Pico Sur - Pico La Virgen

Approach

From downtown Monterrey drive south on Eugenio Garza Sada Ave., just past the Revolucion Ave. intersection, take the right lane and exit behind the hill after the big curve and into Wal-Mart`s parking lot; leave your car there.
Walk across Eugenio Garza Ave. using an underpass and then enter Parque Canoas park, keep going to the other side of the park and exit on the upper end; this is the ---- neighborhood, and the people there can be conflictive, so never travel the area alone; keep walking south (right) on Valle de los Sabinos street wich curves to the east (uphill), after two or three blocks turn right one block and then left again to Valle Verde street and hike up to the end of the neighborhood where a metal cross marks the trailhead.

Route Description

The route starts on the trail that climbs gradually at first on the bushy slopes heading to the gully between Pico Sur (to the north) and Pico La Virgen (to the south) and steepening through a boulder strewn area; there are some blurry white arrows indicating the way, then winding some more to the base of "El Espejo", wich is an 80 ft long wall with a 60 degree slope. This has to be negotiated scrambling on it`s left side next to the edge of the vegetation, past this area the trail takes the right side of the gully and steepens some more needing to scramble at several points that have either loose sand or scree, further ahead it turns to the left (north) across the wider gully and then climbs up steeply on loose dirt after another scramble over some boulders. The trail then reaches the connecting ridge between the peaks; to the right (south) follow the ridge scrambling at times to the lower and vegetation covered Pico La Virgen; to the left (north) follow the short but exposed trail that runs between the big wall below the summit and the intimidating cliff to the east; there is a 3 meter class 4 exposed free climb at the end, then another one of about 8 meters going up an 80 degree chimney; the tiny summit is reached a few steps above and is marked by a giant cross installed by Club Condor over 40 years ago and visible to the naked eye from the bottom of the mountain.

Essential Gear

Some people may consider taking a 10 m rope for the chimney climb, but experienced climbers won`t need it.