Climbing Near San Gregorio de las Casas, Chiapas

The Arcotete is a 30 meter high rock arch located in the east of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. You can climb all year round and the conditions are always perfect, no matter if there is sun or rain. The Arch protects almost all the routes. From August to October the river gets a little higher, but this just affects a couple of the 40 routes. A trip to the Arcotete is definitely worth it, you can find routes for everybody. Easy warm-up routes and one of the hardest lines of Chiapas!This is a fairly unknown spot so there are few climbers. The rock is similar to the crags in Thailand, Kalymnos or La Chonta. That means, stalactites, stalacnites, tufas, holes - perfect limestone! Three dimensional climbing! On some routes you have to be very careful, because you can't grab all the stalactites. Some of them will definitely break, so climb consciously! The stalactites are part of the beauty of the arch and we have to protect them.So far, you have to pay an entrance of 60 pesos for climbing (Status as of 2021). But we're already negotiating a better price with the owners.For more information check also thecrag.com/climbing/mexico… or ask the local route setters https://www.facebook.com/Vertigorockclimbing.HistoryThe Arcotete has a long history. They say, the old mayas already used it for their ceremonies and as a place to do offerings to their gods. Later on, at the time when San Cristóbal de las Casas was built, they tell the legend from a Frenchmen called Jean Francois d'Arcotete. He gave the name to the arch, which we use until today. Because of the loss of his wife, he took his life inside the arch. According to the locals, you can still here Jean weeping, in some of the cold nights in february.Today, the Arcotete is an ecoturistic park inside the terrain of a local tsotsil comunity. The first climbing routes where established by Grupo Escala Chiapas. From 2003 to 2011 the group equiped 7 routes in the area. Years later in 2017, Sofia Tapia Garcia and Martin Siller explored the huge potencial of the arch and started equiping more than 30 routes. With the help from their friends Jose Carlos Ramos, Lucas Warmington, Ulises Guerrero, Carsten Thess and Ernesto Hernandez they changed the place within a year into a nice little climbing crag. There are three ways to get to the arch: Taxi: for about 60 to 100 pesos you can hire a ride directly to the arch (the price varies depending on your knowledge of the language, negotiating skills, etc). Colectivo: you can get a colectivo direct at the market "Tielmanns." They charge 14 pesos to bring you almost to the arch. And you just have a 10 minute walk to get the rest of the way there. Walking: if you're feeling more adventurous you can follow the right side of the river to the area. Start your journey in "las Canastas." It will take around 1.5 hours and you should bring a machete with you.

The entrance of an area known as "parque el Encuentro" has a few short sport routes, ranging from 5.10 to 5.11. These can be see in the entrance of the park off the turning of the perferico, 3 harder routes on the right hand side and 3 easier routes on the left hand side, crossing over the river and a bit further up. From San Cristobal take the road after Iglesia de Guadalupe, take the right turning down the hill towards el parque del Encuentro (it is also about a 30 minute walk from San Cristobal). The routes are in the entrance, you don't need to go very far up the track.

All day shade South of the city 5-10 min hike