, but it is definitely enough to get by on.  There is nowhere to buy food out by KM100, so either stock up before you head out or you’ll have to make the 3km walk or hitch into town to get food.  There are a couple of restaurants within walking distance though.

WHEN TO GO

May to October is the dry season for this area, and according to various online sources this is the perfect time to go.  We were there in June and conditions were perfect.

Kiwi 'Kewa

Beach 1.5 hours drive from Mangaokewa crag

I love New Zealand, but unfortunately I gotta say, don't live on the North Island if you're a sport climber! From what I've heard and researched, the South Island is the better spot to be climbing. The North Island has a few crags, mostly dotted around the centre, with some interesting climbing, but I think if I lived here I would run out of stuff to do pretty quickly.

I gathered some crag advice off the climber.co.nz forum, with a few locals giving me key bits of info regarding rock type and accommodation/camping. They also pointed me to an awesome online crag guide site (www.freeclimb.co.nz) which has free downloadable PDF files for pretty much all the north island sport crags!

Our plan was to first try out the crags around Wharepapa South for a few days, and then head over to Mangaokewa crag for a couple more days (unfortunately we didn't all have that much time, hence not getting down to the South Island either).

"The Colosseum" sector, Mangaokewa

Wharepapa South is situated fairly central, about 2 hours drive south of Auckland. The rock is described by locals to be very sharp, but we never got to sample it ourselves.  Contrary to the details given on their website (… your hosts Bryce and Wendy Martin will make you feel at home and their knowledge of this premium climbing area is second to none …), we found Bryce to be rather off-ish and very vague with his information. The campsite turned out to be a small corner of grass on the school grounds, with the facilities less than desirable. The thought of waking up to a school yard full of kids was not quite our idea of enjoyable camping so we ditched that idea. There was the option of wild camping closer to the crag, but unfortunately there was no drinking water supply nearby and we only had two 1 litre bottles with us so it wasn't possible for us to do that either. In the end we decided this place just wasn't speaking to us and we jumped back in the car and continued on south for another hour to Mangaokewa.

'Kewa campsite

Quite the opposite of Wharepapa South, we were immediately smitten with Mangaokewa campsite. It's nestled in a small valley with low lying hills all around and a stream running through. It's a beautifully kept campsite with lots of grassy flat sites, trees, wooden table and chairs and BBQs, and it's totally free! There are no showers, but there are toilets and sink which are cleaned every day, and there is the stream for washing in :)

Washing in the stream :)

Enjoying the morning sunrays

The limestone tuffa'd rock peeks out of the trees along one hillside but it turned out that all of the decent climbing is actually on a lower tier hidden from view behind the trees. We went to the upper tier one day but the rock was extremely crumbly and I didn't have much confidence in the bolts holding.

The majority of the climbing on the lower tier is vert, or just slightly off vertical (20-30 degrees) with small slopey crimps. Since vert and slopers are my biggest weaknesses this crag certainly turned out to be a challenge for me. There are a few roof-overhung routes which are good fun, but literally just a handful of them.  Nevertheless, 'Kewa is the main (one and only) overhanging rock crag on the North Island.  The routes are pretty short, averaging about 6-8 meters, with very hard bouldery moves. The number of routes was limited - the guide book shows a lot more but many of them, especially those in the lower grade range, are overgrown, dirty and very clearly haven't been climbed in a long time. The routes that are climbed were all very enjoyable, some of them definitely top scorers. But after 4 days I had pretty much done all the climbable (non-dodgy/clean) routes below 7a, and I could count on my fingers the number of routes above 7a. The highest grade route is a 7c+.

Fire every night!

On the weekend lots of locals (mostly Aucklanders but also a few from other spots) joined us and were very friendly. The town Te Kuiti is only 5 mins drive from the campsite and has everything you need to stock up (supermarket and liquor store :).  I'd certainly recommend 'Kewa if you're in the area, especially if you climbing around 7b-7c as then you'll have enough variety to keep you entertained for a week or so (however if you're flashing or onsighting these grades then you'll probably run out of stuff within a matter of days).

Unfortunately we didn't get to sample any of the other North Island crags, but there is good info on the freeclimb website, and the locals on the forum of climber.co.nz were super helpful.

Rock 'n Roll vs Plastic Fantastic

That is a question I can answer without any hesitation - rock! Although I must admit my ultimate first choice is sunny rock :)

I started climbing quite late in my life - when I was at university at the age of 21. My best friend climbed and kept trying to get me to give it a go. Eventually I went with him to the university wall and loved it. I climbed for 3 months on plastic and then did a week-long trip up to Waterval Boven (Mpumalanga, South Africa).  It was after that week of climbing on rock that I was downright hooked :)

Jacobs Ladder - Table Mountain, Cape Town

We are super spoilt in South Africa with there being so much really amazing rock, and often no more than half an hour from your doorstep. I'm not sure if it’s because of this, but the South African mentality toward climbing back then was very laid back, the focus being on getting outside and having fun, with very little emphasis on plastic or training.  Almost every weekend we were out climbing on rock, and during the week sessions at the wall were light-hearted and just for feeding the addiction until the next rock adventure. There was never much structure or training focus. I am talking 14 years ago now and this has definitely changed since, but that was the vibe that I came into when I started climbing.

I sometimes wonder what might have happened if I had started climbing in a place where training was given more focus - would I have had the mental maturity to follow that approach and push myself, and ultimately achieve more with my climbing. Maybe, maybe not. But what I did get was 10 years of fabulous and memorable weekends spent with friends sitting round the camp fire, and climbing in some of the most spectacular locations on awesome rock!

Building a training frame in my garage

My first ever training session was 10 years into my climbing career after I had come over to live in the UK.  My first year in England was spent recovering from back surgery, so when I could finally climb again I had lost all of my fitness and needed time on plastic to slowly build this up in a safe and controlled environment. It was also going into autumn and I struggled massively with not being able to get out on rock due to wet and cold weather. 

It was hard to adjust to being limited to plastic though - this was completely different to the climbing lifestyle that I was used to.  Autumn came and I struggled massively with not being able to get out on rock due to cold and wet weather.  I soon realized that I needed something to keep me psyched through the long winter season and so decided to try do some training and a few competitions.

World Championships 2011

I absolutely loved applying myself to a training programme, feeling and seeing the improvements in my climbing.  I also thoroughly enjoyed competition climbing – I found it challenging to break into the correct mind frame for competition, having come from a long background of working routes for red-pointing.  Competition requires a lot more give-it-everything-you’ve-got-and-never-give-up attitude, as well as learning to control your nerves, and climb calmly but aggressively at the same time :)

Just 2 weeks ago was the start of a 7 month round-the-world traveling adventure for me!  It involves mostly just traveling, but of course there will be climbing.  The main climbing destination is USA, but we’re hoping to do a bit in New Zealand and Brazil too.  However there will be some very long breaks between climbing which I am still finding extremely hard to come to terms with.  And in the next 7 months I will probably only touch plastic a handful of times, if at all, which another fact that I am slowly working through - the main source of panic comes from worrying about how much strength and fitness I will lose.  On the flip side of course, when we do climb, especially in the USA, it will be continuously for a number of weeks so I’ll build up more specific fitness at the crags.

Happy on rock!

Overall I will always be a rock person - this is where my passion lies.  However, I do really enjoy a good session at the climbing or bouldering wall, and for training I find plastic very convenient and specific, so it certainly has its place :)

Sunny rock! Montagu, South Africa

Staying On Top

This past year has been an extremely difficult time for me.  Besides the obvious physical hurdles I've faced, it's the mental side that I'm really talking about here. November 2011 I was in PB shape, about to embark on a 3 month climbing-centric trip. I had succeeded in being selected for the senior GB climbing team and I felt ready and excited to participate in some World Cup comps in Europe.  And within the blink of an eye (and a sickening crack of the knee) it all came to a grinding halt.

As the months have passed and my routes on 8a have been dropping off, it has been a massive challenge to keep myself from feeling totally disheartened and despondent.  My strength and fitness have fallen away, along with my presence in the climbing scene, and it feels as though all my hard work and dedication has gone to waste.

But one can’t wallow in a pit of despair forever, and although I wasn’t able to climb, I was able to do some fingerboarding and campusing.  I’ve built a little frame in my garage with my two fingerboards mounted on, but it didn’t take long before the grips became too comfortable, even after adding weights, and I was seeking ways to make it more challenging.  Courtesy of Metolious, I added pairs of screw-ons which really gave my fingers a good work out.  After 6 weeks my fingers were stronger than ever and I was hanging off grips, with added weights, that initially I couldn’t even get established on.

Injuries come and injuries go, some take longer than others, and some take longer than they should.  But I believe if you keep your mind strong and thoughts free, nothing is impossible.  This year was not my year, but who knows what next year will bring.

I would like to say a massive thanks to my sponsors, Evolv and Metolious, for sticking with me despite my injury and the discouraging prognosis for getting back climbing again.  I may not have ticked any significant routes this year, but next year I’ll try to do you proud.

What's at the top?

Climbing is a difficult thing to explain to someone who doesn’t climb.  They see it as an attempt to get to the top of some arbitrary route, and can’t understand why you would want to.  But it’s so much more than just the route.   

For me, climbing is freedom.  It starts with open skies and fresh air, gentle breezes and warm sun, sitting around fires chatting with friends that feel like family.  Then there’s the physical movement, like a dance that needs to be executed with perfection, the concentration and mental hurdles that must be overcome to achieve absolute commitment.  And finally there is satisfaction, a tired body and a clear mind ... complete contentment.

Karen Varga, Factor 15 (7c+), Rocklands, South Africa

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake?

 It’s Friday evening and I head round to my mates to watch a movie.  They order pizza for dinner, and the beers have already been cracked open.  Hmm, simple carbs, starch, melted cheese and saturated fat.  The little goodness my pizza does offer, in the way of 4 thin slices of green pepper and olives, has been grilled to a crisp and soaked in melted cheese.   Everybody digs into their pizza with great gusto and I wonder if I’m the only person in the room thinking these thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a treat like pizza, fish ‘n chips and Ben & Jerry’s every now and again, but the point is that it is a treat, and when I have it I am conscious of the little good it’s doing my body.  It’s not even about keeping trim, although that does play a part, but mostly about giving my body the right things it needs to keep it healthy and happy.  

I recently read a book called “Foods That Fight Cancer”, and besides teaching me about the way in which some foods, or the particular molecules and substances in the foods, can actually help to prevent or halt the progression of certain cancers, it enlightened me as to the value of good food.  When we’re kids we were told “eat your carrots, they help you to see in the dark”, but as adults we almost seem to have forgotten those lessons, or think they don’t apply to us anymore.  There is a lot of focus on vitamins and minerals, and so many of us take substitute pills for these and feel that we’ve ticked all the right boxes.  But there is so much more that fruit and vegetables provide that a pill cannot.  

My new mindset is along the eastern attitude to eating which is that you eat for health, opposed to the western approach of eating purely for pleasure and fuel.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t have the occasional naughty McDs or a fat slice of chocolate cake, but I’ve changed my diet to include so many more vegetables and fruit, complex carbs (e.g. brown rice, quinoa, and sweet potato) and good fats (e.g. nuts, olive oil, avocado).  

An Olympic athlete takes their diet seriously, they ensure that before, during and after a training session they are giving their body everything it needs to recover, adapt and be ready for the next training session.  However the general mentalities of climbers tends to be quite the opposite – push your body to great limits, but eat whatever you can get your chalky hands on.  We expect so much from our bodies, and complain volubly when things go wrong, but we don’t think about giving back to our bodies!

It often comes down to education and advertising, for instance the belief that a bowl of pasta is a healthy meal.  Sorry to be a bubble burster, but unfortunately the pasta we buy in the supermarket today contains little in the way of health – it’s predominantly made up of refined white flour that contains almost no dietary goodness; it’s high GI, which results in a steep rise in insulin with the ultimate effect of increased fat storage.  A much better alternative would be brown rice, or if you really love your pasta then at least get brown pasta.  

The main point I’m making is that considering how much we push and demand performance from our bodies, it’s worth making the effort to ensure that you’re putting the right things back in!

 

So on that note, here’s an awesome banana loaf recipe that I’ve come up with, taking bits from a number of different recipes and changing the ingredients to suit what I wanted.  It’s mostly made of bananas, got no added fat or sugar, but to give it that little something special I add dark chocolate chips (60% cocoa).  It’s super easy to make, and I have a number of friends who can vouch for its extreme deliciousness!

Karen’s Super Banana Loaf

Ingredients

• 6 medium / 5 large bananas
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 2 cups wholemeal flour
  
• 1 ½ teaspoon bicarb of soda
  
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  
• ½ cup raisins
  
• ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
  

Mash the bananas.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it up.  Grease your banana loaf dish and pour the mixture in.  Bake at 160° Celsius for 80 minutes.

Combating an Injury

The culprit route! "Fun in the Sun", 8a, Geyikbayiri, Turkey

Combating an injury is never easy, and the longer the projected recovery period the harder it is both mentally and physically.   That’s why it can often be a saving grace that you don’t know at the time of the injury exactly how long it’s going to be before you can climb again.  If someone told me when I dislocated my kneecap on an 8a route in Turkey last year that it would be 2 surgeries and 7 months before I would be able to climb again, I would never have been so upbeat and optimistic!  

Not being able to climb, or do the sport you love, is mentally very hard.  But not being able to climb, and constantly fighting it and wishing you were climbing, is even more mentally draining.  What I’ve learnt from my experience with injuries that have taken me out of climbing not just for weeks, but for many months and even up to a year, is to let go of the want and need to climb, accept what is, and find other ways to express and release yourself.  Don’t be swallowed whole by the seemingly infinite recovery time, take things day by day and have faith that when you do finally start climbing again, you will (hopefully) look back on the time out and realize that it wasn’t that bad.  Heck, maybe it was even good for your body! :)

The day after the injury - getting a flight back to the UK

I’m not sure who started the trend, but it seems like the way to go in life is use our experiences to help us grow as people.  And having had the last 6 months to reflect on an injury (once again!), I’ve realized they are a big growing point.

Have you ever really stopped and thought about what your body is doing so easily and effortlessly for you?  Take it away and I can assure you will appreciate everything in a whole new light.  Right now while I’m typing this I’m acutely aware of the fact that I’m sitting normally with my leg bent at 90 degrees, and it’s feeling comfortable with no pain!  I can walk up stairs.  I can drive a car.  I can sleep on my side at night.  I can go to the movies. I can kneel (but still can’t sit back onto my heels).  All of these things which I took for granted before now feel like a luxury. :)

2 month climbing trip to South Africa - spent by the pool instead!

My point being, an injury helps us to appreciate both the big, and the small, things in life.  I’ve found I don’t take as much for granted anymore, I have a bigger awareness for what I have been blessed with, and how much could be taken away all too easily.