Cook and Marshall establish El Visitante (5.13c/F8a+), Mexico
- Tuesday 11th April 2023
Jacob Cook and Drew Marshall have returned once again to La Popa, Mexico; this time they established El Visitante (5.13c/F8a+), a new 200m testpiece.
Cook first heard about La Popa back in 2012 listening to a podcast – Episode #19 of the @enormocast. Along with Tony McLane, Cook finally got the opportunity to visit La Popa in 2019. Details were sparse as Jacob admits, “We didn’t have a topo, or even know where the line was on the cliff. Our plan was to hike to the base and look for bolts!” He explains how their exploration went, “The next morning we made the three hour cactus-whack up the steep scree to the base of the wall. The route was incredible but the bolts were in very bad shape! I was climbing past each belay to equalize the first bolt of the next pitch into my anchor 😬. But I’d caught the bug, this place was magical and I knew I’d be back.”
Fast forward to 2022 and Jacob was back again, this time with Drew Marshall. Los Naguales (5.13b/F8a), a ten pitch new route, was the result of that trip. Jacob summaries the route nicely, “Named after the shape-shifting horse people rumoured to frequent the desert out there. The whole process, from discovering the line, to bolting and cleaning, to finally sending, has to be one of the most satisfying in my life as a climber.”
Given that Los Naguales was only the second route on a massive wall it’s hardly surprising that Jacob and Drew were keen for another visit and more new routing. This year they were back for another trip and over a six-week period they’ve established El Visitante (5.13c/F8a+). Running the full height of the wall, their fully bolted sport route is named after a strange light in the night sky reported by many travellers to the area.
Keen to ensure that others enjoy the wall and climbing as much as they do, they bolted the wall with big stainless bolts and hardware. They report that it’s possible to abb off anywhere from the route with a single 70m rope.
Unfortunately for Jacob he tweaked a finger on the crux pitch so wasn’t able to get that pitch redpointed before their trip ended. Drew did just that however so the route has been freed in it’s entirety. Jacob summed the route up for Climber saying, “We did it in the best style we could ie. redpointed all the pitches individually (or at least Drew did!). I’m pretty psyched to get back and give it the best go I can! Either redpoint the crux or the dream would be to do the whole thing in a day 🙂. It’s probably too hot now until about November though.”
Jacob also told Climber why he loves climbing at La Popa, “The wall is pretty unique, I’ve climbed multi-pitch sport routes all over the world: Verdon, Taghia etc and it certainly holds its own! It seems pretty unusual to find big multi-pitch cliffs with good rock that are continuously overhanging like that.”