A 1500 km trip. Fellowship, climbing, party and a sand storm

Since 2007 this boulderer gathering has been the ultimate event for Bolivian climbers with a good mix of exciting problems, friendship and a party environment. Bloqueando is the vanguard of climbing competitions in Bolivia and is silently becoming Latin America's most important climbing event.

This year, Vertigo Club considered a difficult challenge, to carry out the bouldering event, BLOQUEando 09 at one of the most impressive and remote boulder areas in Bolivia. The Valley of the Rocks, or Valle De Las Rocas, is located 750 km south of La Paz and 150 km away from the city of Uyuni. This place has been described by the famous French boulder Tony Lamiche as the El Dorado of bouldering areas.

A 15 hour trip, difficult access to water, cold weather, lots of sand, no telecommunication systems, nearest population 13.5 km away... were just some of the obstacles we had to overcome this year. The organization process started in June, looking for sponsors and funds to be able to carry out this enterprise. At the beginning the odds were against us, sponsors were nowhere to be found and the climbers were not showing any interest. All signs pointed to a simpler road, changing the location, where the problems, costs and logistics would be better. But once our deadline arrived, and thanks to the good performance of our Vertigo members, we finally achieved the support of friendly companies, such as: Entel, Tatoo Adventure Gear, planetaventura.com, Red Bull, Deuter, Nitro Sport and Embol, who joined the cause and enabled us to obtain all that was necessary to carry our the BLOQUEando 2009. By mid-June it was a “real thing” and the event was on its way!

The registration deadline was at the end of July and a few days prior to the event we were worried, because we did not have many climbers registered. At that time we were convinced we had failed with the location and the price of bus at 250 Bolivianos (BOB) or US $35.00, though it was cheap, as it included transport, 3 meals a day for four days all with the most spectacular scenery for climbing. Even with all this it seemed not many were willing either to pay or engage in such a bold trip. But finally, at the last minute, we started receiving confirmations from the climbers and even from non-climbers who were interested in finding out what BLOQUEando was all about. Eventually we reached 25 participants, including a German, 3 from Ecuador and an English lady who all found out about the event on the internet. Days passed and it was the moment to begin this well orchestrated plan, hiring of the bus, getting a generator, make crash pads, get the movies, cook, food et al, a titanic endevour. But as usual, our people worked like a “Swiss watch” and all was accomplished in on time.

To make sure everything would be ready on time a pioneer team formed by Tiru, Mai, Jess and myself traveled to Valley of the Rocks. Since we had to pick up some products kindly donated by the sponsors, we decided to take the long road. The trip took longer than expected. A well camouflaged policeman under the only tree in the Altiplano caught us speeding which made us late to a warehouse, where a pick up was to be made, and was now closed. This ended up being a good thing as we decided to take it easy and make some stops on the road. We were pleasantly surprised to find excellent rocks for climbing in the Potosi-Uyuni road, which, could be good areas for future BLOQUEando events. Between stops, pictures, and detours for maintenance of roads we reached Uyuni at night and we still had 3 more hours to go. A sudden change of plans, combined with a beautiful full moon, lead us to sleep at the Uyuni salt lake. We traveled 80 km through the salt, stopped the car and in the midst of this impressive salt desert we installed the crash pads and slept in the open space.

It was the highest star rated hotel I ever slept in, which allowed us to watch the beautiful full moon illuminating the white desert. It was a surreal experience for all. The next day we left very early as, being the organizers, we had to set the boulder problems, bring in the water, etc., instead of cruising the Bolivian highways…. Luckily we managed to do all and left 26 different difficulty problems, even some for the lovers of the unknown. This was a difficult task due to the variety and quantity of projects in the area.