I first encountered Pedra Riscada in 2021 during a trip with friends to repeat some lines there. What blew me away as much as the soaring granite walls was that there was no established route up the heart of the steep and beautiful northeast face.

When we rapped down the superb line of Viaje de Cristal (900m, 8a)—first climbed in 2015 by Ignacio Elorza, Horacio Gratton, María José Moisés, and Cintia Percivati, and located on a light-colored pillar on the right side of the northeast face—I tried to scope the middle of the face to the left. On some similar formations in Brazil, the rock can be very slick and virtually blank—which would make a climb up the vertical center of this face all but impossible—so I scanned for distinct features, and I thought I saw enough to make an ascent possible.

I kept the line in mind and proposed it as a project for the Roc Aventure Programme (RAP), a French rock climbing team under the auspices of the Fédération Française de la Montagne et de l’Escalade (FFME). Gérôme Pouvreau and I direct RAP, and some of France’s leading competition climbers are members, including Esteban Daligault, Léa Delacquis, Margaux Deschamps, Thomas Joannes, Kenza Slamti, and Tanguy Topin.

All of us traveled to Pedra Riscada in mid-May 2023. We chose an obvious line in the middle of the northeast face, up a whitish gully, and tried to stay as direct as possible. The start is about 100m climber’s left of the start of Place of Happiness (850m, 7c, Gerais-Gratton-Glowacz- Heuber-Fengler, 2009). It took us nine hard and long days to reach the summit, bolting as we went, rotating in teams of three to four people every one or two days. We established a single camp with two portaledges in the middle of the face, about 500m up.

After getting to the top, we then spent four more days cleaning and freeing the route. As there are no cracks, the route is fully equipped with stainless-steel bolts. Compared with most climbs in the area, it is very well-protected, without long runouts; we wanted to offer future climbers an enjoyable and accessible line. Nonetheless, Rabiosa (900m, 21 pitches, 8a) is a big undertaking for those seeking a sustained challenge. Twelve pitches, all in the upper half, are between 7a and 8a.

Big ups to Mother Nature: Our entire team agreed that Pedra Riscada was one of the most spectacular places any of us had visited. And thanks again to Edmilson Duarte for his warm welcome at Recanto Pedra Riscada, a perfect base camp.

— Jonathan Crison, France