New Big 5.12 Free Route in Peru

This summer, Roger Schäli and Simon Gietl made the first ascent of Chappie 5.12c, 600 metres on the granite La Esfinge in Peru.

La Esfinge, which means The Sphinx, ranges from 600 metres to 1,000 metres and is on the northern side of the Paron Valley in the Cordillira Blanca. It is one of the largest big walls in Peru.

The first route up it was in 1985 by Antonio Gomez Bohorquez and Onofre Garcia and included nine bivis.

It was in 1997 that Julio Fernandez, Guillermo Mejia and David Rodriguez realized the free climbing potential on the wall when they made a two-day free ascent of the 1985Route at 5.11c.

There are now over a dozen high quality routes that range between 5.10 and 5.12 A3, most of the routes are unrepeated. For more, visit here.