Barranca de San Martin
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| | Difficulty:4A III R (v5a1 III) Raps:12, max ↨246ft
Red Tape: Shuttle:Required 60 min Vehicle:High Clearance Rock type:Basalt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Best season: | Anytime
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20.9573, -103.8565
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Introduction[edit]
This canyon is essentially two big cascades stacked right on top of each other, making a 365m drop. If you like big exposure, this is for you! Located a little to the NW of the town of Tequila, Jalisco, the access is through blue agave fields, and then, straight down.
Approach[edit]
From Guadalajara, take the highway west to the town of Tequila, but pass on through, until the turn off to the smaller town of San Martin de las Cañas. Immediately on entering town, take the first right, then teh next right, and follow this dirt and cobblestone road all the way down to the bottom of the Rio Santiago Canyon. Leave a truck under the mangos near the stream crossing. come back up and go thru town, and take a dirt track out to the edge of the mesa, and walk 200m over to the top of the first rappel.
Descent[edit]
R1a - 40m - 1 tree r.;
R1b - 42m – 2 bolts r.;
R1c - 25m - 1 bolt r. & 1 tree;
R2 - 40m – 2 bolts r.;
R3a - 3m - 1 bolt l. for a traverse, then 2 bolts to access R3b;
R3b - 75m – 4 bolts l.;
R4a – 2m – 2 bolts - really just a re-belay to get down to R4b
R4b - 35m – 2 bolts, this is a free hanging stance, no ledge;
R4c - 49m – 3 bolts l.;
R4d - 53m – 3 bolts l.; the ledge here is only 15cm wide, and one is free hanging to get there. (Note there is only room along the ledge for 3-4 people)
R5 – 3m – can be by-passed to the l.
R6 - 35m – 2 bolts r.
Exit[edit]
After descending R6, just follow the canyon / stream 500m out thru the mango orchard down to where a truck should be waiting.
Red tape[edit]
Beta sites[edit]
JaliscoVertical.Weebly.com : SAN MARTÍN- Barranquismo.net : San Martín
- Cañonismo.com : Cañón de San Martín
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
This cascade was first spotted by Chris Lloyd during a helicopter flight in 2008. Chris followed this up with a recon trip in May 2009 to find access, and then did a scouting trip with Alberto Cortes and Victor Zaragoza rappelling 100m down and jumaring back up to confirm how big it really was. The same team returned in April 2010, and rigged down to the bottom of R3, where they then had to bivy over night, and managed to find an escape route the next day. Chris returned at the end of May 2010 with Luis Medina and Danial Matakanes and finished the complete route. For a full account of the 1st descent view this pdf file.... File:SanMartin1stDescent.pdf