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.