Yep, right there in the desert, just a two-hour drive from my house located outside of Chile Chico in northern Chilean Patagonia is Wyoming’s Devils Tower on steroids: La Pirámide. The massive cliff hosts route potential up to 700’ and is a great venue when the weather over the ice cap further south is bad—a not uncommon event.

The first development on the wall was done by fellow Americans Jay Smith, Jim Turner, Roger Schimmel, and myself starting in 2009. However, the area got a real boost this past year from visiting Brits Dave Brown and John Crook, who established three excellent new multi-pitch routes up to 5.11d. So far there are over 20 pitches of climbing established of varying lengths, with four excellent multi-pitch climbs in the 5.11a–5.11d range and some nice single-pitch climbs starting at 5.8+.

Reaching the cliff requires two hours of hiking from the road bordering Lago General Carrera, which lies on the Chile-Argentina border. This brings you to basecamp in a vast meadow below the wall where there is a good natural spring. Only soaring condors and noisy guanacos will disturb your solitude. From camp it’s just a 35-minute approach up to the wall.

Future development on the cliff is likely to come from local climber Andres Bozollo, who has likely developed a trained cadre of young climbers in Chile Chico. So far, only three bolts have been placed for protection and there are a few bolted belays but the area is ninety-nine-percent place your own gear—definitely bring wires.

Jim Donini, USA