On a 6 month sabbatical I was lucky enough to spend some time in El Potrero Chico, Mexico. This limestone massif an hour from Monterrey is a winter holiday sport climbing mecca. Hundreds of both cragging routes and long multi-pitches, all completely bolted and with rappel stations aplenty mean it is a stress-free climbing venue appealing to most climbers.
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EPC is a limestone circ protruding from a flat desert. It's arrid, dry and can be very hot. The pocketed limestone is generally good quality and the climbing is a stones-throw from most the campsites and hostels. There's a sociable friendly climbing scene throughout the winter and meeting partners is easy. You don't even need a car.
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| Me high on Yankee Clipper |
6 SELLING POINTS OF EPC...
1. Climbing all very close and accessible. This is a real bonus. No need to hire a car as everything is within walking distance.
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 | | The daily walk into the canyon |
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 | | La Posada - walking distance |
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2. Tons of both single and multi-pitch. Split your time between cragging / projecting with multi-pitching on long classics.
3. Both sunny and shady crags. The box canyons give both climbing on both sides so if the temperatures get too hot simply climb on the north facing cliffs. The whole of the Front Face of EPC has a northerly aspect too so climbing in the cool shade is always an option. Climbing mid winter is perfect in the sun.
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 | | The Garden of Eden |
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 | | Box Canyons allow climbing in the shade |
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4. A great climbing scene. I found meeting partners reasonably easy as EPC is a mecca for vacationing Americans and Canadians. There are online groups and lots going on in the main campsites to network with other climbers. I teamed up with various people from road tripping dirt-baggers to remote workers and holidayers.
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| Leo's Tacos. Part of the social scene |
5. A great place to learn to multi-pitch. Whiles EPC does have some class crags of overhanging flowstone and steep tuffas catering to the hard gym rat, one of it's main selling points is the abundence of moderate graded well bolted multi-pitch lines.
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 | Busy day on Jungle Wall with
routes clearly visible
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 | Classic Multi-pitch Time Wave Zero
summits this peak |
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6. Friendly bolting. The majority of routes are very well maintained
SOME NEGATIVES...
Generic feeling to some routes. With most routes are essentially within the same canyon (ie. with a similar backdrop), following bolted lines can start to feel a bit....samey.
Multiple rappels. With no walk off options having to do 10+ abseils to get back down is normal. Always take comfy shoes to releave the sore toes.
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 | | Rappelling in full sun :( |
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 | | Rappelling in the shade :) |
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Not much to do on rest days. This isnt the Alpes. Learn to enjoy lazing by the pool.
Not much steep climbing in the upper grades In reality this will only effect a small minority of super fit climbers as there cirtainly are some harder crags here. Not to mention some hard multi-pitch routes. But it does lack harder crags (5.13+) that are in the shade.
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Me working a route (7a+)
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SOME REST DAY ACTIVITIES...Glitter Mine - A steep trek to a disused mine. A weird cool atmosphere lies within.
Have a pool day - Simply chill with a Margarita or Pina Colada
Market day - Tuesdays and Fridays are the days to hitch into Hidalgo and buy Chicharron (the ultimate crag snack)
Hot springs - Apparently there are some. But you need a car to get there.
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 | Pool Day
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 | | Chicharron in the Market |
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Some of the more memeorable multi-pitch climbs I did were....
Satori (5.10c, 212m)
Off the Couch (5.10d 200m)
Both adjacent routes can be tackled in the same day. The Front Face catches the wind and is always shady. It was freezing on Satori! Rappel the lines (with the occasional rope snag). Good climbing
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 | | Teams on both Satori & Off The Couch |
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 | | Looking Down Satori |
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Pitch Black (5.10d, 242m)
A superb shady 6 pitch line running up a black streak at be back of a box canyon. All the pitches were good with the crux being really sustained. A cracker!
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 | | The black line clearly visible |
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 | | Pitch 1 |
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 | | A middle pitch |
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 | | The penultimate Ptch |
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 | | Looking down the Crux |
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 | | Top out Pitch |
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The Rattler (5.10d, 91m)
The Raven (5.11b, 91m)
Some super thin face climbing typical of EPC limestone. We somehow incurred serious damage to our rope during The Raven and as such we abandoned climbing for the day.
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 | | Typical EPC face climbing |
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 | | The Conundrums & TNT Wall |
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Jungle Mountaineering (5.10a, 121m)
Yankee Clipper (5.10d, 435m)
Two old routes on Jungle wall are good for getting up high fast. Yankee Clipper is 14 pitches (with a 7a+ 15th pitch if you so desire). We linked pitches, climbing it in 7 however you can't avoid the 14 rappels in the sun. Fun routes to get up high but the heat and all the rappelling really made Yankee Clipper feel tough.
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 | | Heading up the final pitch of Yankee.. |
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 | | My partner high on Yankee Clipper |
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Estrellita (5.11a, 364m)
The moderate classic to do. We were first on the route at 7am and as such avoided the bottle necks and traffic jam s behind. It would make a good first multi-pitch route with low commitment and a nice little summit. 4 rappels down into the opposite canyon made the descent a breeze. We linked all pitches climbing it in 7 pitches (& taking the 11a variation pitch). The route follows a strong natural line of corners and flakes.
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 | | Estrellita heads to the palm tree summit |
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 | | Crux pitch |
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 | | The team behind. Who turned out to be very slow |
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 | | Palm Tree Summit |
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Carck Test Dummies (5.9+, 76m)
We climbed this great aguja (needle) during a heatwave (39˚C). This shady crack climb has an old school climbing style and has an airy summit.
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 | | The Spires |
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 | | Me on the Summit |
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 | My partner on the Summit -
note both side of the canyon visible |
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 | | Looking South - The Spires just visible |
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When You're Lost In The Wild (5.11b/c, 333m)
For me this was the multi-pitch route of my trip. With an hour walk in the route feels more "out the way" than typical EPC multies. Being a recent addition to the canyon holds arent polished and the route does feel steeper and a bit more wild (hense the name) with a smattering of loose rock thrown in.
 | | The route climbs a tower right of center |
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 | An early Pitch
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 | | Ben on lead |
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 | | Starting the Rappels |
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The rout is 11 pitches however we strung together every pair of pitches. So I linked 3 +4 together, pitch 4 being the crux. This pitch felt nails hard with my belayer 40 meters below and out of sight. Rope drag was horrendous and the vertical crack climbing super sustained.
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Me looking down the hard crux pitch
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El Potrero Chico is an awsome winter climbing get away. It can be combined with nearby climbing venues of El Salto and Huasteca or combined with a general tour of Mexico. Highly recommended.
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