Tunnel Vision
Today my finger wound is practically healed so I headed up to Barcelona’s premier training venue, La Fuixarda. ‘La Fuxi’ is an oddity – it is a crag (as in, real rock climbing crag) right next to a disused road-tunnel, which has been littered with resin holds and bolts. And, best of all, it’s free!
Climbing there is pretty strange. The ‘real-rock’ bit is actually an old quarry which was bolted some years ago. Now it has about 30ish routes, almost all below 7a. The rock is rough, hard sandstone and can actually be very pleasant to climb on, although the whole crag has been heavily chipped, drilled and modified with glue on and screw on holds. Before you Brits get too shocked though, the whole crag is capped by a 3m band of concrete which essentially holds the whole cliff together, so being able to climb there at all is a luxury.
And unfortunately recent events have meant it’s unlikely we’ll ever get to climb there again, at least in the foreseeable future. Heavy rain about a month ago caused a massive rockfall to occur, and of course the council have (quite rightly) blocked the whole area off. We’ll see. Either way, what is still left open is the other, ‘darker’ half of la Fuxi, the tunnel.
The tunnel is frankly, not a particularly inspiring place. It is dark, rather damp, and in the evenings is full of teenagers smoking dope and listening to tinny music on their mobile phones. However, if you want to get fit, it is undoubtedly the place be – Edu Marin used to train here regularly and can still can be seen there every now and again. About 30 bolted routes weave their way up and around the ceiling of the tunnel, and unless you like hauling on big holds on very overhanging ‘rock’, all of them feel hard for the grade.
But best of all the tunnel is an excellent training venue for the solitary climber. Each tunnel wall is ~50m long and has two traverses (one high, one low). Generally people go from right to left. They are, in order of escalating difficulty:
- ‘Rugby’ wall low: 6a/b (mostly used as a warm-up)
- ‘Crag’ wall high: 7a (more overhanging but huge jugs)
- ‘Crag’ wall low: 7a/b (less overhanging but more crimpy)
- ‘Rugby’ wall high: hard (never got beyond a few moves!)
In the photo above the ‘rugby’ wall is on the left, as it is wall nearest the rugby pitch. In addition to these traverses (and the countless variations you can add to them), there are a couple of numbered circuits near the tunnel entrance. These are all on crimps and are excellent power-endurance training, the easier one is about 7b and the harder one is, well, harder (I haven’t linked it yet).
So usually at least once a week (sometimes twice or three times) I take a long Spanish lunch break, grab my shoes and a mp3 player full of BBC Radio podcasts, and head up to la Fuxi. I can usually get a good hour to 90 mins before feeling guilty and going back to work. Today I wasn’t particularly on form but neither was it a disaster, I’m glad my finger injury has healed so fast. Now I’m going to rest and hopefully get back to Gelida on Sunday, and get back on Calma Tensa!!
The road is long…
So this weekend saw me out on real rock for the first time since April 2006. Back then, Jo B (shwmai Jo!) came out to visit and we drove to Rodellar, where I managed to tick one 7b, and not much else. Jo flashed the bloody thing and ticked a 7b+. Humph. Anyway the weather got hotter and I stopped climbing, but now it’s cooler and me and PJ are both psyched for pushing our sports grades. So on Saturday we went to La Talaia (topo below courtesy of Fernando – si estas leyendo esto, gracias por todo el esfuerzo!).
It is quite literally a roadside crag, in fact it couldn’t be any more roadside. This, and the graffiti, detracts rather from the ambience but the climbing is good. A nice warm-up sector of 6s and then several 30m 7-somethings. I narrowly failed to onsight Sostres, the 7a central line of the crag. I missed a crucial undercling so was feeling gutted, and felt even worse when PJ said he thought it was soft (he walked up it, of course). Then I decided to work the moves on a 7a+ to the right called El Último Mohicano, which is brilliant, really intricate and interesting moves. I was too tired to link it that day but reckon it will go first redpoint next time. PJ ticked a 7b first redpoint. I hate him.
Then the next day we went back to that old favourite Gelida. After warming up I got straight on a 7b that I almost had in the bag in April, but got completely and utterly shut-down on it this time. Sigh. Undeterred I decided to work on the 7b+ that PJ ticked first redpoint (did I mention I hate him?*) and I slipped off the crux, tearing a chunk out of the middle finger of my right hand. Bugger. Fortunately after cleaning it up when I got home I saw it wasn’t too bad, but I’ll be out of action for at least a week. The good news is that the 7b+ (Calma Tensa, I think it’s called) felt very doable, and I’m dead keen to get back on it. 7b+ is one of Steve Mclure’s Magic Grades, donchaknow.
Anyway in two weeks time Lau (a photo of him hee hee!) is coming out and we’re headed to Siurana for a long weekend, along with PJ and Gert. Lau tells me he’s pulled a muscle and is not climbing this week either, but hopefully we’ll both be healed and rested in time. I’d like to tick a 7b but to be honest I’ll be happy doing whatever.
* not really PJ I’m only joking :P
Post Rhif Un
Okay so, let’s do a summary of the facts relevant to this blog.
Name: Alun
Age: 30
Lives: Barcelona
Nationality: involves a dragon
Point of writing this blog: wants to redpoint 8a.
Current bests (this bit’s important): 7b redpoint (two so far), 7a+ onsight (several), E5 onsight (one).
i.e. there’s a long way to go. Still sport climbing is all about goals and I figure that this blog is as much about motivating me to climb as much as it for other people to read (shwmai Mam! Helo Dad!).
If by some chance you’ve stumbled on here and you don’t know me, keep reading and if you’re lucky you might learn something interesting about climbing in and around Barcelona. Mind you, you’re probably better off wasting your time playing Peggle…