Special Ops

Late January, Early February, 2010Special Ops. That’s who we are. We have nicknames, too, of course. There’s Robot, Token, and Thor. Or, respectively: Josh, Vishal, and myself, previously called out as milkshake. My first interactions with these characters took place in a game of rock bocce ball in the La Junta camping area. I should note that at the time “S” Joe was with them. As was Gary. Gary had the camera and was eating up the experience like a New Yorker eats up bagels and thin crusted, pizza sized pizza slices.

Although every individual had their own characteristics, such as Vishal’s drunken dwarf persona, or Josh’s omniscient yet incapable, the dynamic of the group was also fascinating and, well, dynamic. Let me briefly introduce you to these two pals of mine who taught me many valuable lessons, some of which I am whole-heartedly trying to forget! First up, Joshua Cook. Hailing from Denver/Boulder, Colorado, he stands with a shaved head. He likes his hair short and keeping it short was one of his prerogatives during a rainy week in Puerto Varas. Josh is gutsy. He also cares more than he appears to care at second glance and third inspection, and really he likes big hugs. He wears a big poofy down jacket, which just aids him in begging to be hugged. Actually, come to think of it, so did Vishal. Anyways, he has more stories than zebras have tongues and stripes combined, and can share them in 4D. A part-time helmet decorator, he's been known to carry his own travel kit for making art. I have a suspicion that he needs to release the inner artist every once in a while, else he must submit himself to being taken over by him. But seriously, his writing and art is legit, too legit to give up. Or go unnoticed. Ummm, here he is sitting on Food Rock!
Next up, Vishal Patel. Vishal's from Chicago and on more than one occasion invited me to come visit his family there - whether or not he was present - for some excellent cooking. That's how inviting Vishal is. On the flipside, Vishal is also very accepting. Most of the time Josh and I would have some grande plan or keen scheme that we were working on and before we could even invite Vishal he was on board, as excited about our could-bes and may-bes as we were. Vishal's energy and perspective resonate invisibly with those around him. A tragedy could strike and Vishal would have you reacting constructively before you even opened your mind up to think. Really, I'm still trying to figure him out. His memory is great. His attitude is at altitude for aptitude. And, beyond having a cool uncle, I want to know why and how he came to be this way. Really, there's nothing wrong with Vishal. Better yet, he's exceptional. That's why we called him Token. He was too good to get a weird nickname. Sorry, Vishal. Until you show us what's weird about you, you're stuck with Token. Deal?Back to the story. Soon I was lured into an effort to climb a new route up Cerro Arcoiris. Or so I thought. Of course, before climbing Arcoiris, one must first get to Arcoiris. I spent at least one day with them hiking up streams and little waterfalls, jumping into rivers and pushing through thickets. There was lots of laughter to be had. They sang the milkshake song and I danced. Picnicing in our failed attempt, they shared some luxurious tortilla with me and I cut them salami. After that, I left them to continue trying their luck at that rainbow that didn’t touch down while I went off to follow my own pursuit: opening a trail through Valle Trinidad. It wasn’t until I had it opened and told them of all the gloriously virgin walls of solid granite that they themselves started to hear the sirens a-calling. They came.Our first escapade together in the valley was not a new climb. The three of them were heading up to Cerro Trinidad to try Alendalaca, 9 pitches, 7b (French grading system). We crossed paths halfway down the old Trinidad trail as I hiked down with Tate Shepherd after over a week of serious first ascents and trail pioneering (Read: Riding the Whale, Evolución, New Trail). They asked me if I would join them in the morning and make two pairs rather than one team of three. I was exhausted. My hands were swollen to Hulk size from all of the climbing, sawing, and machete use, and the burning muscle-growing sensation in my legs was so constant that they burned even in my dreams. And yet, their bright smiling eyes reminded me of how great it is to push yourself. The dream must continue. So I said, “Maybe.” Josh laid it down, “No, we need to know if you’re going to join us: yes or no.” “Oh,” I paused, weighing my tired legs in my mind, “Ok. Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Oops! Tate couldn’t believe I had said ok, which made two of us. Made two of us laugh at me. I worked logistics in my head as we hiked our packs back down to the camping area and refugio.Here are the logistical results: I started hiking back up in the darkness at midnight, arriving in good time, but even more depleted before an intense a.m. climb. My eyes were tired because my headlamp was meager and because I hadn’t slept yet. Joe was in his hammock under the bivy boulder, where I’d left my tent. I crawled in to sleep and dreamt away. Soon I was awoken for the climb. It felt like I hadn’t slept at all.There’s more to the story of this climb than I’m going to tell you. It includes runouts, stellar, scary pitches, a peering condor, a dislocating shoulder on the second pitch, and a bail involving a few lost stoppers and a pair of cold climbers hunkering down as an approaching storm showed us how unprepared we were. Not the most impressed I’ve made myself. But, a very interesting start to some great friendships and a special camaraderie! Happy to be OK, and disgruntled for our silly mistakes, we snap a group photo before hiking back to the Bivy Boulder. It was something like 11 silly p.m. when we got back to eat. What a day. I’m glad the storm didn’t crash down on us while we were on the wall.A storm did indeed come to Cochamó, though. Somehow they convinced me that seafood, a restock mission, and a taste of civilization was just what I needed after two months away in the rainforest. Supermarkets seemed strange, with all their fluorescents and bags and boxes and cartons and jugs that remained even when no one wanted them. So many plastics, I couldn’t imagine more. You could have colored the plastics and had a McDonald’s play place right there in the supermarket. But they were right. I needed more vegetables, dried fruits and variety in my meals. And fresh seafood tasted very good, too.As did a vegetarian sandwich made with homemade mayonnaise by an awesome turban-touting chef with whom I exchanged jokes every late night while we waited for him to make the sandwiches right in front of us. The tempest lasted about a week. We just imagined ourselves stuck in a tent watching waterfalls cruising down the granite walls, and we were happy that we’d come down to town. “S” Joe left us to travel elsewhere. And we were left the three of us, Special Ops, to test our wits on new walls!Tatonka, as you will read, was the first bull to fall to Special Ops’ keen climbing team. We had, however many smaller escapades on the side. Thanks to the can of whoop-ass that Vishal carried in his booming chest, and the never-ending supply of yearning for risk that robot Josh had, our rest days soon fell prey to side adventures. We would go with Josh to Canine Cave and open a single pitch here or there. Rather, Josh would open. Vishal and I would follow, wondering all the while how Josh managed to climb with such a giant pair of, um, vision and commitment.One day, after opening Tatonka and Goosebumps (See: upcoming posts on Tatonka and Goosebumps), the three of us were hiking down the 300m of slab with our harnesses still on. Nearing the bottom, I stopped with Josh to take a look around at our incredible surroundings. Green and granite were everywhere to be seen. One version of paradise sprawled in panorama in front of us. Thus far I had chosen what formations we set off to discover. It was time to share the decision-making reigns. Namely, it was Josh’s turn to pick out where we climbed and which summit we would strive to reach next. Josh looked towards the Tetris wall. He had already made up his mind.This brought us up the same talus field that we knew so well, leading us up past Canine Cave. First we had a struggle of an attempt up a few pitches of a previously tried-and-failed, undocumented route up Pared Tetris, as we were calling it, on Cerro Gorila. We, too, were turned away. Undeterred, we came back and pulled out all of our aces, reaching our third summit together. Blockhead, we named the route, for its many blocks, loose and intact. For all of its inherent risk, the route has some quite enjoyable pitches and it was a lot of fun to switch gears from the time-consuming method of cleaning and bolting to the light and fast style of running up and down leaving only minimal, necessary traces: a few bits of grass pulled out of a crack here, a bit of tat around a tree to rappel, etc. Quick and light…it felt so right!I hope I get to climb/camp with Joshua Cook and Vishal Patel again soon. But wait: there’s more! We had the entire month of February! You didn’t think we merely conquered one wall, did you?! That was just one day!Stay tuned for more on Special Ops’ philosophies, discoveries, and memories.