Petzl RocTrip - Piedra Parada, Argentina

The Petzl RocTrip 2012 has just come to an end and to celebrate the 10th anniversary a place was chosen which - once again - is exceptional, namely Piedra Parada in the middle of the desert of Argentina's Patagonia. Various canyons lead off from here with red volcanic rock and a singular monolith first climbed 19 years ago by Damian Benegas and Pablo De La Fuente via their famous 8 pitch route, Sueno Lento.

Despite the air strikes which paralised the country, more than 1000 climbers homed in on to these canyons where circa 250 new single pitch sport climbs and multi-pitch routes had been bolted specifically for the event. And as usual, a large number of top climbers took  part, including Dani Andrada, Nina Caprez, John Cardwell, Martina Cufar, Daniel du Lac, Charlotte Durif, Nick Duttle, Mike Fusilier, Dave Graham, Melissa Le Nevé, Florence Pinet, Jerome Pouvreau, Sean Villeneuva... the list is long and could continue.

Obviously some great climbing was done, too, including the first ascent of the hardest route at Piedra Parada, Donde esta Yolanda 8c by Mike Fuselier and promptly flashed by Jerome Pouvreau after having got the sequence from Daniel Du Lac who had bolted the line. Also worth underlining are hard on-sights up to 8a+ by Martina Cufar which just go to show that her motherhood has done her well!