Climbing in Puerto Rico

Secluded Beach north of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

I just returned from a weeklong climbing trip down to the limestone crags of Puerto Rico.  I had first heard about the Puerto Rican climbing scene reading a copy of Rock and Ice during one of those days at work where it’s raining outside, and there is no one climbing except the guy who asks what bouldering is.  The pictures lured me in with plenty of tufas, dws, overhangs, and local flavor.  Cheap airfare and a December average low temperature of 77 sealed the deal.  The climbing didn’t disappoint, it turned out a week wasn’t nearly enough to explore all the island has to offer.  I’d highly recommend Puerto Rico to anyone looking for a vacation spot where they can get in solid climbing.  I’ll offer some beta so potential  trips can avoid my mistakes.

5 Things to know before you go:

1. If you want to climb you will need to rent a car.  Don’t make the mistake of picking the cheapest company (USave) like I did.  Go with one of the legit companies like Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, and you won’t have to worry about driving all trip with the check engine light on.
2. Standard GPSs don’t work in Puerto Rico.  The newer Garmin I brought had no recollection that Puerto Rico existed which made navigation harder than anticipated.  I’d recommend printing directions to places before you leave .
3. Puerto Rico is technically America, but…check out your cell service prices.  I have Verizon and data and texting was normal price but talk was expensive.  Good to know.
4. If you are staying for a week or less don’t try to hit every climbing area.  Driving around Puerto Rico is tedious at best with way more traffic than you’d expect and tons of little highways to confuse you.  If I could do it again I’d stay near San Juan and just climb in Bayamon where there is a little bit of everything.  Or, if you are into multi pitch stay around San German and check out the beautiful lines at Rosario complete with a crazy over hanging section called “The Gym.”
5. Solid free guides to climbing areas can be found at http://www.aventuraspr.com/  Navigate to the climbing section and then the link will be in the bottom right.  Make sure to print these before you head out.

Starting with Bayamon II…

…Just a thirty minute drive from San Juan, Bayamon II has over a hundred routes that range from 5.7 to 5.12d.  The sectors are a quick ten minute hike from the parking lot of Julio Enrique Monegas Park right next to a GOYA factory that I’m pretty sure you can see from space.

Directions:   From San Juan take 22 west (it will say towards Bayamon) to exit 9 (to carr 5).  Make a left on carr 5 and then another left on carr 28.  Go through the GOYA factory and make the first right after the factory.  Drive to the end of this road.  There will be some sort of sketchy prison on your right and a gate to the park on the very back left.  Go through the park gate and then make your way  right towards the pavilion and playground.  Park in the lot next to the swing set with the obvious trail head.

The cleanest park bathrooms ever are located right across from the swings.

Approach: From the parking, lot follow the trail head into the forest. After about 100m the trail looks like it either goes left or right. You want to go kind of straight, under a small pavilion,on the path that is basically a sidewalk.

From this sidewalk you will see a carabiner signpost marking the trail to the crag.

Stay straight on this trail, you will eventually come to a grass clearing and continue straight.  The path will eventually climb a final hill and then hook to the left and you should be able to see glimpses of the rock wall through the woods.  Take the trail to the right marked with another carabiner and you will be at the face of El Puente.  Or, continue straight on the large path until you reach a cool overlook tower.  From there you take a trail to the right to the Passillo sector.

Climbing: The warm up area is La Escalera.

The stairs that let you know you have reached La Escalera

A high density of fun, easy climbs lets you move down the wall knocking climbs out one after another so you can get used to the style.

If 5.10 is your sweet spot, Original is the Sector for you.

Tufa City is the norm in the Original Sector

Bad feet but cool tufas to pull on creates a love it or hate it relationship.  One piece of advice: There appears to be so many great holds that it can be hard to pick which one to use.  This can mean spending way too much time searching for the money hold.  Find something decent and just go for it.  It’ll make the climbing much more enjoyable.

The El Puente sector has solid, long, hard climbs in the 5.10-12 range.  Try Chocolate Sky 5.11d (it is the one in the pit that runs straight up the old, glued in bolts).  It’s the most fun you can have with a harness on and is well protected on the crux section.

Pasillo is the must do sector.

Kill the Bastard 5.10c

Pasillo consists of a 50m canyon that has both sides bolted.  It is cool and shady with plenty of routes to help you weather the sweltering December heat.  Just a heads up, I found a few of these climbs’ crux moves are right below the anchors (Kill the Bastard 5.10c and Free the Women 5.10c).

We climbed at Bayamon for two solid days and were only able to hit 4 of the 9 sectors, a testament to just how much climbing there is in Bayamon.

Rosario, San German…

…With one of the coolest overhanging areas I’ve seen and some of the most solid tall exposed routes, Rosario is well worth the drive into the middle of nowhere, south-western Puerto Rico.

Directions: We followed the directions in the Adventuras guide.  They were pretty solid and they have a picture of the parking area. “From road #2 take exit #168 to road #330 north. Drive 3.8 miles and turn right to road #348. After 1.6 miles park on the left side of the road just before crossing a small bridge over a creek.”  Next to the creek there will be some sort of apartment complex with dogs barking and roosters making rooster noises.  Put your valuables in the trunk and lock it up.

Approach:  Across the road towards the giant bamboo you will see a chain saying “do not enter” in spanish.  Hop over the chain and continue along the creek to your left, through a clearing, until you can’t go straight anymore.  Then head right along a big bouler that will offer some shaky terrain (I wouldn’t recommend wearing sandals).  Continue on this path until you can see the rock face, at which point you should see a faint path leading right to Obstinada 5.10a. To get to the gym section you just head left along the wall up hill and then down.  You will know when you reach it.

Climbing: In the Vertical Jamming Sector, Obstinada 5.10a is a must do.

View from Obsinada of surrounding forest

  Fun fluid climbing that everyone can enjoy.  From the top of Obstinada there are four routes to your right ascending some of the most solid rock in Puerto Rico.  There are some three pitch routes that I didn’t try but would likely offer one of the best views on the island.  Bring at least 14 quickdraws to tame this wall.

I also tried Ushuaia 5.10d or Pangea 5.11a (they share the first six bolts) and would like to warn potential climbers not to underestimate the climb.  Most of the ratings in Puerto Rico felt fairly accurate until I hopped on this sandbagged sketchball route.  The “boulderly start” will feel like you are trying to clip draws on a V5.  After that, the “beautiful slab” section has you pulling on crumbling crimps that will leave you sweating bullets.  Maybe I messed up and went the wrong way or something, but caution to those that get on this route.

The Gym sector would be the coolest sector I’ve seen (I love overhangs) if it wasn’t for the absurdly sketchy protection.

Sketchy webbings can be seen on the left.

All the protection I had seen in Puerto Rico had been solid and well placed.  The Gym has a bolt here and there, but the main protection is webbing tied through holes in the rock.  We were lucky enough to run into some locals we had met two days earlier in Bayamon.  They told us what webbing was good and what they wouldn’t want to climb.  A good rule of thumb is to avoid any webbing that is gray, faded, or covered in cobwebs.  Cobwebs are another issue that is surprisingly bad but won’t kill you.  When the guide book advised, “bring a broom”, they weren’t kidding.

Despite the questionable pro and abundance of spiderwebs, this sector should not be passed up.  There are very few places outside of a climbing gym where you have 5.9s on a 45 degree overhang.

Piel de Serpiente 5.9

The locals showed us a route that wasn’t in the climbing guide that was a barrel of pump-fest fun.  This route starts in the middle right in fron of the obvious boulder and has green webbing.  It starts off with some fairy tale good layback moves then moves into a tricky jamming sector.  The last move requires a dyno to the solid hold that the anchor webbing is tied to (there are lowering carabiners on the anchor webbing).

Other Attractions of Note:

If you are staying near San Juan go with http://www.coquidelmar.com/.  One of the best price to quality ratios I’ve seen in my travels.

Cueva del Indio.  This is listed as a DWS spot in the Rock and Ice piece.  When we went the sea was angry, and the 20ft waves persuaded us to wait to try some psicobloc.  The trip, however, was still worth exploring these cool caves with ancient cave carvings.  You can walk down empty beaches punctuated by magnificent features like the ones pictured above.  Best of all the total costs is only $2/car to park at this random cafe that will sell you a coconut chopped open and filled with alcohol for $5.  Solid directions and information can be found at the bottom of http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/cueva-del-indio/

We also went to the Cavernas di Camuy.  Very cool caves.

 You can also camp there, $5/person, but you have to arrive by 4pm.  Otherwise you have to sweet talk the security guard to letting you sleep under the picnic pavilions, promising to pay in the morning.

If you have any more questions I would be glad to help you out, just post a comment below.

Cheers,

Bierson