The Pou Brothers rock Brazil

Acting on information provided by local climbers, Iker and Eneko Pou have now made the first free ascents of two multi-pitches close to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The first route is located on the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar), is called "Totem route" and the 250m have now been climbed free in a single day at 8a. After the ascent Iker and Eneko, along with the highly talented local climber Ralf Cortés, descended easily via the cable car back down to the beach.

The second route ascends a line up Corcovado mountain, famous for the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer. The route is called "Atalio del diablo", now goes free at 8a+ and after an improvised bivvy the trio completed the route the following morning, much to the astonishment of thousands of tourists.

Iker also carried out what is believed to be the third ascent of the classic, short but intense 8b testpiece Southern Comfort, established in 1987 by Wolfgang Güllich and for many years one of the hardest sport climbs in South America. Pou also repeated the intriguing extension, which isn't at the top as some might think, but at the start... over the years the sea has worked away at the sandy floor, adding a tough V9 boulder to reach the initial crack first climbed by Ralf Cortés and estimated at 8c.


Totem route
Sugarloaf Mountain
8a/250m. P1: 3, P2: 7b, P3: 5, P4: 6c+/7a, P5: 6b, P6: 7a, P7: 7b+, P8: 8a.

Atalio del diablo
Christ of the Corcovado
8a+/300m. P1: 6b, P2: 8a+, P3: 7a, P4: 6b+, P5: 7c, P6: 7a+/7b, P7: 7c.