Climbers Mikey Schaefer, Kate Rutherford, Brittany Griffith, and Jonathan Thesenga recently spent eight days in the jungle of Venezuela, establishing a new 1,100-foot 5.12 free climb on the east face of Acopan Tepui. The four flew to the small village of Yunek in Venezuela’s stunning and isolated Gran Sabana (the “Great Savannah”), home to a vast collection of towering sandstone mesas called tepuis (considered the oldest exposed rock in the world), and then set off into the hot and dusty jungle to climb Acopan’s overhanging east face.

Tepuis are far from unknown to climbers, and Acopan itself has numerous routes. Avoiding the recent trend of heavily bolted tepui routes, this team placed no lead bolts, choosing to find a logical, natural path up the continuously steep wall protectable with cams and nuts. They encountered two pitches of 5.12, numerous pitches of 5.10 and 5.11, plus difficult jungle-infested climbing near the summit, and they named their route 10 Pounds of Tequila, referring to the two 1.175-liter handles of tequila they enjoyed during their efforts on Acopan.

Photos are by Mikey Schaefer and the words are via Jonathan Thesenga and you can see a whole lot more of them over at Patagonia’s Cleanest Line blog, where there’s a full trip report and tons more pictures. Take a peek here, then head on over. LINK

To see more of Mikey’s photo work, check out his website, www.mikeyschaeferphotography.com.

Tagged as: climbing, south america