After a month of fighting cold weather in El Chaltén, my partners, Kivik Francois and Olivier Zintz (both from Belgium), and I decided to head north to the sunny granite walls of Cochamó. On January 11 we climbed a new line ground-up on Cerro Laguna, opening a direct route up the right side of this beautiful wall, following a large corner system with mostly thin cracks and several roofs. The climbing was excellent and sustained, with eight of the 11 pitches being 5.10 or harder. We didn’t place any bolts, keeping the adventure intact. The line is on nearly perfect rock, with few ledges and many hanging belays. We called the route Surfing the Bamboo Chair (385m, 5.12b A0) due to the uncomfortable hanging belays and the bamboo belay chair Kivik made to combat them. Two pendulums might be freed.

Two days later, on January 13, we free-climbed the final pitch of the Cochamó classic Las Manos del Día. This pitch tackles a 10m horizontal roof crack with mind-blowing exposure, and goes free at 5.11+/12-. It’s like Separate Reality, except it’s 13 pitches off the deck!

Logan Jamison, USA