NUEVO LEON

Potrero Chico: A Spaceboyz Primer
by Luke Stollings

PLANETA FORUM

MEXICO -- Potrero Chico is a limestone climber's paradise, just 8 hours or so south of Austin Texas.

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Don't let the fact that it's a foreign country keep you from going -- just get the beta on the road trip and the place. The more Spanish you speak, the easier you will find it, but plenty of people go with no Spanish beyond Si, No, and Cerveza.

SAFETY

Spaceboyz is a classic, approximately 1000 foot tall climb (11-pitches) at Potrero Chico. It tops out on a mini-summit which is always nice. It has the distinction of having one of the shortest approaches of any climb anywhere. You start climbing about 15 feet from your car's bumper.

The walls are tall, and even if you aren't doing multipitch routes, the walls often tower hundreds of feet above the anchors. If you get hurt, there's no helicopter rescue, so start out well below your technical limit, until you get the hang of the rock. If you decide to try some of the big stuff, be sure you have the right gear on your harness and know how to correctly anchor yourself and belay your partner up -- it's more than just two quicks. Get an early start on Spaceboyz, because the unwritten rule -- which everyone follows -- is that there is too much loose rock to risk climbing under another party.

HELMETS

The rock is solid, the features are great. But there's a huge crater in the concrete floor of the pavilion at the base of Spaceboyz from a rock that came down from the route. Wear a helmet, climbing and belaying. Loose blocks abound on the upper pitches of Spaceboyz (look for -- and avoid -- the now faded red spraypaint Xs on suspect blocks starting on pitch 5 or 6). Loose is truth for many other climbs at Potrero, and it's almost impossible to avoid sending dirt and gravel down from time to time. Don't have a climbing helmet? Get one -- or wear a cycling helmet that passes the Snell test for point penetration.

RUNOUTS

This is "Adventure Sport Climbing" so the pro can be a bit runout -- occasionally up to 20 feet between bolts. Bring twelve or fourteen quickdraws for the 100 foot routes - or linking pitches (like 1&2, 3&4 on Spaceboyz unless you're hauling). I usually climb with three or four over-the-shoulder runners preloaded with 2 biners each for the occasional thread-job (like the one halfway to the highball first bolt on Spaceboyz) as well as for minimizing rope drag on zigzaggy routes (they also come in handy to lengthen your belay anchors so you're not tiptoeing that ledge). Sometimes I take one biner of assorted wired nuts, but haven't ever used them.

ROPE

Bring a 60-meter (200 ft) rope. You can do Spaceboyz with one 60-meter rope, including the rappels, but if all you have is a 50-meter (165 ft), then bring two and don't whine. By the way, your rope is guaranteed to snag on a yucca at some point as you're pulling after a rappel -- the wall Spaceboyz is on isn't called La Selva (The Jungle) for nothing. One 60 beats two knotted 50s hands-down in retrievability.

FOOD AND WATER

We're used to bringing a couple of bottles in our pack to the base of Prototype. Think again. The dilemma is, you need lots of water and you have to take it with you. Even in winter even in the shade, you need plenty of fluid for an all-day outing like Spaceboyz. The full-on beta is a Camelbak for each person. Get realistic though, and ask yourself if the typical two liter bladder is enough (the answer is probably no). You may want to share a small daypack between you, and carry an extra quart or two. You might have an epic anyway, don't guarantee one by risking dehydration. In terms of food, keep it simple, light, and palatable. I put Clif bars in my pockets and a couple of apples in my Camelbak, and lately I've been bringing jerky, which even Kevin the vegetarian has been known to beg from me. Make sure you've got some protein so you don't bonk.

GUIDEBOOKS

There are a couple of guidebooks to Potrero Chico. An interesting fellow named Magic Ed maintains a mostly up-to-date guidebook which you can pick up when you're there from him or probably at Homero's place (one of two principal places to stay). It's printed on terrible quality paper, but it does the trick, and where there are topos they are really great.

AUTHOR

Luke Stollings first climbed in 1976 in Pennsylvania, and has since climbed in many US States, most recently in Yosemite in California, where he was climbing so slow that he had to back off his first "real" big wall after 2 days. Luke has lived, worked with Habitat for Humanity, and, of course, climbed, in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina during the 1980s. In 1987 he traveled alone for seven months, mostly by bicycle, in Chile and Argentina. Shortly after that his life was changed forever in ways that are still playing out by meeting Ron Mader, now host of Planeta.com, in Austin, Texas. Luke received Masters degrees in Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin, where he still lives, is married and works as a trainer for Electronic Data Systems. Contact Luke via email

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