Spicy climbing

Every year the Petzl Roctrip takes place in stunning locations. This year it was held in Mexico with a special taste and new savor. I was lucky enough to take part in it and would not have missed it; even though, a few months ago I was not even walking.
What is there to say about this Petzl Roctrip ? It was truly amazing ! So different in so many ways from any of the other Petzl Roctrips that we have taken part in !

I must underline the huge effort of organization from the Petzl Mexico team that made the event successful. And thanks them for all they did. The task was not easy, believe me ! We were quite a big group and the program was packed with climbing, visits and talks. Plus the Mexican way of life was not always helpfull. I mean that you have to be ready to wait for everything at anytime. That's the way it is in Mexico. Nothing else to do besides enjoying every moments as it comes.

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Just a few of the Petzl Team but the full spirit was there !

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Taxco. One of the beautiful cities we've been to

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Teotihuacán, vestiges of another civilization...

We have been climbing to two incredible places here : El Chonta which is an unbelievable massive cave with tons of stalactites and endless routes. And Jilotepec a weird conglomerat rock with fun and powerful routes to climb. Lots of Mexican climbers came to those places, for climbing with us, watching and encouraging us. Seeing their enthusiasm and motivation for climbing was simply awesome !

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El Chonta cave :

Tony, Loic and myself, climbing VERY carefully on the breakable tufas. That day we climbed a multipitch route all over the giant cave. We felt like climbing an alpine route with loose rock. Scary but Fun !

©_T_Lamiche

Gerome Pouvreau trying hard on a 5.14a ("Requiem") at Jilotepec.

But the Petzl Roctrip is not only about routes, moves and rocks. The human aspects and what we all shared here is something unique. We (the Petzl Climbers) have all more or less known each other for years; in some cases for more than 15 years. Whatever country we live in or langage we speak, it's always with the same energy and happiness that we meet up all together, climb together and live together. This is the core of the Petzl Roctrip and the atmosphere is a field of that strong spirit.
This time around we experienced harder conditions than usual for some days (no real beds, no showers, no water, no tables neither chairs and almost no electricity). This actually led to a closer relationship between all of us and stired up with a stronger Petzl team spirit !