El Portreo Chico - Super Nova (5.11a)
Summary
An enjoyable climb in the shade with a bang for a start and a nice fizzle for the finish. The guidebook makes this sound more greasy or polished then other climbs in EPC but I found that it was on par, however with the generous amount of edges that it was more secure then other climbs done here. The first pitch is not as hard as I would have thought and the majority of the rest of the climb is enjoyable jug/edge pulling on slab. Great for beginners!
Gear
1 x 80 m rope
12 x quickdraws (To link pitches)
6 x alpine draws
Pitch Notes
P1 : Engaging climbing to the first bolt with a crux towards the end of the pitch. Most of the holds are chalked and the feet are covered in rubber. Easy to figure out where the holds are, you just have to commit to it! Well bolted.
P2 : Easy climbing up the corner/tube. Whenever the going gets tough, look left or right to see if there is a chalky jug to work around the difficulty.
P3 : More easy climbing.
P4 : Another great pitch of flowy climbing.
P5 : Mostly a chill pitch with one tall move towards the end. Traversing into the chalky ledge from the right worked well for me as I was unable to reach it from the ledge.
P6 : Uneventful (in a good way) jug pulling.
P7 : More fun jug pulling. The traverse throught the bulge at the end is odd, and once again tall. I worked my feet up as high as possible on the right and then crossed into the sidepull/jug. I chose to continue onwards but stopping here to coach or give a boost would be good idea.
P8 : Last pitch! Not much to comment here except for some loose rock before the last anchor, and to be mindful of the hand line as it was quite frayed when we used it.
Rappel/Retreat
