The Belgian Siebe Vanhee together with Max Didier, Ian Siadak managed a new big wall route in the Valle la Luz in Chile. They called the 16-pitch route “Jardines de Piedras” (7b + / A2).

A report from Siebe:

„At the end of our stay in Cochamó our desire to climb a virgin wall and mountain was high. Valle la Luz (where Capicua is situated) is wild and full of rock. Max Didier, Ian Siadak and I walked into the valley passed Cerro Capicua and scouted some walls from the river. It didn’t take us long to decide the unnamed and unclimbed peak North of Capicua would be a great objective. From the valley river, a few hours of dense and vertical jungle, up’s and downs, we found what we called the Japanese rock gardens. An amazing 20 square meter platform surrounded by cascades, pools and flowers. One of the best bivouac spots the three of us had ever seen. ⁠
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The next day we managed to climb “Jardines de Piedras”, 7b+/A2, 16 pitches in 16 hours. Although the start of the wall looked easy, the ledge systems alternated with interesting vertical and technical climbing. At the 4th pitch I got challenged by a very thin crack in a dihedral. The first 30 meters went all free at 7b+, unfortunately the next 30 meters where very dirty, more steep and I was obliged to aid through. Approximately A2 cause of the technical piton placements. In the middle of the wall we chose the main dihedral (3 pitches) which brought us up to the lip of the wall. The dihedral went almost all free except for a few dirty and wet meters. From the lip, where you think the climbing would get more easy and is almost over, there is still 6 pitches to the summit. Pitch 11 was a big challenge with some slab run-outs and a steep flared and dirty crack. A few slab-pitches higher we reached the summit.⁠
We called the route “Jardines de Piedras” (Gardens of Rock) referring to the surroundings of our basecamp, like the typical Japanese gardens. ⁠
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An amazing 3 day adventure shared in good company. Thanks Max and Ian for this climb! ⁠“

Siebe Vanhee – March 5th 2020