Jack Osbourne Comes to El Potrero

This May a British production group came to El Potrero Chico in order to film a big wall accent. They used La Posada as a home base and El Potrero Chico International School as there local guides and expert teachers. The show they were filming is called Adrenaline Junkies starring Jack Osbourn. The goal was to get Jack, Craig David and Emma Griffith up a rather large objective called Space Boys. This being a 330M 5.10+ made it a hard objective for Craig and Emma who were beginners. La Posada provided the best service a film company could ask for including three meals a day and snacks. EPICS provide two guides who were the teachers, the muscle, and the North American voice of climbing on the show. The whole thing went off with out any bad hitches. It wasn't always pretty, but I won't ruin the show.

For the same instruction Jack gets go to: www.ElPotreroChico.com.mx

Mexico Climbing School at La Posada

Mexico climbing School.
Come climbing anywhere in Mexico with El Potrero International Climbing School. Enjoy winter time in a whole new way.

El Potrero Chico Climbing School; Colorado

Colorado offers a great variety of climbing from granite to sandstone and of course our favorite... limestone. Here is Matt Peer Climbing with El Potrero Chico International School outside of Mexico. This crag out side of Colorado Springs offers great 5.4-5.10 terrain to hone slab and crack climbing techniques.

Climbing Mexico; Candel Cave

La Cueva de las Candelas is a tourist attraction. They would never let you bolt this thing in the States. Good thing it isn't in the States. The routes are hard and well protected. Some are steep some are wicked steep and some are horizontal along the stalactite covered ceiling. The camping is in a cow pasture an hour and some north of San Luis Potosi. The cave is right next door to the field. There are some easier zones near by and also some crazy volcanic bouldering. This is a great stop on the way down to Mexico city because it is located only 20 minutes off the high way to San Luis Potosi.

Utah for the spring

We are not just a bunch of sport climber down in El Potrero Chico. Its a great place to practice in the winter, but our true love is traditional climbing. We go all over as guides and for pleasure. There are great places all over the world for climbing, but one of my favorites is Indian Creek In South Eastern Utah. The trad mecca is an hour south of Moab Utah and Offers great trad routes from 5.9 to 5.13. It was here this summer that I sent a 5.13a on traditional gear as well as a slew of 5.12s a couple onsight.
The camping is primitive car camping. That means it is not very primitive, but compared to La Posada it is. We had a great time detaching from the world at large while spending a week at a time out in the serene Utah dessert.
We can go anywhere and do anything here at El Potrero International Climbing School. All you have to do is ask.

The Best way to learn to climb; from a guide

Ashley and Katie contacted us because they had never climbed outside. They thought, as more people may begin to realize, that the best way to learn to climb is to take a forty day trip The best way to start that trip is to hire a guide to teach you the ropes. Now these girls can climb, scaling difficult boulder problems is not a problem. When it came to roping up and pitching out meter after meter they recognized a problem. Coming to an area for so long to learn how to climb one can be lead a stray; destined to spend 3/4 of the trip leaning the wrong things and the other 1/4 trying to correct the information. They forsaw this and hired us to teach them the ropes. In two days our guide Beckett Honicker tought them all the skills needed to climb multi-pitch bolted climbs.

Space Boys on her first day

Space Boys in an impressive route. Generally it is the first one that people stop at in the canyon. They ask "can I climb that?" It comes off, at first, as massive. Once the first 400 feet are tackled in two LONG 5.9 pitches the same person will say "oh we won't even be late for dinner". The subsequent pitches are 10a, 10d, 10b, 9, 9. Seven pitches and 1100 feet later sitting on top of the summit spire one reflects "there is no way this would be a grade three anywhere else in the world. What a good rock climb!"
Julie Schultz arrived in the morning at 11:00 AM and still managed to, with guide Beckett Honicker, climb this Mexico super classic and still be on time for dinner.

Beckett Honicker on "Mother Ship Connection"

This is a typical climbing day for our guides. This is a 13a called Mothership Connection. (from left clockwise) The Outrage wall and El Potrero. Beckett Honicker digs in after climbing the crux. Rachael takes full advantage of the rest before the last crux. This Mexico route climbs 35 meters of beautiful tufa (refer to above photos for definition of tufa).
"This is a route I love to climb in Mexico with clients" says guide Beckett Honicker. "We get a lot of kids from gyms in the States that just eat this stuff up" he continued.

Save the animals

There are a lot of wonderful people on the planet and Dottie Cross is one of them. A retired pit boss, she now lives as the caretaker in City of Rocks, Idaho in the summer and here in El Potrero Chico in the winter. While she is here she tries, in addition to climbing 5.11, to save every dog she sees. She has succeeded in save over twenty dogs from near death and finding them homes in the States. This has also helped the local economy namely the veterinary office.Tami has also been instrumental in this effort. We at El Potrero International Climbing School support this effort and are offering a channel for you to help. Please send your inquiries of donation to
guides@elpotrerochico.com.mx Photo credit Elizebeth Ruff
HELP SAVE DOGS IN MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Cultural Bridge

On this day we took everybody who works at La Posada out to the crag to see what they were made of. With team building as a major goal we accomplish a lot cultural exchange between the guides and the locals.
This is just one of the many bridges we have made between the climbers and the local community in Hidalgo. These folks had a blast, and amazingly enough most of them enjoyed fighting their way up 5.9's. The local guide book author Dane Bass came out to show his support and take pictures of the event.
Everybody learned a lot and had a great time!

Escaping the "SAD"s

Andy came to Mexico from the UK to escape seasonal affective disorder. After Biking in the Copper Canyon andseeing the city of Monterrey he iced the cake of his vacation with a big wall climbing trip in Mexico. The climbing here is so natural that he went from climbing HVS (5.9) to climbing E2 (5.10c). We did Estrellita, a thousand foot 5.9+, and the Spires (10.b) in a day. This is the location for link ups...

Scared of heights?

Dominic found out about us in Lonley Planet Mexico. He is a med student studying dive medicine. Under his calm English exterior he is deathly afraid of heights; at least he was. Dom went from being afraid at 10M to traveling 150M up a cliff face. Dominic attributed his success to the helpful teaching techniques employed by El Potrero International Climbing School guide Peter Fasold. Climb Mexico in the winter Spring and Fall for the best first time climbing experience.

The Devil's Path

Here is a more advanced route that we love to take people up here in El Potrero. It is five pitches, four of which are 5.11. This is for the gym/sport climber that wants to make the jump into multi-pitch climbing. Here Nathan Pauli gets after it with guide Beckett Honicker. Nate was an inch away from on sighting the 5.11c crux pitch.