Rock Climbing in South America

Venezuela

There's some good climbing in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, though it is at pretty high altitude. The rock is stuff that looks like granite, but I'm no geologist! Pico Bolivar the highest peak in the country at 5007m  is an excellent easy climb or hard scramble.

The summit of Pico Bolivar. That's a statue of him behind Brian and Richard!

Colombia

Nice routes at Suesca just an hour north of Bogota. Most of it is bolted and there is a good climbing and bouldering 'scene'. It's a lovely idyllic rural spot as well and the weather in January is great!

Brazil

Probably the country in South America with the best and most developed rock climbing scene. The most famous areas include the whole of urban Rio de Janeiro, Salinas, Itatiaia, Pedra do Bau. The rock here is all granite, though sandstone and limestone crags exist elsewhere in the country. Guidebooks exist for most of these areas

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Pedra do Bau - bigger than it looks at nearly 300m!

On the route ' Reinaldo Behnken' on the Morra do Babilonia, Rio.

The Cordillera Blanca - Peru

A number of areas have been developed, notably the big routes on the Sphinx (Esfinge)

The Cordillera Catedral - Argentina

Located near the city of Bariloche, a well developed area. Rolando Garibotti has produced a great local guidebook, giving details of hundreds of sport routes on the walls and ascent routes for the many pinnacles.

Campanile Esloveno (Left) and the highest peak of Catedral (Centre Right), Catedral Range, Argentina

Maipo Valley - Chile

Just outside Santiago, the scenic Maipo valley boasts several important and easily accessible sport climbing areas such as El Manzano.

Cochamo Valley - Chile

A Yosemite style valley near Puerto Montt, some pretty major granite faces here

Patagonia

Big serious routes on hundreds of famous peaks, including FitzRoy, Cerro Torre, The Torres del Paine, Cuernos del Paine, Fortaleza and Escudo. There are no shortage of things to go for, but bad weather and iced up routes make this a bit more serious than just a cragging destination.

   Fitzroy at sunrise

  The Torres del Paine

Guidebooks

The following guidebooks are all reasonably easy to find (once you get to South America!!) and are reasonably accurate and useful.

Argentina

Guia de Escaladas - Cerro Catedral  (Spanish)   by Rolando Garibotti.

Cerro Otto - Guia de Escaladas  (Spanish) 

 Brazil  

Guia de Escaladas - Urca    (Portuguese) by Flavio Deflon and Delson Queiroz

Guia de Escaladas do Itatiaia (Portuguese)   by Alberto and Correa Guedes

Guia de Escaladas - Tres Picos  (Portuguese)  by Alexandre Portela and Sergio Tartari  and Isabella de Paoli

Patagonia

Patagonien (German or Italian editions) by Gino Buscaini and Silvio Metzetlin

Cuadernos de Alpinismo - Chaltel (Spanish)  Ed. Pyrenaica