WIL GOMÉZ AND SUESCA

After just a few days in Suesca, Colombia, it was clear to us that we had stumbled upon a special place. The band of cliffs towering over the river up to 130 meters high was sacred ground for the local pre-Columbian Muisca culture. In their language, Suesca means “Bird Cliffs.” Flocks of vultures circling overhead or screeching at climbers from the ledges and peaks of the massive massif confirm that the cliffs still belong to them.

How is it possible that instead of the planned ten days, we stayed here for two months and still didn’t want to leave for the life of us?

The more we got to know our new friends, the rocks, and their wild dogs, the more at home we felt here. The locals were already treating us almost like neighbors. On the day we arrived, we weren’t even sure if we wanted to stay here for the full ten days. We were a bit taken aback by the approach road, and some might be a bit taken aback by the local grade or the routes. This combination, however, keeps the tourist crowds at bay, and you have plenty of peace and quiet for climbing.

It may be this very aura that attracts strong personalities to Suesca today. The community of people connected to climbing and the routes here strives to help and change the world for the better. When we met local guy Wilson Gómez and his group of young protégés while climbing, we felt that Wil was the right person to tell us more about this place and its unique power.

PERROS SALVAJES (WILD DOGS)

We asked Wil to tell us his story…

“I was a dancer. For ten years. That passion lasted until someone in Suesca opened a bouldering gym for a short while, which soon led me to the rock. I fell head over heels in love with it immediately, and there was no turning back.”

He was nineteen at the time and started climbing with three other friends from the village. They were a rare exception. Not many locals climb here, mainly because of social barriers. Climbing is expensive and dangerous, and back then, there wasn’t much awareness of it; for most people, it was a strange thing. The guys just bouldered because they didn’t have the money for other gear. They only had climbing shoes. And even those were sometimes hard to come by.

They spent most of their time on the rocks, and before long they realized they were actually pretty good at it, so they started soloing. Sometimes five or six of them would climb a single route at once.

“Madness. We were wild dogs running rampant in the rocks.”

Soon came the moment when almost everyone in their group reached a high level of climbing. Not just some village scrambling, but French 8a or 8b. They learned everything on the rock; none of them ever went to an indoor climbing wall. A small community of passionate climbers formed there. “We were heavily influenced by hippie-punk culture and a rebellious image, like Chris Sharma’s,” Wil recalls.

Climbing shaped his entire life at that point. He became increasingly motivated. It started with bouldering, then sport climbing, and later Wil got really into traditional routes, until he reached the big walls in Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. And then suddenly, a crisis hit. A deep emotional crisis. About three years ago, he lost his passion; it stopped making sense to him, and he quit climbing. “It was tough. Climbing meant everything to me, and suddenly nothing.

I fundamentally saw myself as a climber, and suddenly I didn’t know who I was or how to identify myself. It was a pretty intense personal and emotional experience,” he describes his life-changing moment. Now he’s coming back and sees climbing differently. As a teacher who taught him many lessons and gave him experiences, partners, and friends whom he loves dearly. Thanks to this crisis, he learned a lot. He began pursuing music and became a sought-after DJ. He returned to the rocks with a different mindset and, above all, began doing things for others.

UNIVERSIDAD DE ESCALADA (SUESCA)

Suesca is a great school. You can learn everything here, including mental toughness. It is the epicenter of Colombian climbing (map).

The origins of climbing in Colombia date back to the 1930s, when Erwin Kraus, a climber and descendant of Austrian immigrants, mapped most of Colombia’s mountains, and training began in Suesca. In the 1970s, the first Colombian expedition took place to Yosemite, from where the Colombians brought back their first friends, dynamic ropes, and learned to climb big walls there. They also brought home the concept of alpinism. Since then, Suesca has become a training ground not only for Wil.

It’s an ideal environment, as you’ll find great cracks and difficult walls here. The rock may look like limestone, but it’s deceptive. It’s actually sandstone. Mostly top-notch quality, but you might also come across some shitty rock.

In the ’90s, the first bolts appeared here, and the first sport routes began to emerge. Fernando Gonzales Rubio, Wil’s teacher—who had also climbed eight-thousanders—played a major role in this. He’s a major figure, important to Colombian climbing. He laid the foundation here for sport routes with alpine ethics. The sport routes in Suesca are unique. There are often long overhangs here. Why? “On the one hand, there wasn’t money for gear, but mainly it’s tied to ethics: if you can’t handle it, choose something else. And also to the purity of style—if you can protect it yourself, you won’t drill bolts there. Climbing back then was romantic and poetic,” explains Wil.

Climbing is becoming a bit of a “trendy sport” in Colombia as well, so the situation is changing. “Because of mountaineering ethics regarding protection, there have been a lot of injuries here. Suesca thus gained a bad reputation, and people started looking for climbing in other places, such as in Maché and in Mojarre, where you can now find pure sport routes. Efforts are now also focused on educating people about safety. However, first ascents in Suesca are still done with respect for tradition. There’s a certain historical transition between the old and new schools. The old routes aren’t rebolted, which everyone respects.”

Suesca has two parts. Both have owners, but one is completely open, while in the other, the owners have arbitrary power over the rocks. They are climbers; they set routes, top-rope, maintain, and protect the rocks, but they also charge a hefty fee for access. It has its advantages, but it’s also controversial. This issue is prevalent throughout Colombia.

VIDA EN LA GUERRA (LIFE IN A WAR)

Wil’s parents own a piece of land with rocks jutting out from it. So my friends and I set up about eighty routes there, opening up a new sector called Uguatá. It had everything: sport routes, trad routes, 8b+s, and the only 8c in the area. Apparently, the climbing was magnificent. The climbers also established a code of conduct for the area, and things started to work out. But soon a conflict arose. Wil continues: “The villagers didn’t want climbers going there. To them, climbers are a very distant and strange thing, a different species. It ended up with us having to close the sector, and we even got into legal trouble.

It’s a shame there isn’t a climbing association here to handle this from the outside. The rocks are usually on private land; in some places, you can’t climb at all. In many areas, the owners charge an entrance fee. But there are also a few places where things are moving in the right direction, like in Choachí. After all, the rocks belong to everyone. But here, if you want to develop a new sector, you have to buy the entire plot of land. Another big problem is when an accident happens on the rocks. The landowner is held responsible.

People here have a negative view of climbing. It’s a new sport, and they aren’t used to it. Sport has a strong socio-economic dimension here in Colombia. You can only access it if you have money. If you’re worrying about whether you’ll have food to eat tomorrow, you can forget about it. And climbing involves a particularly large initial investment. (New climbing shoes cost around 1,500,000 Colombian pesos, which is roughly half the average monthly wage here, ed.) Colombia is a different, distinct country. We’ve gone through decades of conflict, war, and social unrest. Colombia is at war. That’s the reality of the situation. Bogotá and the center of the country are somewhat isolated from the conflict, but even here there is danger.

“El monte,” meaning “the mountain,” has negative connotations for ordinary people. For them, it represents a place where guerrillas rage, where there is war and danger… We want to change that. And climbing is a great tool for doing so. It has great power. That’s why I’m launching a project in Bogotá that makes climbing accessible to children without financial means. The point is to ensure they don’t end up in a situation where they somehow manage to get a job and then just spend their time drinking beer and watching soccer on TV. I see climbing as a great opportunity. It’s not just a sport. It opens up many dimensions.”

“El monte,” meaning “the mountain,” has negative connotations for ordinary people. For them, it represents a place where guerrillas rage, where there is war and danger… We want to change that. And climbing is a great tool for doing so.”

(Armed conflicts in Colombia have their roots in deep social inequality, political polarization, and weak state authority in rural areas. The period of La Violencia (1948–1958), during which more than 200,000 Colombians died, was followed by decades of violence between the state, leftist guerrillas—particularly the FARC—right-wing paramilitary groups, and later drug cartels. The conflict gradually became intertwined with the drug trade, which significantly increased its intensity and brutality. This led to massive human rights violations and the displacement of millions of civilians. A turning point came with the government’s peace agreement with the FARC in 2016, which led to the organization’s disarmament and its entry into politics. Nevertheless, violence in Colombia has not completely disappeared. Other armed and criminal groups continue to operate in some areas, making the peace process fragile and unfinished, author’s note.)

FUEGO INTERNO (INNER FIRE)

Climbing used to be Wil’s whole life. He wanted to push himself as far as possible and gave it his all, training hard. Now that he’s an adult, it’s a game to him. “A game that opens your mind, offering new possibilities in life and a fresh perspective on the world. I find joy both in climbing itself and in being able to share it with others.”

The project with the children came about precisely because of Wil’s deep experience with climbing. He wanted others to have that opportunity too. “You can be born in Bogotá with absolutely nothing, and your only option is to sell drugs and steal. Or you might get a different opportunity—to pursue sports, which is super cool—so if I have a choice, I definitely want that option.” For the kids, climbing is mainly fun. It gives them different feelings and experiences. It gets them out on the hills, forces them to concentrate and focus on the present moment, which is a huge value in today’s world of cell phones. It creates an intense connection with nature.

Together with my partners, we’re transforming the negative connotation of the word “mountain”—that is, dangerous, war-torn wilderness—into something with positive energy. “Mountains are great; we have to go to the mountains, we have to be in the mountains, we have to connect with the mountains, because this is our country, our territory.”

And changing this paradigm through sport also functions as a change at the societal level. It’s a shift away from a negative perspective. And climbing is a tool with immense power. It holds enormous potential to transform one’s own personality.

“My philosophy is that outdoor sports enable people to grow exponentially, both mentally and intellectually. Climbing opens the mind. Through it, we see reality in a different light; it’s a tool for critical thinking. It’s an opportunity to grow as a human being.

And climbing with passion gives you a zest for life. Through it, we can strengthen and renew the fabric of society.”

At this stage, Wil is looking for a sponsor to provide $30,000 for his project (link here, ed. note). He wants to build a bouldering wall, get equipment for thirty children, and organize courses. Then he’d like to build another bouldering wall in Suesca and expand the foundation there as well. He’s a carpenter by trade, so he has a pretty clear idea of how to do it. In the future, he’d like to expand the foundation to other regions of Colombia and also take the children abroad so they can see what this sport looks like in countries where it has a strong historical background. So maybe one day we’ll welcome his delegation here in our sandstone rock towns.

“At a certain stage in my life, I only thought of myself when climbing, but this makes much more sense to me. A spiritual crisis opened this perspective for me. I still live for climbing, just in a different way. An inner fire burns within me. Before, its source was moving across the rock, and when it went out, it was terrible. I felt like una mierda (shit, ed.).”

Wil wants to give other children and people the same opportunity that climbing has given him in life. It’s also a way of showing appreciation for what climbing does for him and what it gives him. Climbing also fosters a connection to nature, a sense of responsibility toward the environment, and the ecosystem. That’s why he also teaches children about caring for the environment and the basics of ecology.

“The social context of the project is very harsh, and this opportunity really changes the children’s lives. It’s hard for me to explain this to someone who isn’t from Colombia,” says Wil. He’s a native of the countryside and sees things from that perspective. He got into climbing by chance, but that chance encounter completely transformed his life. The chance to give children from disadvantaged families the same opportunity makes perfect sense to him. It fills him with strength, and he feels that this is what he wants to do.

“In Suesca, there’s a wonderful community of climbers who want to change the world for the better. It stems from a hippie mentality. It’s that rebellious spirit at the core of your being. It’s not about who climbs over whom, but about helping each other. We’re great friends; we’re like siblings. And it has a social impact, too. We all help each other, share things, and stick together.

One of my friends, Diego, also works with very poor children in Bogotá. He runs sports and art classes for them. Those kids would otherwise likely end up in a terrible situation. Another friend is a documentary filmmaker; he works with indigenous peoples in the rainforest. He makes great social documentaries. People who want to make a difference gather here. Local climbers are a segment of the population that has the opportunity to work with different perspectives and pass them on to children, and by extension to future generations. And that creates social chains. It’s a way to work on improving our social situation. To develop psychologically and emotionally through sports and art. Society is reconstructed this way, and the possibility of a joyful future is created.

I have climber friends all over the world. Climbers who have a special connection to spiritual growth, without making a big deal out of spirituality. They want to feel good, be at peace, not hurt anyone, and they want to do something.

You get what you give. That gives me faith in humanity.

The fact that such people exist.”

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