Sending Strangler Figs: Rafi Vargas and His 5.13 Tree Project
Originally published on Climbing.com
Rafi Vargas is working on cleanly climbing a 5.13 route in his hometown of Monteverde, Costa Rica. He’s named it El Duro Duro, “The Hard Hard” in Spanish, as a nod to Chris Sharma’s famous route La Dura Dura (5.15c). But unlike Sharma, Vargas is barefoot. And his project is a tree.
It’s a very specific species of tree known as the strangler fig, which is basically a crack climb growing out of the ground.
“These humongous trees, they’re so alive, they’re so full of life,” Vargas tells me. “When we are climbing these trees, it feels like an energy transfer because it’s two beings sharing a moment in time, and sharing energies.”
I met Vargas in Costa Rica in April, when he took me into the rainforest so I could try my own hand at climbing strangler fig trees. Instead of bending down to squeeze my toes into climbing shoes, I pulled off my shoes and socks and started working my way up barefoot.
The closest sibling in the rock world to ascending strangler figs is crack climbing. Tree climbers wedge feet, hands, and even full bodies into the cracks created by the tree. Noah Kane, a climbing photographer who climbs rock and trees, compared it to tufa climbing: “not delicate … more powerful.”
Like many days in Costa Rica, it rained earlier in the morning on the day I climbed in Monteverde. When I tried to smear my toes against the tree, they slipped and slid off the wet bark. After a few minutes of battling, I was able to work my way up the first few moves, finally slotting my feet into a fissure. At the top, I was surrounded by a lush canopy. I could feel the tree branch underneath me swaying in the wind. Red bruises and scratches began to appear on my feet—something I’m used to seeing on my hands while climbing.
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Jesse Klein 