The directions on this page are very good except they do not mention a fork in the road between the gate pictured and the antenna towers. You come to this fork after hiking for about 20 minutes past the closed gate. You will also know the fork because there is a cattle grate just before it. If you go straight, you come to an older antenna station. You know it isn't the correct antenna station because you have a good view of "la tetilla" some distance away. But, if you take the hard right at the fork, you will come to the antenna base they mention in the post and the way up to "la tetilla."
First, we drove up to the gate as described in the directions for this hike. Our car overheated about two kilometers away, so we stopped, let it cool down a bit, and proceeded to the trailhead. I would recommend getting an earlier start to the day than we did so your car has the benefit of cooler air for this very long, continuously-uphill road.
Second, we are not the most experienced climbers but have done a fair bit of scrambling. I don't know if we keyed in well enough to this description of La Tetilla as "a short climb". The rope in those first few meters did not feel optional. When we reached the second climb, where bolts have been fixed, we decided to turn around. The stretch of rock looked climbable, but there was a significant amount of exposure and we decided that if tequila is going to kill us, it may as well go through our livers. We have comfortably navigated class 4 and some low class 5 without a rope before, but this seemed slightly riskier than those if not necessarily any more difficult. Unless you are a very confident climber, I might recommend skipping this one or - as the description mentions - bringing a rope.
Finleykj - Jan 11, 2014 3:01 pm - Voted 8/10
A Critical JunctureThe directions on this page are very good except they do not mention a fork in the road between the gate pictured and the antenna towers. You come to this fork after hiking for about 20 minutes past the closed gate. You will also know the fork because there is a cattle grate just before it. If you go straight, you come to an older antenna station. You know it isn't the correct antenna station because you have a good view of "la tetilla" some distance away. But, if you take the hard right at the fork, you will come to the antenna base they mention in the post and the way up to "la tetilla."
ncst - Jun 25, 2014 11:17 am - Hasn't voted
ThanksFor the addition!
greymstreet - Apr 14, 2023 1:46 pm - Hasn't voted
A few notes of cautionFirst, we drove up to the gate as described in the directions for this hike. Our car overheated about two kilometers away, so we stopped, let it cool down a bit, and proceeded to the trailhead. I would recommend getting an earlier start to the day than we did so your car has the benefit of cooler air for this very long, continuously-uphill road.
Second, we are not the most experienced climbers but have done a fair bit of scrambling. I don't know if we keyed in well enough to this description of La Tetilla as "a short climb". The rope in those first few meters did not feel optional. When we reached the second climb, where bolts have been fixed, we decided to turn around. The stretch of rock looked climbable, but there was a significant amount of exposure and we decided that if tequila is going to kill us, it may as well go through our livers. We have comfortably navigated class 4 and some low class 5 without a rope before, but this seemed slightly riskier than those if not necessarily any more difficult. Unless you are a very confident climber, I might recommend skipping this one or - as the description mentions - bringing a rope.