Rigging to lift a climber
How to lower an injured climber
Guides & Meeting Climbers
Cuba doesn’t allow guiding. The government reserves guiding to itself, as it does with most activities involving contact with foreigners.
The government has no guides or guiding services, however.
The government doesn’t allow Cubans to import goods for resale. The government reserves to itself importing gear for sale or use in climbing.
The government doesn’t import climbing gear for sale or rental, however.
Yet, you can get a trained, experience guide in Viñales, and the guides have a storeroom of most gear needed to climb. The government pretends to control everything. The Cubans pretend to obey.
There are three or four good guides in Viñales. They work together. Contact Yarobys Garcia or Jorge (“Tito”) Pimente. Yarobys lives near the entrance to Raúl Reyes’s farm, the gateway to many of the climbs on Mogote del Valle. Contact: 53715614. [email protected].
Tito also rents modern, stylish rooms. Contact: Camilo Cienfuegos #43. [email protected]. casa 48695476. cell 53097610.
Meeting other climbers including Cuban climbers used to be easy. The days when you could spot climbers on the street by their PrAna and Patagonia clothes or ask at Oscar’s house have passed. Viñales has grown, and climbers stay at many different casas
A few climbers’ hangouts remain. Most climbers pass through Raúl Reyes’ farm. Raúl started giving climbers fruits and vegetable. Then build a small kiosk with fruits and cold drinks, and it grew to a restaurant within the farm’s natural setting. At the end of the day, Raúl’s paladar would fill with climbers. It became the place to meet and find partners.
Raúl died in 2021. The paladar has not reopened. Climbers are still welcomed to pass through the farm to reach the climbs at Milenio, Ensenada de Raúl, Filo de Cuchillo, Torre Menoco, and Cueva Cabeza de la Vaca.
To meet other climbers, you can climb the steps to Cueva Cabeza de la Vaca most afternoons, and there usually are climbers challenging its test piece climbs
