Climbing at the newly bolted Relincho Crag

As I found myself in Puerto Rico job-wise, so over the week-end I decided to go climbing and also visit the south coast. Best, as ususal, is to do this by meeting with the locals.

Puerto Rico is renowned for the excellent limestone formations, which result in numerous climbing crags and many excellent caving opportunities. Over the internet I found Suraventurieros (www.suraventurieros.com), a group of young outdoor adventure freaks living in Ponce, on the Puerto Rico South Coast. Browsing their site I immediately felt the spirit of this group is very similar to the Swiss hikr.org community so I contacted them to meet for a climbing session at the crag.

Jorge Lopez, one of the founders and among the most active climbers, is a great guy and he immediately offered wether I would go climbing or rather join them exploring a new canoying route.

He and his friends have cleaned and bolted approximately two dozen single pich routes ranging from 5.6 (Fr. 4c) to 5.11 (Fr. 7a) in a collapsed limestone cave called Relincho. The routes are mostly short but offer excellent scenery, good rock and some good climbing. A very beautyful and fresh spot as the sun is not directly shining on it (at ca 30 C all year round a great asset). The cave also hosts bats, huge cave spiders (20cm) and prehistoric cave drawings from the Indios.

We climbed Sun Block (on the outside of the cave, 5.7, Fr. 5a), Chilindrina (5.8, Fr. 5b), Cupey (5.9, Fr. 5c) and Chapulin (5.8, Fr. 5b).

Jorge, thank you so much for showing me around and the belaying. if you're in Switzerland, give me a ring and we' ll show you some excellent sports climbing in the Alps !