Illness sucks
Well thank god that Jo has been posting (with some great photos) because otherwise this blog would be a boring place. As it happen I’ve been pretty ill recently, struck down down by a serious dose of man-flu. The worst thing of all was that it meant I spent my easter weekend in bed feeling crap. Boring.
Anyway last week I was a bit better so I went up to the tunnel for a couple of sessions, but I wasn’t fully recovered so wasn’t on form. The good news is that I’m now pretty much 100% again, and so I’m off up to the tunnel to meet PJ and Max tonight.
This weekend there’ll be no climbing but hopefully next weekend I’ll get a whole two days in row. I really want to get to Montgrony because the tufas there should sharpen me up for team 8amyarse’s May trip to Rodellar!
El Dard, Arbolí
El Dard from the approach path
Another day’s climbing in Catalunya, another amazing crag that nobody’s heard of, and nobody visits. Or at least, that’s the way it seemed yesterday as PJ and I arrived at Sector El Dard, near the village of Arbolí in the Prades mountains. Amazing rock, views down to the sea, a 5 minute approach from the car, and nobody else there. What more could you want?
It was interesting reading Jo’s post about trad climbing in Tremadog last week as it made me start thinking about trad climbing again. In general the Catalan limestone would be very difficult to trad climb as it is very compact and doesn’t have nearly as many features and cracks. However, the first few sectors we saw at El Dard were much more ‘British’ in style.The warm up sector reminded me very much of Wildcat in the Peak District – grey, rough rock set among the trees and with ample opportunities for placing protection.
However, after warming up on a couple of nice 6s, we walked a bit further round to ‘the main event’, where I was forcefully reminded that we were most definately in Spain: a bulging 35m wall of perfect orange-grey limestone, split by a handful of hairline cracks, and an entry grade of 7b. Yep, definately Spain (or, rather, Catalunya).
The goal for the day was to try a 7c called El Marginao, which climbed the central ‘climb-me!’ crack from the bottom right to the very top. I haven’t been training very much recently and I know 7c is out of my reach, but I knew that it was graded 7a+ to the intermediate lower off, so my plans were to try to onsight the 7a+ bit, and the work the moves on the upper 7c section. Luckily the first bit went to plan and the 7a+ was dispatched without too much trouble, but unfortunately the 7c was another matter. Even resting on reach bolt, I had clean run out of strength by the end, and just couldn’t do the final moves to the anchor. They weren’t particularly difficult, I was just creamed.
So anyway after one half-hearted RP attempt (where I fell off the crux of the 7a+ bit) I gave up and looked elsewhere. PJ recommended a technical 6c+/7a called Peus al Foc. Even after 45mins rest I was still tired, and I only just scraped up it onsight. I was pretty pleased but completely trashed, so it was back to the warm up sector to finish on a couple of ‘easy’ 6bs which I very nearly fell off.
PJ was climbing well and made serious in-roads on the 7c El Marginao. He did all the moves first go and had a pretty good crack at it first RP, falling off the crux moves right before the anchor (the ones that had defeated me). After a long rest he had a second bash but it was obvious from the start that he was tired, and after failing low down he dogged up to get the clips. It’s such a long and draining route – and with the crux right at the end, it’s quite a difficult route to red-point.
And at that precise moment it started to rain. It’s been a pretty miserable winter and spring in Catalunya to be honest, everybody’s sick of the rain.
So, how am I doing climbing wise? Well, the truth is I’ve been slack in the last 6 weeks or so, what with skiing and work trips and so forth, and haven’t been climbing or training that much. Jo is coming out for a ‘Team 8amyarse.com’ trip to Rodellar and Riglos in May, so my goal is get to a bit fitter for that. Still, I’m onsighting 7a/+ ish fairly confidently at the moment, so that’s not bad. But my experience on El Marginao has taught me that 7cs don’t climb themselves!
Return to Arbolí
The view of Siurana, across the valley from El Falco
Yesterday the sun shone brightly and PJ and I made a return visit to Arbolí. You may recall that the last time I was there was with Ian Lau, on the first day of our Siurana trip, I didn’t write too much about Arbolí, because the majority of the trip was spent falling off things at Siurana. But the climbing at Arbolí deserves its own post, so here it is.
The main interest in the sectors surrounding the remote village of Arbolí is a huge wall called El Falco. It is a spectacular wall, varying between vertical and slightly overhanging, and capped with overhangs. Pretty much all of the 30 single pitch routes are over 30m in length, and a handful of belay chains are a full 40m above the ground. When you consider the spacious and convenient access to the crag base, and the spectacular views across the valley to Siurana, El Falcó is definately up there with some of the best that Catalunya has to offer. PJ and I went along with French chap that PJ met recently, called Max, and when were there we met up with a couple of his Catalan friends, so there was a nice crew of us. Here’s a little video to give you an idea of what it’s like.
The wall at El Falco
With such long routes I wasn’t particularly keen to be redpointing hard stuff, and instead decided to go for a day of onsighting, which I haven’t done for a while. After a couple of nice long 6cs to warm up, I was feeling good and decided to have a bash at Borinot, a beautiful looking 7a line up the centre of the crag. 7a always gives me the willies – it’s such a psychological thing because I know that I can onsight 6c+, and 7a isn’t that much harder, and I should be able to onsight it. But that adds it’s own pressure, and so it was a little bit of trepidation that I set off. Technically speaking, I had already blown the onsight – I had half-watched Max climbing it and the clips were in, but nevertheless I was very chuffed to reach the anchors without too much difficulty. Strictly I can only claim the flash, but personally I was very pleased, regardless of what any ethic police may say.
So then after a good rest it was time to try Chanidangersch, a 7a+ immediately to the left. This was to be a true onsight attempt as I had not seen anybody on it and had to put the clips in myself. The route is a full 40m long, and after 20 minutes of climbing there I found myself, 38m up, absolutely exhausted, staring at one last final pull to reach the chains.
Well, I blew it. My left hand uncurled from the crimp and I was off. I found the ferocity and volume of the swearing that followed shocking, even as I felt the words leave my mouth. I was crushed, not just because of getting so close, but because I had held it together for 38 effing metres, which is psychologically draining. To be honest, I think mentally I was too weak, I should have just got aggressive and blasted through it (needless to say, after a couple of minutes rest on the rope, I found the move easy. Typical!). I didn’t give it everything I had and so that’s why I failed.
Still, it was a brilliant day’s climbing. PJ was chuffed to onsight a 40m 7b, just to the right of my 7a+, and Max worked the move on an 8a that looks like it never gets done, and said it was awesome. I’m not sure when I’ll be back to El Falco next, but there’s plenty left there for me to go at, so I hope it’s not too long.
Max on Bon Noi, 8a
Spring in Catalunya
Pau on the slackline, and DJ making a sandwich!
Sunshine! Warm temperatures! Yes, spring has arrived here in Catalunya. The forecast is for settled weather and temps in the high teens for the next week at least, and the air has that certain tang that heralds the arrival of longer evenings and warm weather. To celebrate, yesterady lunchtime Djanira and I went down to beach with our friend Pau. Pau is a keen outdoorsy person and used to climb a fair bit, but since becoming a father last year hasn’t found much time to get to the crags. To compensate he’s got himself a classic climber’s toy, which can be setup up almost anywhere at short notice – a slackline!
We found a couple of perfectly-spaced posts down on the beach, as you can see in the photo. I had never tried slacklining before, and I didn’t realise it would be quite so difficult! For the first half-hour, just standing on the thing was almost impossible, it wobbles so much. However, dyfal donc a dyr a garreg, as we say in Welsh*, and after a while I was able to string a couple of steps together. It’s amazingly addictive, and you learn pretty fast.
Pau is a bit of an expert and can do all sorts of fancy things like jump-starts, little skips, 180s etc. It’s cool because you can use the slackness of the line like a trampoline to help you jump into the air. I reckon next week I’ll be nailing things like this (skip to 2 minutes to see the grand finale):
* metaphorically translated as “if at first you don’t succeed…”
Paul and Ian, Masriudoms, and 7b+
Paul pulling into the sun on a 7a+ at Masriudoms
This weekend saw Paul Mealor and Ian Lau visiting us in Barcelona. The original plan was to get a crew of us down to Siurana, but for various reasons we ended up staying in Barcelona and making day trips. Fortunately, this is still no bad thing!
Not that things went to perfectly accordingly to plan, even so – the idea was that we would drive up to Montgrony for a day on Saturday, though that was scuppered when Paul and Ian’s Friday night plane was diverted to Valencia, and instead of arriving at 9.30, they rang my doorbell at past 2am!
So after a short lie in we decided to cut our losses and go to Gelida. I’m beginning to get a leetle bit bored of going there now, but the facts are that it is a great crag with loads of quality routes across the grades, so in our situation it was a bit of a no-brainer. The weather was spectacular, Ian onsighted his first 7a and Paul his first 6c, and a good day was had by all.
The next day the weather was overcast with a 100% chance of rain. However, PJ had a secret weapon up his sleeve – the cave at Masriudoms! After an hour and a half on the AP-7, we parked the van and walked in, to be greeted by this sight:
First view of Masriudoms cave
It’s very easy to run out of words when describing the Masriudoms cave. Awesome, huge, amazing, scary etc. etc. It’s about 1oo metres high from bottom to top, and so big and steep that after and hour or of being there, we realised that at some point after we had arrived it had started raining, but we hadn’t even noticed.
Paul on "Inhumana al Forn", 6b+, Masriudoms
A rare photo of Mr Lau, pulling around the arete of "ATP", 6c, Masriudoms
Needless to say, the climbing there tends to be in the upper 7s and 8s, and so not much was done – PJ was the only one with a reasonable excuse, in that he was still tired after going there the day before and ticking a 7c! The rest of us ticked the ‘warm-up’ routes, which were still awesome, and then dangled around on some harder stuff; although Lau came pretty close to red-pointing a nice looking 7a+: check out the video.
The next day PJ was working so the three of us headed to Pas de la Mala Dona. It’s a nice place with a fine selection of routes, but I wasn’t expecting a spectacular day to be honest. I had been climbing poorly all weekend, getting shut down totally on a 7c at Gelida, and dogging my way up a 7b at Masriudoms (great route, but undoubtedly the hardest 7b I’ve ever got on). So when I arrived on Sunday, I was content just to go ticking a lot of nice 6s, and completely ignore the two 3* 7b+s in the cave sector. Honest.
Fortunately for me, the rain had different ideas and, after warming up, a light drizzle picked up which forced us to shelter in the cave. It was my lead so rather reluctantly (honest!) I tied on to have a go a Les Garretes del Garraf, 7b+. To my immense surprise, I pulled through all the moves first try, resting only briefly on three of the clips. As a lowered off I realised it that the redpoint was definately on, and after a decent rest I tied on and ticked it first RP – though it was touch and go on the crux. Lau was on camera-phone video duties:
Needless to say I was totally chuffed, and after Paul ticked a nice 6c (going on 7a) first redpoint, the sun came out and it was time to take the chaps to the airport.
Enjoying the late afternoon sunshine at Pas de la Mala Dona, Garraf
So, a good weekend was had by all, and with talk of a bigger gang visiting Barcelona at Easter, and Jo B confirmed for an attempt at Fiesta de los Biceps in May, my climbing year is beginning to plan itself out nicely. And as for my goal of 7c by the end of the season? Hmm I don’t know. I need a fair bit more mileage on 7b and 7b+ to even think about it yet. But maybe.
Alun enjoying Masriudoms!
Check out the rest of the photos of the weekend, including some more of the impressive cave, here.
Start as you mean to go on
Over the last fortnight I have been doing plenty of things that were good for my climbing, such as hanging under a fingerboard, doing lots of offset pull-ups and going to the bouldering wall. Yet I also did lots of things that might not have been so good for my climbing, mostly involving vast quantities of tasty food, and not an inconsiderable amount of Spanish red wine.
So it was with interest and a little trepidation that I returned to Gelida today although, as it happens, I needn’t have worried. After warming up I ticked Calma Tensa first try, even putting the clips in as I went. And like many succesful redpoints, it even felt easy! On the left is a picture of the route with the line marked in red. The first crux (lower red dot) is awkward but very near the ground, then it’s easy climbing up to an excellent rest on a big jug. After that is the upper crux (middle red dot) which is awkward and balancy on small crimps. This is the bit that was bothering me last time, but today I was feeling really strong and pretty much walked it. Then you clip the final bolt before an easy run out 7a-ish section to finish.
So it was with great relief I clipped the chains. Okay, okay, it is soft-touch for 7b+, but it’s definately the hardest route I’ve ticked, regardless of the grade. So I’m chuffed – the season goal of 7c is looking well within reach!
The other good news is afterwards I made a flash attempt at Chapas Negras, a 7b/+ just to the right of Calma Tensa. With PJ shouting up the beta, I made it all the way to the final clip before succumbing – totally gutted because I found a slightly easier sequence afterwards which might have let me get to the top had I found it first time. Still, a good effort!
Anyway next weekend PJ and I are headed back down south, along with Djanira and our friends Kim and Sameer, who will be going hiking. PJ and I will head for Monsant (sector Racó de Misa, check the link!!) and then to the big cave at Masriudoms (see photo below).
Wow.
Fail fail fail!
Yesterday we had excellent winter sun climbing conditions in Catalunya. The air temperature was a few degrees above zero, but the sky was crystal clear and sun nice and warm. It makes for interesting conditions at the crag, as you climb in a t-shirt in the sunshine, but at the crag base in the shade of the trees you have to wrap up in a down jacket, hat and gloves. Keeping warm between routes is tricky, particularly for the fingers, but once you’re up there climbing in sunshine it feels beautiful.
Unfortunately, neither PJ or I could take advantage of the conditions. PJ was tired and not climbing very well, and I failed repeatedly on Calma Tensa. Last week I thought I’d come back and tick it first try, but after falling off the upper crux for the fourth time yesterday, it was time to call it a day. It’s so frustrating. The first go I was feeling strong, blasted through the first crux, but messed up my feet on the second crux. The second time I reached the same point but messed up my hands. The third attempt I hadn’t rested long enough, so before the fourth go I had a good long rest and a bite to eat. The sun was jsut beginning to set so it was to be the last go. I was feeling tired and not too confident, but as soon as I was on the rock I blasted through the lower crux again and my confidence started to rise. After the mid-height rest, I did the upper-crux perfectly, put my feet perfect, latched the crux crimp perfectly…and stopped. I couldn’t move. All I had to do was pull up on these two crappy crimps, stick a high foot-hold, and I would be home and dry. But I couldn’t move. I tried as hard as I could but with no strength left, my fingers uncurled and I was off. Bugger.
So now PJ is away for 10 days and I have to wait til the new year for my tick. Today the weather has turned bad, which actually may not be a bad thing as it gives me a reason to get the fingerboard out, which I haven’t done for a while. Hopefully a fortnight of hanging will give me that extra blast of strength I need to hang the crucial crimp.
Anyway if you’re interested here is a homemade topo (originally found here) of the section of Gelida with all the interesting stuff. (The rockfax topo for this section, btw, is useless). Calma Tensa is route 2, the 7c+ to the right of it is Calma Intensa. PJ’s long term project is the classic 8a of the crag, and indeed the whole Barcelona region, Amb la boca plena de sika (”With a mouth full of resin”!) which is number 5 (curiously to the right of number 6 in the diagram). A possible future project for me is Bongo Bongo, number 9, but I’d like to get another 7b+ done first (there’s another good one, apparenly excellent) on a different sector at Gelida. mind you I’ve got tick Calma-bloody-Tensa first!
Rained off Calma Tensa
Those who know me well will be aware that I have a tendency to under/over exaggerate time scales. So if I’m trying to convince you to the come to the pub and say “it’s only a 5 minute walk”, you can be sure to be trudging for a full 20 minutes before ordering the first beer. In a similar (yet kind of opposite) sort of fashion, despite writing yesterday morning that “I’ll have to wait at least a week to get back on the rock”, barely 24 hours later I was tying on the sharp end at Gelida. The finger wound is still ugly but is not too painful and climbing with it is perfectly possible. Such melodrama!
Winter has arrived here in Catalunya at last. The weather has turned cold and damp with plenty of rain around, and while the means good news for the ski resorts, it’s not so good for us climbers. Gelida this morning was very very cold (like, 3 or 4 degrees C), and spitting rain. Still, like the good northern europeans that we are, PJ and pushed on through. I had my first real try on Calma Tensa, the 7b+ that I’ve mentioned a fair bit recently. It has two distinct cruxes – one low down on steep rock and generally good holds, and a second about halfway up, on vertical rock but really balancy on crimps. In between the cruxes is a juggy section with a good rest.
I worked the route to get the clips in, and to my great satisfaction I did all the moves either first or second go, finding nothing particularly taxing. Then, just as I was clipping the chains and feeling confident of the first-redpoint tick, the heavens opened. D’OH!! With the rain setting in it was game over, because although the bottom crux stays dry the top crux was getting wet even as I lowered. I’ll have to wait for the next day. Ah well, I guess it gives more time for the wound to heal. Hope next weekend’s sunny!
Completely gutted
So here I am at 7.15am, bag packed with rope and gear, all ready to go climbing. Today was the day I was going to make a real go on Calma Tensa, the 7b+ at Gelida. It is perfect timing, I should be as strong as ever after four days in Siurana, and nicely rested. I’ve been watching climbing videos all week to get motivated.
But I’m not going anywhere this morning.
Last night I was cutting some cheese when the knife slipped and sliced into the tip of the index finger of my left hand. Stupid, stupid bloody idiot. It is not serious enough to go to hospital, but it is pretty deep and quite painful. I wrapped it up well last night in the vain hope that it might be okay to climb today, as it is on the side of the finger, not the pad. But this morning I took a look it is still bleeding freely and throbbing painfully. Climbing on it now, even on easy stuff, would just be adding to my stupidity.
So now I am waiting for PJ to wake up to tell him that I can’t go climbing (thus ruining his plans) and I’m totally gutted that I’ll have to wait at least a week before getting back on the rock. Sigh.
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…