Rio, The Best Climbing City in the World?

Rio is an incredibly diverse city, and the landscape that it is molded around embodies this fact. There are bigwalls towering over skyscrapers, white sandy beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see, and all this peppered with excellent crags and boulders. Rio is a paradise for the active city dweller. In one day you could be surfing, climbing, slacklining, paragliding, running, and myriad of other active pursuits if you were so inclined. And when the sun goes down, the nightlife here in Rio is legendary, with a festive mix of live music and fun people.
In my opinion Rio is one of the best climbing cities in the world! Where else do you have multiple big wall opportunities leaping out of the cityscape! And the rock isn’t choss, it’s world-class granite, with crystal protrusions that are sometimes reminiscent of Tuolumne’s knob climbing, but also forms in wild overhangs! The new route potential here is limited only by your imagination and work ethic. I really can’t say enough good things about the climbing here!
I would love to come back with more time and a better idea of the lay of the land, to explore Rio and the country of Brazil more thoroughly. For now, I only have a couple weeks left, so I’m going to make the most of my time in this wild and beautiful city. To say I have scratched the surface would be an exaggeration, and I haven’t even seen the endless supply of rock in the surrounding towns and rural areas. It seems like a return trip is in my future!
Beyond all the climbing and slacklining that has filled our days, one of the biggest adventures for me has been driving; lanes are suggestions, traffic lights are effectively stop signs, head lights are optional, and if you aren’t aggressive you will probably be pushed off the road by an impatient Brazilian ready to merge! Add one of the impressive thunderstorms that have been slamming the city and you’ve got a recipe for white knuckles!
And now I drive alone, I’m the last man standing! Renan and Tim have headed back home, and left me to finish the adventure and the blog with my Brazilian friends, Hugo, Jah, and Diogo! Stay tuned for a couple more blog posts as I dig through the amazing backlog of footage and continue to shoot our climbing and slacking adventures. To everyone who has checked out the blog, thanks for taking the time, be sure to check out http://borneobigwall.blogspot.com/ where believe it or not, Renan is already chronicling his next expedition to Borneo.
Lots of Love!
Cedar Wright.


Rio is an incredibly diverse city, and the landscape that it is molded around embodies this fact. There are bigwalls towering over skyscrapers, white sandy beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see, and all this peppered with excellent crags and boulders. Rio is a paradise for the active city dweller. In one day you could be surfing, climbing, slacklining, paragliding, running, and myriad of other active pursuits if you were so inclined.