Reports from visiting and Cuban climbers say that everyone is still able to climb in Cuba, despite the official, four-month ban on all access in the province of Pinar del Río. The Cubans have even put up new routes. Climbing in Cuba seems to have come full circle, back to the original, albeit ambiguous status of the last decade. Since 2003, officials have said that climbing is “unauthorized”, then turned a blind eye, tolerated, even advertised and exploited it. Now, visiting climbers must also take this ambiguity in stride and accept it as just another of the paradoxes the Cubans face every day. Read full update.
