San Isidro Canyon is located just west of El Salto, the limestone climbing paradise in northern Mexico. Five miles past the town of La Ciénega de González, the canyon boasts huge potential for multipitch routes. Over long weekends in September and October, Michael Perry and I (both from Texas) equipped the five-pitch route Separation Anxiety (5.13+) on the Gatos Wall ground up and on lead. There are a couple of single-pitch routes on the right side of Gatos Wall, but ours is the first to reach the top of the climbable terrain. We made the free push on December 19, swapping leads and redpointing all pitches. 

The climbing on Separation Anxiety encompasses all of the classic limestone styles. A 50-foot 5.7 pitch at the bottom gives access to a large ledge where the real climbing starts. The first and second pitches (5.13- and 5.12-) are blocky stone similar to that of Rifle, Colorado. The third pitch is clearly the money pitch and the crux: 30m of epic tufa pulling out a 45° wall leads to a very bouldery section, followed by more techy block climbing and then an incredible bullet gray headwall. The final two pitches (5.12- and 5.13-) are classic El Potrero Chico–quality gray limestone. All of the pitches are challenging, but the route is very well protected, with only a few spicy sections. The crux third pitch has six fixed quickdraws and a fixed tag line to allow for working the 5.13+ section and returning to the belay as easily as possible. Almost all belays have three bolts for comfort and speed. 

This wall offers big-wall adventure with just a 15-minute approach from the road and stays in the shade until 2 p.m. during the winter months.

– Clayton Reagan, USA