Potrero Chico: Multi-pitch Heaven
Climbing trip to Potrero Chico in January 2026
El Potrero Chico (EPC) is my favorite place to climb to date. The reasons: multi-pitch moderates, road side access, sun shade options and tons of routes to choose from. It’s not the steepest climbing, so my feet were hurting most days, but as the days continue, I feel like this was some of the best PT I could ever do for them. And interesting aspect of the climbing is the vegetation on the wall. Lots of small bushes and cacti with the occasional palm growing straight out and curving up to grow vertically. We fortunately did not have any trouble the raps. The area has a fair amount of loose rock and rockfall so helmets are basically mandatory any time we were near the wall.
The most difficult thing to deal with this the crowds. Several times we set out with a climb in mind but had to change plans when we ran into a line at the base and up the climb. Even when we got lucky and found the climb empty, often times we had a party coming behind us, resulting in us arrive at hanging belays with another party there. We chose to simul-rappel to make passing parties at belays faster.
Potrero Chico First Days
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Trip Dates: 1/16/26 - 1/30/26
Day 1: Los Lobos → Central Scrutinizer
- Will the Wolf Survive? 10a, 4 pitches
- Bubba Louie, 10b, 2 pitches
Day 2: Moto Wall
- Snot Girls, 10+, 7 pitches
Day 3: TNT Wall → Virgin Canyon
- Baked Fresh Daily, 10c
- Señor Sucio, 10c
- No Habla Espanol, 11b
- Blind Faith, 11b/c, 4 pitches - ran out of time so rapped early
Day 4: Tuesday Market in Hidalgo (Rest day)
The rest day in Hidalgo was perfect as we woke up to some threatening rain. The market is amazing…got lots of vegetables and fruit for cheap. Because neither of us like walking on roads, we rented bikes for the duration of the trip - 100% worth it as it’s several kms to do all the shopping.
Day 5: Outrage Wall → Las Agulas (The Spires)
- Little Route Big Tufa, 5.9+
- Montezuma’s Tufa, 11b
- No Remorse, 10d (Steph did Celestial Omnibus, 12a p2)
- Aguja Celo Rey, 10b, 2 pitches, (Chico Spire)
Potrero Chico - More Photos
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Day 6: Conundrums
- World on Fire, 12a, 8 pitches
Day 7: Ivory Tower → Zapatista Wall
- Excalibur, 10a/b, 6 pitches
- 3 Stone Place, 11c (first pitch)
Day 8: Hidalgo and rest day.
The first few days were fun and tiring. We toured the area to see a bunch of the areas as they’re all a little different. We focused on the classic 5.10s although the popularity of the routes makes this a challenge so we’re always have options. We wanted to do Pitch Black, but ended up on World on Fire due the lineup. We tried to do Satori, but did Excalibur instead. Luckily they’re all pretty fun and getting forced onto something harder made me ready to go for some harder routes in the second week.
We’ve also ran into a few friends from Moab, Nate G and Brian M which is pretty cool…small world.
Day 9: 🥶 (massive storm hitting Texas and south)
- 1st pitch of Sendero Diablo - too cold to continue. Tried other areas finally made it to Las Estrellas Canyon
- Lickety Split, 10d, the only zero ⭐️ route we did 😂
- Pink Harmonica, 10c/d
- Send it pink pocket express, 11c
Day 10: Moto Wall - still cold 🥶
- Leap of faith, 11a, 3p
- Two pump chump, 11a, 2p
- Petting zoo, 12a (Steph TR’d)
Day 11: Tuesday Market
Brian gave us the beta on the ceviche at the end of the street. Can confirm it’s pretty good. 🤤
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Day 12: Outrage wall
- Sendero Diablo, 11c, 6p
This was the hardest day for me. Started in perfect temps but we quickly had annoying side light on slightly steep limestone. 11c is the second pitch without a great warmup pitch. Feet were screaming at me by the end. Intimidating rap down an overhanging route below summit, but due to the traversing of the route it was easier and recommended. Steph lead most of this route and descent 😅
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Day 13: active rest day (not really 🙄) - last climbing day
- Satori, 10c, 7p
- Off the couch, 10d, top 5p (shares the same first two pitches to a huge belay)
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The Parking Garage House - This “house” was next door to us and quite a big part of the view and experience. It plays random music, everything from classical music to ocean sounds to light jazz, ALL day and night. Apparently this is to keep birds nesting when they’re not at home. It was a source of amazement, conversation, and laughs for us pretty much every morning as we ate breakfast to the most interesting assortment of sounds. 😂