“La Conjura de Los Necios” for Glowacz & Co

“La Conjura de Los Necios” for Glowacz and Co on El Gigante, Mexico

January 2002

The walls can be compared to the imposing 1000m faces found in Yosemite, but instead of searching for adventure in California the strong German team, led by Stefan Glowacz, headed to uncharted territory in CandameÃ±a Canyon, deep within Mexico’s Basaseachic National Park. Together with Gunda FrÃ¼hwald, Holger Heuber, Hans Martin GÃ¶tz, Kurt Albert, Mariusz Hoffmann and the photographer Klaus Fengler he made the first ascent of “La Conjura de Los Necios”, a 22 pitch big wall with difficulties up to IX+ (5.13/8a).

The adventure began right at the start, with a 450m abseil descent next to “Piedra Volata”, one of the longest waterfalls in the world. After a further two days the team established camp at the base of the wall, having carried almost 300kg of gear. Kurt, Holger, Stefan and Klaus set to work immediately on creating the new route.

Due to the compact rock they placed bolts for protection, encountering difficulties up to IX+. The local vegetation gave them cause for concern, too, as the razor-sharp leaves covered holds and pockets and had to be removed with the greatest of care. Because of this they managed to establish just two pitches a day, and on the sixth day they had only reached half-height.

Up until that point they had always abseiled down to base camp for the night and jumared back up the next day, but the team decided to speed things up and bivouac on the wall. After two more days of climbing they reached the summit to celebrate, with another bivouac, their “Conjura de Los Necios". Graded 9+ (5.13/ 8a) and with 22 pitches of 5.11, one pitch 5.12 and one 5.13, we’re bound to hear and see more of it yet.

The Big Wall “by fair means” by Stefan Glowacz and Co.

1995 Canada , Mt. Harrison Smith, VIII+
1997 Greenland, Tupilak, VIII+
1999 Antarctika , Renard Towers VIII
2000 Baffin Island , Polar Bear Spire IX