One down...not many left to go!

Not much to say about today really, and I'm not sure whether to feel pleased or disappointed.

It was very cloudy up towards the hills but sunny down on the coast so we opted for Masriudoms again, hoping that the rain from Friday hadn't caused too much seepage. The crag was still bone dry, so we were worrying for nothing!

Everything went to plan - I warmed up, put the draws in the lower half of 'Los rancios de la aldea' and left some draws in the mid-height belay to collect on the way past. Then had a bit of a rest belaying Tash on ATP and chatting to Karin & Steve. Then I climbed the route first go. The lower half felt pretty steady, so I'm pleased about that - if I compare it to how hard it felt a year or two ago when I was trying it. I managed to rest and de-pump at the chains of the lower half, and then the climbing on the top half just felt like a case of keeping it together to the end (even the scary crux cross-through didn't feel too bad) so I'm pleased about that too - nice to know I haven't lost all my stamina! The climbing was just as good as I remember, and the whole route makes for easily one of the best and longest routes at the crag.

But lowering down I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. As much as I wanted to get it done, I also didn't want to tick another route off the 'to-do' list, as I'm running out of new stuff to do there too quickly - I wish there were 10 more routes just like it! I only have one more extension to do in the main area (Ricacera 8a+) and then the rest start off the ledge on the right, which is a bit more of a pain to get to, up the fixed ropes. There were draws in the 8a 'Tango Ferez' today which did look good so maybe I'll get on that next time?

 


Steve Crowe on the crux starting moves of 'Ricacera' (F8a)

 

I belayed Tash on ATP and got some shots of Steve on 'Ricacera', before it was time to go.






 




Try to spot Steve on the extension to 'Ricacera' (F8a+) - another HUGE route!! Today's route for me follows the pink dots to a belay below a roof about 10m out of shot!
Half-height belay marked with the big dot :-)



 


Bouldering & cave paintings?!....in Arbolí?!

Well....not exactly!

After the torrential rain all day Friday and a poor forecast for Saturday we decided to buy a new coffee pot and resign ourselves to a day of mooching and watching films. Unfortunately the coffee pot didn't work (damn Chinos!!), and it didn't even rain a drop all day :-(  But after so much rain the day before and a better forecast for Sunday we settled on convincing ourselves that everything would be wet and we'd be better off inside. During the afternoon I also had to convince myself that what I saw out of the window WASN'T blue sky. They'd forecast rain so how could it be blue sky? Best not to look outside.

On Sunday morning I obviously regretted this decision, as the cloud was back and hanging low over the hills. It wasn't raining, but it was cold and very grey. We decided to head out anyway, but changed the original plan of Margalef or Raco de Missa in favour of somewhere closer.

Destination today: Arbolí - and the sectors around the Ermita de Sant Pau.

The not very picturesque 'Ermita de Sant Pau', Arbolí - complete with a yapping ankle-biter guard dog.



Overlooking Arbolí village. It was pretty grim on first arrival...and stayed that way all day!



This is, again, somewhere that I've never been so thought it'd be a good day to try it out - if it turned out to be rubbish then no great loss.



The crags were easy enough to find, but unfortunately not the most inspiring. Pretty short (15m) and vaguely reminiscent of somewhere like Horseshoe quarry in the peak, only natural. The routes actually turned out to be better than they first appeared, with some interesting moves, and the rock was very solid, if a little damp today. It was hard to get warm and then stay warm with the really cold, damp air that was around, but we managed to get plenty of climbing done. I on-sighted five 7a or 7a+ routes, despite not being able to feel my fingers once. I had to resort to redpointing another 7a+ though after getting a ridiculous cold pump about 4m off the floor!


Tash managed to on-sight the worst looking 6b in the world and redpoint a nice 6c with "icy sausage fingers", so a good day for her too.




After we got tired of fighting the battle to stay warm we went to check out where some guys had appeared from earlier in the day with a Black Diamond Mondo pad. I'd forgotten that a new bouldering guide to the Prades area has been published - must check it out some time. Anyway we had a quick look around and found some half decent looking problems. It's not Fontainebleau by any stretch of the imagination, but worth a day or two!




Nice looking traverse line.




Very good looking problem on small crimps up the overhanging wall.

 

The other highlight of the day was finding these neolithic cave paintings under one section of the crag...amazing that even back then they were climbing hard!





Cave painting man climbs F9b+

We ended the day with a scout around some of the other crags in the area to see if they were worth coming back for. For future reference:

El Cremat - no.

Forat del Serratell - yes.

El Duc - half day?

So despite the crappy weather it ended up being quite a productive day. On-sight mileage, tour of a new bouldering area and some potential new crags as well as taking in some culture with a bit of prehistoric art!

Masriudoms in the rain...

It had rained overnight and after my intense climbing day yesterday I was a bit achey so we were very tempted just to stay in bed, but with a poor forecast for the next few days we decided to make the effort!

Destination: Masriudoms again. This place is so steep and overhangs so much that it stays dry even in the heaviest rain (apart from after prolonged periods when the seepage comes through).

I put the draws in the first half of 'Los rancios de la aldea' and then re-redpointed it again. I came down and collected some more draws and then headed on up the extension. It's another incredible addition to the crag - 50m long and with incredible tufa climbing right the way to the top. The crux of the upper half involves taking an undercut with your left hand and then getting your feet really high and doing a strange off-balance cross through move right across your body to get an undercut sidepull which you have to almost fall onto. One final rock-over onto a really high right foot leads to a clip and a rest before another 15m or so of easier, but still pumpy climbing, gets you to the top. The crux section is quite scary, as you already have your feet a few metres above the bolt when you start the hard moves and then it's another 3-4 metres of strange off-balance climbing before the next one. After getting the draws in to the top I managed to link the second half of the route on top-rope, despite being really tired from yesterday, so hopefully next time I manage to get through the bottom half (definitely still the crux of the whole route) I'll be able to have a good go at the extension. Anyway, it's a good one for building up some endurance on, as it's really long with plenty of shake-outs in the upper half and pumpy climbing in between.

Tash made good progress on her project (the pumpy 6c first section of ATP) so she was happy!

The incredible long routes at Masriudoms - 'Los rancios de la aldea' full route (F8a+), 50m on the left and 'ATP' L3 (F8a), 40m on the right.

It snowed a few centimetres in Siurana today and more forecast for tomorrow, with changeable weather on the way at the weekend so we'll see what we manage to get done in the next few days...

Walking out from Masriudoms in the rain after another successful day.

Masriudoms in the sun...

Another cold start (though not as cold as it has been of late) and an earlier start at work on Wednesdays meant that we (me & Javi) decided to go to my local crag, that is Masriudoms, in order to maximise climbing time.

   

Masriudoms - home of free oranges, limes, almonds and most importantly...tufas!



"Old French dude" trying the 7c+ (the connection comes straight up from the left to join the route here)

I started with my usual warm-up on the mega-long line of ATP. The climbing is relatively consistent all the way and pretty juggy, and has belays at different points up it so you can just go as far as you want depending on how good you're feeling, until you get nicely warmed up. Today I stopped at the 7b+ chains for my warm-up (other days I've been pumped at the end of the 6c so I knew I was feeling relatively good today)

I've been to Masriudoms so many times now that, although I never get bored of climbing there, I am running out of new routes to do very quickly. One of my only potential 'on-sights' left to do was a connection route on the left wall linking the start of a 7c into the end of a 7c+ to give, unsurprisingly, another 7c+. It sounds a bit pointless but, in fact, it's a more direct line than either of the other routes and is probably the most obvious way up this bit of wall. Anyway, despite having climbed both the 7c and 7c+ before and this connection having very little new climbing, I was nevertheless pleased to do it first go (on-sight / retro-flash / whatever you want to call it!!)

[This French guy's mate had the most amazing hands I've ever seen - ridiculously fat sausage fingers!!!]

"Old French dude" higher up on the 7c+

One of the other routes I have left to do here is the 8a+ extension to 'Los rancios de la aldea'. This is one of the best routes at Masriudoms, even just to half way (hard 8a), with amazing varied and technical climbing up some quality tufas. Unfortunately it's starting to show signs of over-use with some crucial footholds getting polished, to the extent that it's quite reminiscent of the catwalk at Malham! Anyway, with the intention of attempting the extension some time soon I decided to try and repeat the lower half and familiarise myself with it again. So I put the draws in and worked the crux moves. After a quick rest I managed to re-redpoint the route, though it was a bit touch-and-go moving rightwards to the final big tufa, where the difficulties end and there are some jugs to shake out on. Bring on the extension!

Me on 'Los rancios de la aldea' - the first belay is just below the top of this picture - the full route is twice this length (50m!!)





I finished the day with a lap on what is fast becoming my party piece at this crag - ATP again, but this time to the chains at the top of the 8a. It's such a fun route to climb - 40m of the most perfect tufa climbing and when someone has the draws in all the way then you can just keep going 'til you fall. By now it was time to leave, and after packing A LOT of climbing into only a few hours I was feeling pretty tired too.

Two 'wad' ticks in a day in Siurana...

The temperatures remained low this week so it was another cold start to the day driving up to Siurana (-4°). The icefall below Reserva India seems to be forming nicely again! We went to Can Piqui Pugui, one of the most classic 'old-school' sectors in Siurana and somewhere I hadn't been for a while. It's always a good bet that it'll be warm down there and today we weren't disappointed. Perfect climbing temps - t-shirt for climbing and down jacket for belaying. I warmed up on a new 7a (Marvi Forever) to the left of Delicatessen, which was bolted only last year and turned out to be a great route. It still needs a bit more traffic to clean it up properly but the rock and the moves on it were fantastic, and there wasn't even a hint of polish - something which you fully expect to find in such an old sector. Then I got on 'Decidet en petit comite' (soft 7b) - a bit of a one-move-wonder going off the top of the massive flake, but another good route. Tash managed to get the draws in 'Toca-me-la Sam' (6c+) and had a decent redpoint go but fell at the final undercut crux. I then finished with 'Cleptomania' (7c) - a route I'd been saving the on-sight on for a while. I was pleased (a) most importantly to finally get this done, as it has a bit of a reputation as a hard 7c with some quite technical climbing (typical of Siurana!) and (b) that it didn't feel too bad - every move felt totally in control and I still had plenty left at the chains - time to get on some more 7c+ on-sights?! Above all though it was yet another brilliant route - I love Siurana!

The French Petzl team turned up mid-morning (including Alizée Dufraisse and the 15 year old 9a+ wonderkid Enzo Oddo) so we watched them for a bit before it was time to go to work.

Alizée Dufraisse (French wad-ess) on the awesome looking 'Chicane' (F8c+) at sector Can Piqui Pugui, Siurana and another French guy on 'Gigololo' (F8a+) in the background.

Temperature plummets 15° in a week!!!

Saturday

On Tuesday this week I was climbing with no top on and worried about it getting too hot. Today it was -1° on leaving the house and -4° driving up the hill. Originally we were planning to go up to Raco de Missa (Montsant) but as soon as we got outside and hit the icy air it was clear this would have been a mistake (despite it being glorious wall to wall sunshine). So a quick change of plan and we were on our way to Siurana instead, in search of a sheltered suntrap.

Destination: Two sectors that I hadn't been to before called Can Parasit and La Planxa ("the iron" - see pic to see why it's called this!) for a day of easy on-sight mileage. First stop Can Parasit on a mission to tick the crag between us. I did all the routes 6c+ and above, and Tash (tried) to do the sub-6c routes. She started well, on-sighting a 6a and 6a+ but got shut down right at the very end of an awesome 6b+ where the wall steepened up. We then moved on to La Planxa where I did a very nice short but explosive 7b+ and a 7a+ rising traverse along the edge of the boulder. I was quite pleased with the 7b+ on-sight, as there was no chalk to follow and the pockets were quite dirty - which makes a big difference on something so short and bouldery.

'Intercity' (F7b+) on the La Planxa block at Siurana. Well named - it means 'the iron'!

Some Spanish girl climbing 'El tiempo se ha reido de los que no han venido' (F6c) as we were walking back to the car.

We bumped into Mac & Holly walking back to the car so went for a brew in their van to catch up and end a very nice sunny but cold day.

Routes ticked:-

Cara Estaca 7a

El pupes 7a

Montazer al Zaidi 6c+

Ma mola molt 6c+

Libertarias 7a

Mr. Muss 7a

El caganer del ruc 7a

Kagarro malababa 6b+

Intercity 7b+

Tupac Amaru 7a+

Sunday
Today we went to another new sector; this time one of the Arboli crags called Mas d'en Rei. It was bitterly cold again walking in (despite blue skies) thanks to an icy wind.

Tash walking in along the ridge with great views down to Reus and the coast.

After walking around in circles for a while at the old farmhouse trying to find the path dropping down, we finally found the right one and headed down into the trees. It's always a bit worrying going to brand new sectors like this when you can't see the place until you arrive, especially when there's a bit of a walk in. When we arrived at the start of the crag we were a little disappointed to say the least. The rock was a bit vegetated, dirty and broken and none of the best looking lines were bolted. Plus it wasn't very sheltered so it felt damn cold, even in the sun.

Tash underneath the left-hand side of the crag - it looks better in this photo than it actually was!

So we were pretty close to just opting for a token route and then leaving. But there was one more little sector hidden round the corner, separate from the rest, which held a glimmer of hope. After a bit of bush-whacking through some pretty nasty brambles we arrived at what looked like an outcast from Siurana - a small but awesome looking wall with some really nice clean lines up it. And to top it off, it was a total suntrap - perfect! I warmed up on a good, steep, but slightly dirty sandbag 7a crack - it felt like very hard work to start the day with and I got a bit more pumped than I'd have liked (but things always feel a grade or two harder with no chalk or tickmarks, and when the rock's a bit dirty) I left the rope up for Tash to top-rope on for the rest of the day - she had quite a few goes up it but it was a little too steep and bouldery for her, although she got pretty pumped trying!

Next up was a fantastic 7b up the centre of the wall. Brilliant thin cracks and flakes linking between some horizontal breaks - really nice climbing, and I was pleasantly surprised at how clean the rock was, given how little traffic this crag obviously gets (we didn't see a single person the whole day and there was no chalk on any of the routes!) Then came another brilliant 7b+ on the extreme right of the wall, starting with some nice technical vert climbing leading to a steeper wall and finishing up a perfect jamming crack! The final route turned out to be another total sandbag. I tried for the O/S, but after going up and down at the crux a dozen times I just couldn't figure out how to do it and sagged onto the rope. It's either lost a hold or two, or it's badly graded. Even after the low crux moves, which felt desperate once I'd actually worked out the best way, it wasn't all over. But the route was such good quality that I was psyched to give it another go, despite feeling pretty tired by this point. After a rest belaying Tash, I managed to redpoint it first go (although it was a bit of a fight at the second crux). It felt like hard and bouldery 7c, but it's difficult to tell when there's no chalk and the rock's dusty. Equally, I could have just been more tired than I thought - who knows?

By now we were both knackered and the late afternoon sunshine was starting to go off the wall so we headed home for thai curry & christmas cake :-)

Lazing in the sunshine between routes (the best bit of the crag is just round the corner out of sight)

El Dard in the mist

The temperature has dropped a bit since we were out on Tuesday and, although today it was sunny at home down on the coast, driving up past Alforja it became more and more misty. We decided to stick to the coast side of the hills to avoid the mist as much as possible, but the crags were still clouded when we arrived.



El Dard in the mist on arrival



We went to one of the most overlooked gems in the area - El Dard. Most people who visit here only climb at the big three spots - Siurana, Margalef and Montsant - plus maybe a cursory visit to El Falco for a day. Although El Dard is classed as an Arboli crag, it's actually nowhere near the village itself and you drive past it every time you go from Reus to Cornudella to get to the 'big three'. It took me over a year after moving to finally make it here and climb the classic 7c crackline of 'El Marginao' (this is a must-do route and worth a visit to the crag just for it). Today I wanted to try another of the routes on the main wall which follows a slanting crackline running parallel to El Marginao but slightly to its left. After a quick warm-up on a 6c+ my fingers were still too cold to contemplate an on-sight but I was impatient to get on it so settled for just putting the draws in and hopefully a quick redpoint.

It turned out to be another amazing route - again, worth a visit just for it. Really nice laybacking up the thin crackline where it was important to slot your hands in with the right sequence and finishing with a high foot and long lock off a sidepull in the crack. As I hoped, it turned out to be quite a straightforward first redpoint and I finished the day on-sighting yet another quality technical 7b called Silverado.

Yarak (F7c+) at sector El Dard, Arboli

Another shot of the same

Total Insanity...the first 8 of 2011

Cloud inversion in the valley below

Yet another beautiful sunny day up at Siurana with a nice cloud inversion down in the valley to start with. We returned to the aptly named sector Solarium - very apt today, as by 10am it was already starting to warm up!


The sun creeping onto sector Solarium, Siurana.



I warmed up putting the draws in 'Hipocondriaca' (F7a+) for Tash to top-rope then got straight on to the brilliant 'Total Insanity' (F8a) that I tried last week. It's a superb quality route straight up the middle of the perfect orange & grey streaked wall, so typical of Siurana. Some nice straightforward technical climbing gets you to a good rest before the wall steepens up and the bouldery crux sequence comes, involving a big powerful lock off an undercut pocket with crap right foot and a terrible left hand undercut to get your left foot high so you can bump your left hand into the crack. I set off intending just to put the draws in but I felt good and it was starting to get warm so I decided just to go for it and everything went well. A satisfying dyno to the final jug with feet cutting loose left me with my first 8a of the year - pretty happy to be getting back into it after 2 weeks of eating and zero climbing!



The crux sequence on 'Total Insanity' (F8a)



Weekend in Riglos...

After checking the weather for the umpteenth time last week and deliberating over where to go (Terradets or Vilanova de Meia multi-pitching, Bruixes sport etc), with the winter heatwave set to contine we finally decided on Riglos. So early Saturday morning (5.30am to be precise!) we set off. About half an hour into the journey and heading down onto the Lleida plains we hit the fog. Lleida is notorious for having horrible fogs which just sit over the entire plains for days on end and never lift....which is what we drove into! So driving slowly in the dark through the fog with about 50m visibility and with drizzle in the air we were wondering whether we'd made the right decision!! Anyway about 20kms from Riglos and with the sun just coming up we finally emerged from the fog to an amazing sunrise. We quickly had breakfast in the car park and walked up to the base of El Pison, the tower we were going to climb that day (walking right past a dirty Spaniard just wiping his bum!!). We started climbing just as the sun was coming on the rock (~9.30am) and it started to warm up. We did the route 'Carnavalada' (F7a+) 300m - one of Leo's 'Asgard project' routes. Three nice easy pitches led to the crux 7a+ pitch. This was the only pitch on the route on the classic Riglos potato rock and it was superb. An almost totally smooth wall apart from these huge slopey potatoes sticking out occasionally that you had to yard between...fantastic! Tash on the first crux pitch up the 'potato patch' on Carnavalada - doesn't really show the steepness! Me on the upper half of Carnavalada. The rest of the route was good and on really solid rock, climbing one of the big vertical channels to the top of the tower with occasional cruxes pulling through awkward bulges. It was amazing sitting facing out belaying Tash up and watching the Griffon vultures swooping past and circling in the updrafts. On top of El Pison tower with vultures circling and the snowy Pyrenees in the distance! Here's a video from the top of El Pison with the Griffon vultures for all you twitchers out there:- The final 60m free-hanging ab back to the ground The descent from the tower was easy enough, with some abseils and some scrambles down the gully with via ferrata cables. Only one hairy moment when two guys just topping out on the tower knocked some massive stones down which went ricocheting down the gully we were just about to go down! We made it down about 4pm and wandered around getting some photos in the evening sunshine - still really warm even at 5pm!! Tash with El Pison tower  The Mallos de Riglos towering over the church and village      Tash looking at tomorrow's objective - the big steep tower on the right. We stayed in the refuge (totally empty so we got a 6 bed room with toilet, shower etc to ourselves for 16euros each - bargain) Next day we were up early again and started climbing at 9am before the sun was on the rock - but already it was warm! This time we were heading up La Visera tower (of Fiesta de los Biceps fame). We did a combination route starting up 'Chinatown' (F6c+) but switching to 'De Naturaleza Salvaje' (F7a) after 5 pitches to join and finish up the last pitch of 'Fiesta'. This way we stuck as much as possible to the steep potato rock which is so fun to climb on. The first 6b+ pitch on the black Chinatown bolts was absolutely stunning - swinging out onto and climbing the arete on huge potatoes - has to be one of the best pitches in Riglos!!! It's hard to describe how unique and amazing climbing on this rock is - it looks so loose and unconsolidated from below but when you get on it the rock is just so solid with huge stones and boulders protruding from the mudstone. And so steep too so the exposure as you get higher is just crazy - looking hundreds of metres down between your legs into space to the floor below - awesome!! Tash on the incredible 6b+ arete pitch of Chinatown!!! After pulling through the next short but seriously steep 6b+ roof pitch we split from Chinatown and headed out rightwards onto the steep pudding stone headwall. First an amazing pumpy 6c+ pitch (harder than anything on Fiesta!) and then another 7a to join Fiesta at the huge boulder belay (one of the most incredible belay positions ever, sat on a huge boulder sticking horizontally out from the wall with nothing but 250m of space below you!). By this point Tash had pretty much run out of steam and these last two pitches were a bit of a fight as she struggled on the steeper climbing and it turned into just an effort to reach the belay going from bolt to bolt. At one point she took a bit of a swing between bolts, much to the amusement of some onlookers!! But at least she made it eventually ;-) All that remained was the final 6a+ pitch of Fiesta to reach the top. All in all it made an incredible sustained expedition up the Visera tower - easily of comparable quality to Fiesta. The end of the short and steep 6b+ roof pitch The fantastic 7a pitch on 'De Naturaleza Salvaje' heading across to join Fiesta de los Biceps Again, we got down to the village about 4pm and set off back to Reus. And the icing on the cake was driving back and hitting the same fog on the outskirts of Lleida - it turned out that they'd been sitting underneath it all weekend :-) Mallos de Riglos with El Pison tower on the left and La Visera on the right - you can see the routes we did if you hold your mouse over the picture!!

Carnavalada - 300m - F6a+, 6a, 5+, 7a+, 6c+, 6c+, 6b

Chinatown / Salvaje combo - 250m - F6a+, 6a, 6c+, 6b+, 6b+, 6c+, 7a, 6a+

What a difference a year makes...

Well the winter heatwave has continued throughout this week and we've had several days climbing up at Siurana. I can't believe what a contrast it's been to this time last year when we had a metre of snow up in Siurana and the entire road was blocked off from right down in Cornudella. This year it's been consistently 15-18°!!!

Siuranella this week.

Siuranella this time last year!

On Monday we went up to Siuranella central. I got on a really thin, technical and bouldery 7c+ with a cool dyno move that I'd tried before xmas. I put the clips in the start where the crux is and then lowered back to the floor. I then did the hard bit first go and collected the draws I'd left hanging in the 4th draw so I could finish the route but forgot that there was one blind and tricky move right at the top...which I couldn't remember how to do and blew obviously! By this point it was getting pretty warm so I just decided to sack it off and save some skin for tomorrow.

Sunshine at Siuranella central.

Tuesday we went to a really nice sector called Solarium on the Siuranella cliffs. I'd been here before and on-sighted the two good 7a+'s and a 7c but couldn't remember what the other routes looked like. Turns out there's an amazing 8a called Total Insanity. I put the draws in and eventually worked out the crux move (moving off a good undercut pocket but with the worst feet ever and the tiniest left hand undercut). Had a good effort and got through the crux 1st redpoint but was pretty tired and the extra xmas weight let me know it was there so I dropped the last hard 'dyno' move to the finishing jug. It should go next time anyway.

Thursday we were up at Siuranella again - this time Siuranella south. I just had an easyish day of onsighting, doing a 7a+ and a 7b. Tash didn't fair so well and got shut down on the classic 6b+ 'Like a Cuc'.

The heatwave looks set to continue this weekend so we might go away for some multi-pitching...

Volvemos a España with 5 kilos excess baggage!!

The post xmas weigh-in confirmed what I already knew...that I'd put on a lot of weight. I didn't expect it to be 5 kilos though!!! In less than two weeks!!! I guess that's what you get for eating to excess every day for two weeks solid including 3 course 'Come dine with me' dinners for the last 5 days. Hopefully I'll be as quick to lose it??

But with all this xmas goodness that we managed to bring back with us it's going to take some willpower!! (Note the TWO large xmas cakes and muchos Cadburys!)

Thanks to everyone who contributed (Mums) - Spanish cakes just don't cut the mustard!!

Roca de les Hores, Montsant

First day back climbing on Saturday was a bit of a shock to the system! I got quite pumped on a 7a+ at Roca de les Hores at Montsant and then even more pumped on a sandbag 6c after it and that was game over! Still, it was nice to be outside in the Spanish sunshine again...18°! A bit of a contrast from Grindelwald where it didn't get above zero day or night!

Sunday we decided to continue with the tourism theme and went to visit Miravet castle which is a bit south of us on the banks of the Ebre river. Nice day out and really warm again.

Miravet Castle

Come dine with me in Grindelwald...

So the new year started with an early night and a long drive on new year's day to Swizzel-land - more precisely Grindelwald for Tash's Mum's 'significant' birthday - basically a big family holiday with a 'Come dine with me' theme in the evenings.

Not much to say about the journey except it was long and I-spy got a bit tedious. Highlight was dinner in a French meat restaurant (a nice bleeding steak) and a night in a Formule1 - happy memories of Font every time I stay in one ;-)

Day 1 - Sunday. I hired ski boots so I could walk like a robotic John Wayne and also try out my brother's old snow blades on the slopes around the chalet. Not bad for a mess around but they didn't cut it compared to Tash's hired skis. So instead we decided I'd use Tash's brother's skis next day.

Day 2 - Skiing. An early morning and we were pretty much on first train up to Kleine Scheidegg.

(Left: All the gear and absolutely no idea on the train up to Kleine Scheidegg)

Right: Awesome views to Eiger north face from Kleine Scheidegg - looked like a path! Albeit a very cold path.

My first run and first time on skis since I was 10 years old was a well chosen (by Tash) narrow and icy blue run. There was no space to turn and I couldn't even snow plough to stop so I decided to instead use the banks of the run to bump into and help me fall over if I needed to stop. Eventually got the hang of it and within an hour or so I successfully got down a red run with more confidence and proper parallel turns. This was short-lived as I then went on to make backward progress and ended up pretty much sliding on my back all the way down a different red run with kids spraying snow and ice in my face as they turned majestically just to rub it in. My knees felt really sore at this point too and I thought they were going to snap at times - I don't think I was turning properly! After this we skiied all the way down to Wengen (beautiful little chalet village).

(Left: Wengen village)

From Wengen we got the train back up to Kleine Scheidegg. A few more red runs from here and I was feeling a lot more confident and we finished the day with an amazing long run called Arven right the way back down to the valley bottom to end an awesome day.

Left: Evidence that I did go down some reds!!

Day 3 - More skiing. Another early morning and we were on first lifts up to First (pronounced Feersht). The runs were perfect for me - totally empty and really wide. But as it was 9am they were also really icy and I had a really hard time even getting down the first blue run. I had a proper Kilner-esque strop at one point when I couldn't get my skis back on after losing control and rolling down the slope. As the snow softened up I found it alot easier and I got more confident. A few more blue runs and a couple of drag lifts later (one of which Tash fell off!) I was going well again and we headed down an amazing long red run all the way back to the valley. There were hardly any people at all on the run and I could go fast without worrying about hitting anyone else.

Left: The brilliant long red run down from First to the valley (it wasn't all as flat as this - and that's me!).

We skiied straight onto a waiting bus at the end of the run to get down to Grindelwald and then got a bus to Mannlichen lift (no queues!). 40 mins later and we were at the top of the lift (it's a very long bubble lift). From here we went straight down another amazing long red run right back to the valley and then got the train up to Kleine Scheidegg again (we definitely got our money's worth from the lift passes!). From KS we took yet another brilliant long red all the way back down to the valley to end another awesome day (this run we'd bailed out from the day before as I thought it'd be too much for me!).

In the evening we were cooking our 'Come dine with me' dinner - soup, lasagne and chocolate fondants. It was decided not to score people's evenings but despite stiff competition if I was forced to I'd have to say we won :-)

How can you not win with a dessert like this?!

Day 4 - Tobogganing. Hired toboggans and got the Mannlichen lift up with Tash, Jess, Tim and Jenni. Absolutely lethal. Although we were following toboggan runs, at no point when we were crossing ski runs were we under control. I came so close to completely wiping out a skiier. The day before Tash had been cursing a little kid who'd nearly done the same to her!! We went down the top half of the run twice and then carried on down the 'officially closed' toboggan run towards the valley.

Left: The beautiful toboggan run down from Mannlichen.

Right: More tobogganing fun!

Left: A quick stop for a beer and glühwein half way down and we were off again. Tash was pretty tipsy after her massive glühwein but at least it gave her more confidence!! ;-)

Anyway the reason for the run being closed became apparent lower down as we ended up on a road which was basically just sheet ice. The snow banks meant that it was just a huge bobsled run - totally out of control and using the banks to ricochet down the road hoping no cars came up in the opposite direction!

Tim over cooking it on one of the corners.

We made it back down safely though.

And in time for a spot of curling - great fun but not as easy as it looks on telly!

Day 5 - After surviving three days of winter sports with no insurance (due to unforeseen circumstances) and a cloudy day forecast we decided to cut our losses and just have a day spent down in the valley. Walked around Grindelwald, looked at the ridiculous ski-wear on sale (and the even more ridiculous prices), watched people on the nursery slopes and laughed at how much better than them I now was ;-)

Day 6 - another super early start to get a flight from Basel at 8:30am back to Barcelona in order to get back for work that afternoon. As predicted, only 3 kids turned up!!

All in all it was a pretty fantastic week - so many thanks to Ros & John for everything!!!

And it got me really psyched for more skiing....bring on some Andorra action in the next few months :-)