Crag swag...

Prompted by finding another screwgate halfway up a route on Saturday and sorting out some kit this morning, I decided to put together the 'crag swag' I've found over the last few years just to see how much I'd managed to collect. This is stuff that I've found on routes that people have either dropped or left in place while retreating from a route that they couldn't finish. And this is the result!

I always take some of this stuff up long multi-pitch routes just in case something goes wrong and we need to abseil off, but thankfully that hasn't happened yet and I always tend to find more stuff every time we go out - hence this collection!

Crag swag from the last few years - obviously it's gone straight on the rack!



Panoramas and pocket pulling...

Today's destination was Roca de les Hores up at Montsant. We thought we'd be able to drive up to the normal parking for it but were halted by a rough bit of track right at the start so parked way down below at Albarca. This meant that what should have been a 20min approach turned into more like an hours slog uphill. But the views were amazing today as the strong winds meant that the air was really clear and you could see for miles, so it wasn't so bad.

Tash on the approach to Roca de les Hores with stunning views.

We had the crag to ourselves all day and thankfully the wind dropped so it was quite pleasant in the sun - t-shirts for climbing and jacket for belaying.

A sunny Roca de les Hores (note the sea on the right!)

I warmed up on a nice 6b on the left-hand end of the crag, which felt a little stiff with no chalk to follow. Then I tried a 7a+ called 'Mohave' that was a complete sandbag. It didn't help that the hard bit involved pulling on a pocket that dug into the hole that I put in my finger last week, so I very quickly sacked it off!

But the next two routes I did made up for the poor start to the day. They were two 7b's next to each other, starting off the top of a huge block, and were two of the best routes I've done at Montsant. The first called 'Mal de ojo' climbed a brilliant gently overhanging crack with plenty of laybacking on totally solid rock - so rare for a Montsant route! (I don't mean solid rock is rare at Montsant, but normally the crack lines are really loose!). The second, 'Xulu verdures', was completely different and just pure steep pocket pulling, but on a streak of the very best quality Montsant rock - totally solid dark grey pocketed limestone just like the Berlin sector in Ceüse!

Tash also had a good day, getting a few more 6b on-sights which she was happy with because she didn't use to get on with pockets at all! And also the routes feel a lot harder without chalk on them to follow.

Another successful day in the sun, and at least it was all downhill back to the car!

More orange eating, overlooking Siurana, the reservoir, Cornudella and in the distance the Mediterranean!

The Ermita de la Mare de Deu de Montsant, above Albarca.

Misty Mussara...

Originally we were planning to go away this weekend for some more multi-pitch action, but a final check of the weather on Friday afternoon didn't inspire us - lots of cloud around and the possibility of a bit of rain, so we didn't fancy long routes or camping too much! But with summer on the way and the days getting longer there's plenty of time for that in the next few months, so a few days around the local crags this weekend is no real hardship!

Today we decided to have a look at a different sector in La Mussara that neither of us had been to, and with a slightly longer walk-in (meaning it's not as easy to do during the week) it was perfect for a weekend day. The approach to the crag started from the refuge (amazingly positioned on the edge of the plateau with stunning views!) and involved some scrambling, bush whacking and lots of faith in the guidebook description, as it wasn't obvious where the crag was at all. How some of these crags were first discovered is beyond me!

Tash going down the rungs at the end of the approach.

The day started off nice and sunny and really warm so I was quite happy that the crag was shaded in the morning, but it became more and more cloudy throughout the day until we were surrounded by thick mist and it looked like we'd get rained on any minute. Thankfully it stayed dry and we managed to tick most of the crag between us.

I climbed all the good looking routes at the crag, including a 6c, 6c+, four 7a+'s and a 7b and Tash filled in the easier stuff. Most of the routes on the main wall involved climbing into and then out of a nasty blank scoop, which usually made the crux of the route. The first few routes like this were quite interesting but after a while we started to get a bit tired of it!

The most noteworthy routes were Marejadilla (7a+) which climbed an amazing steep wall/arete on some weird tufa-like shark's fins of rock that you had to pinch to make progress! And then the final '7b' that I did. This one had a desperately thin crux involving undercutting a break with really high feet to reach and then pull on a shallow mono, with some more tough and technical climbing to finish. A great route, but a total sandbag at 7b!

The view looking out from the crag through the cloud down to the plains below.

Eating oranges outside the refuge at La Mussara at the end of the day - this morning it was an amazing view from here down to the coast!

Third time lucky at Mont-Ral...

Today I finally managed to climb successfully at Mont-Ral.

The first time I tried was back in January 2009 - the day my old car died and left Matt, Tash and I stranded on the C-14.

The second time was in June 2009 when Tash came out to visit me but it was far too hot for climbing and we just ended up going for a nice swim and picnic at the river below the crag!



The second unsuccessful climbing trip - a good swim though!



Then after that I forgot about it and never went back...until today, of course. It was pretty warm again today but infinitely more climbable than in June. And it turned out that the crag is actually pretty awesome!

I warmed up on an amazing 6c called Calipso and then did the 6c+ to the right - another great route. Tash then on-sighted a 6a+ and also did Calipso, which she was obviously really pleased with (only her second 6c on-sight ever!).

After that I did two more of the classic routes at Mont-Ral. First 'Alamut' (7b), which starts up a brilliant steep pocketed wall to a rest then continues up the technical wall above. Then the 3* classic 'Solo para ella' (F7b+), which starts up the same pocketed wall as 'Alamut' but then heads up rightwards on a steeper and more sustained bit of wall. This was easily one of the nicest routes I've done in ages. Really interesting pockety rock to start, then strange blocky limestone above, to finish up a crack.

Tash then managed to on-sight her first 6c+ ever!! Which she was obviously even more pleased with (but maybe that's just cos she's going to have sticky toffee pudding tomorrow night as reward!). And I finished off with another 6c and 6b+ to end the day. So all in all a far more productive day than Tuesday and nice to finally climb at Mont-Ral - we'll definitely be going back!

Some dude on Alamut (F7b) at Mont-Ral (pic stolen from UKC as I didn't manage to get any photos - but it looked the same today!)



Outclimbed by a squirrel...



Note the gale force winds for today.



Montbrió can be quite a windy place on occasion, but not usually as bad as this! Apparently it's caused quite a bit of damage in Tarragona. But after hearing about the earthquake in NZ yesterday I won't complain too much.

Not surprisingly we went to one of the most sheltered places in Siurana today to avoid being knocked over by the flying debris - Can Piqui Pugui.

Not Can Piqui Pugui. The Siuranella crags in fact - but it was a nice photo I took on the drive up this morning.

But as usual, once we got down to the crag and out of the way of the wind it was actually really warm. Even a bit too hot at times!

The climbing started well, and I on-sighted four 7a's in a row on the right-hand side of the sector. Tash also casually on-sighted a brilliant 6b+ as her warm-up! Unfortunately this was the end of our success for the day, as I then ripped my finger open on a mono pulling off the floor on the next route.

After optimistically taping the finger up, I tried to do another 7a+ starting from a dirty cave that obviously doubles as a toilet. I should have taken this as a sign, because the route turned out to be very similar to the cave. I couldn't get past the first bolt on it (afterwards we went to the campsite bar to check out some new routes and this one had a big question mark next to it, so obviously I'm not the only one!).

All of Tash's potential routes also had people on them by this point, so we decided to call it a day and head home for some lunch.

On the plus side, while belaying Tash on her route I saw a red squirrel climb plumb vertical up the overhanging line of 'Chicane' (F8c+!), so at least someone had a productive climbing day today ;-)

Sunshine and sandbags...

Sandbag:
(noun) A climb which receives a much lower grade than deserved.

And these we found in abundance today, as well as plenty of sunshine - the rain yesterday didn't last very long! We went up to Montsant, and a sector that neither of us had been to before - La Grallera.

The view from the parking at Morera de Montsant village up to the Falconera & Barrots sectors.

Setting off from the village.

The view looking out from up at the crags.

The sector was actually spread out and separated into different areas along the wall. They turned out to be of varying quality - some definitely better than others!

One of the better sub-sectors (Cova de la Grallera)

My 'warm-up' was an amazing 7a up a beautiful prow of rock. Unfortunately it was a complete and utter sandbag with hard climbing, dirty pockets, some snappy holds and ridiculous run-outs (the first bolt was about 8-9m off the floor!). A stunning line, but 7a it was not!

After a short rest (much shorter than I needed!) I turned my attention to the incredible looking smooth wall to the right of the prow. This had a handful of really nice looking routes on it but, despite being less steep, they all looked way blanker than the route I'd just done, so I chose the easiest of the lot (a 7b+ called Multichop!) but didn't really expect to get up it, considering how tired I was from the 'warm-up' and how much of a sandbag it had been!

But unbelievably, after 40mins of serious fighting and much to my immense satisfaction, I managed to on-sight it! I was really pleased with this, as again the pockets were filthy and there was no chalk anywhere. The problem with this type of rock is that there are just so many pockets to choose from - all of varying depths - but you don't know how good they'll be until you test them. So without chalk or tick-marks you end up spending a very long time in one position, getting more and more pumped, testing all the different pockets until you find one good enough to pull on! The route was of amazing quality, with totally solid rock all the way, fantastic technical climbing, and a few cruxes thrown in. Brilliant!

Checking out the routes - the '7a' prow is the line directly above me now, and the 7b+ follows the wide grey streak in the middle of the wall to the right.

But after exerting so much effort into the route I felt completely destroyed and needed a good rest!

For anyone who wanted to know what being pumped means - this is it! After doing 'Multichop' (F7b+)

Tash then on-sighted two really good (and thankfully reasonably graded!) routes - a 6a+ and a 6b. After I'd recovered a bit, it was time for round 2 - unfortunately this proved to be the knockout. There was a really nice looking wall that we'd seen from the previous sector with only one route up it. Supposedly a short 6c+ leading to a 7b extension. I thought that it'd be a good one to try next. How wrong I was!! Once we'd finally got to the base of it, after a good deal of bush-whacking through yet more thorns, I set off. The lower wall was absolutely filthy with some really tricky climbing on suspect rock. Again, this was totally undergraded. But when I arrived at a big break in the rock, with a bulge to pull over above, the rock just started to disintegrate. I got stood on the ledge and had to clear a load of loose rock off it, including a microwave sized piece that was just waiting to come down. Tash improvised by wrapping my hoodie round her head to protect herself from the smaller pieces that were coming down! Finally I got to the end of the '6c+' bit, but with what looked like more of the same above I decided to cut my losses and sack it off!!

You can always rely on these esoteric Montsant sectors to provide a bit more excitement than your normal day of sport climbing!

Tash with her makeshift helmet! [and shiny new harness]

So after a disappointing, but I guess adventurous, time we went to the final sector in the book. Which turned out to be the icing on the cake in terms of the level of sandbagging! I thought..."I'll just finish off with a nice couple of 6c's to end the day". What actually happened was that I got very pumped on the lower half of a 6c+ doing what I thought was the crux, only to find the actual crux on the upper wall, which I couldn't even do! I ended up bailing out and finishing up a 6a+, and when I was having to try hard to get up the last bit of this I came to the conclusion that it was time to call it a day!

Tash did a few more routes at this sector (including a couple more sandbags, obviously!) before we ate some oranges in the warm late afternoon sunshine and then walked down. Another enjoyable, but humbling, day of exploration!

Some of the weird rock formations around the Grallera sector.

Rooftops of Morera de Montsant village as we were walking down.

Anyone got a power drill I can borrow?

With a poor forecast for today we decided to make a plan not to climb the night before and stick to it (rather than getting up and then umming and ahhing). So after a long lie-in this morning we eventually got up to find...you guessed it...blue skies! How can I be so disappointed that the weather is better than they predicted?! I've clearly been living here too long, especially when I hear that the UK is getting a few inches of snow this weekend!!

But a plan's a plan and we were determined to stick to it, so breakfast on the sofa it was to be (with the big patio doors wide open for the first time this year!), followed by coffee and hot cross buns on the balcony, courtesy of Tash's mum.



Coffee and hot cross buns on our 'ickle balcony. Mmmm [Tash made me include this by the way!]



But being typically British, we were getting more and more twitchy at being inside when it was so warm and sunny outside, so eventually we broke around 1pm and decided to head out for a walk and at the same time check out some potential local crags. I'd been up to Pratdip (a.k.a Llaberia) on the hunt for crags before xmas and found some which were bird banned from Jan - June, so I'll be returning to them in Autumn. But recently I'd heard about some more developed crags around the village of Santa Marina, near Pratdip, so that's where we went today for some exploration.

We set off up a marked track towards some crags in the distance, which soon took us into Indiana Jones territory, scrambling up a dry gorge and crawling through tunnels and holes. More interesting than I was expecting when we set off!

After about an hour walking up the gorge and hill we left the track and broke out into the scrub to get up to the base of the rock that we'd seen from below.

"Is it really this way?"

Yep!

Crawling through boulders following the 'track'!





Out of the gorge and up the hill to the crags - by this time it had clouded over as predicted (only about half a day late!)



And we found rather a lot of rock...actually, we found a lifetime's worth of rock! Not much sign of development though (i.e. bolts or chalk)

Finally we found some bolts! And a few decent looking lines, in amongst the acres of untouched rock.

The rock just goes on and on and on.....

....and on!

After a few hours exploring around the base of the crag and checking out different potential sectors (including plenty of bush whacking through nasty spikey plants) we made it back to a track which took us down to the road and the car, just as the predicted drizzle finally started.

Proof that it does rain here sometimes!

So the conclusions (for my future reference) are that:

a) We probably didn't find the new Santa Marina crags which are supposed to be being developed.

b) We found RIDICULOUS amounts of undeveloped rock! Although there were a few small areas with some bolted routes, they were spread out across a really large area with big gaps between. It's probably worth another visit to climb the few routes that we did see (especially those situated between the 'Font de la Flauta' and the 'vatica' and then also around the 'Salt de la Grallera' cove)

c) Some kind of kevlar trousers are needed to protect your legs from the bushes when going between sectors!

d) I really need to get myself a drill and start developing!

A morning at La Mussara...

After a day of doing boring chores yesterday, including a mammoth Lidl shopping trip, the weather was back to normal today (it was actually cloudy yesterday and rained a little in the evening!).



Behold the cereal cupboard...there's actually another row the same behind this one!
(I hate wasting time shopping so my policy is to stock up once every few months!)



We decided on a change from the norm in terms of venue, and headed to La Mussara. This is somewhere I've been a few times and never really thought much of the climbing (obviously this is very much relative to the world-class crags of Siurana!). But with so many different sectors, there are still quite a few that I haven't been to. Plus it's quicker to get there (only 25mins) so perfect for a short day on Friday when we start work a little earlier.

The view looking back down to Reus and the coast from the road up to La Mussara this morning.

Today we went to a sector called Totxo d'en Tuc. It was really windy and felt very cold walking in, despite the sunshine. But amazingly, as soon as we got to the sector the wind dropped and it was nice and sheltered so we were in t-shirts for climbing. I warmed up on a fantastic 7a called 'Okemaka' - definitely the route of the sector, and left the rope up for Tash to top-rope on. I then moved on to a 7b+ called 'Kiki' which was also brilliant - following a rounded arete with amazing technical and delicate climbing and plenty of heelhook action! (and also another guidebook cover photo tick - this time the old Costa Daurada rockfax one!). Next up was a hard 7a and a 6c+ just to the left of the 7b+. These were again very good routes. I finished off with a 7a+ crack climb which had a desperate bouldery start then nice steady bridging and laybacking up the crack. Tash had a few goes on top-rope up the 7a and made some decent progress linking the crux sequence before it was time to head back for work.

A really nice day in the sun with some surprisingly brilliant quality routes, and most importantly it got me psyched to check out some more of the sectors around La Mussara over the next few weeks.

Sector Totxo d'en Tuc - amazingly positioned above the coastal plains and overlooking the sea. A beautiful spot!

Help for the non-climbers!

A few people (mainly family) have commented that they don't understand a lot of the climbing jargon in this blog, so I've added a link to a list of climbing terms and definitions for you to refer to in times of need!

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you'll find the link under 'Climbing Glossary'.

Hope it helps. Unfortunately I doubt it'll make it any more interesting to read!

So much for a lie-in!

With a mixed forecast this week and rain last night, I didn't make any firm plans with Xav for climbing today. So when I got a text this morning interrupting my lie-in saying that it was sunny and did I want to go climbing I can't say I was too psyched to get up! I was just looking forward to a coffee and some Lidl shopping...why does it never rain when you want it to! ;-)

But I have to admit that when I got up and it was really warm and sunny I felt a lot more energetic! Neither of us were too keen on going to Masriudoms again and with the weather so nice we decided to head up the hill to Siurana. This time to Grau dels Masets de Baix, and a newly developed area on the right-hand side of the crag.

I worked my way along the little sector from left to right, starting with a really nice 6c ('Clasicorra Bastorra'), and then did a new route just to its right which isn't in the new guide, so I've no idea what it is. It felt about 7a+ maybe? Very good though. I then did the 7b 'Males puces' to the right - amazing technical climbing to a crimpy rockover right at the top (felt more like 7b+ for the rockover move) before finishing on the last route of the sector which was another fantastic 7a.

I must visit the camping to see if the new routes are listed - there was also a really good looking new one on the wall to the left of 'Sinestesia', which again isn't in the new guide.

Not a great picture of Xav on the 6c 'Clasicorra Bastorra' - it was actually much better than it looks here (at least it shows the blue sky!)

Some Spanish girl on the mega-classic and ridiculously named 'Cenar, beber, emborracharse, vomitar, dolor de cabeza' (F6c) as we were leaving.
(Translation: eat, drink, get drunk, vomit, headache)

Beer makes life more pleasant....well, kneebars at least!

Tash successfully made it back to the UK with her car over the weekend and then flew back here yesterday, so we're now a one car family! Given that we pretty much always climb together and drive in to work and back together it seemed completely pointless running two cars out here.

This morning she passed her 'daddy car' inititation, driving to Masriudoms, so she'll be allowed to drive my car ;-) She might need to practise some parking manoeuvres though, as mine is about twice as long as hers!!

The weather was pretty different to the last few weeks - very overcast and it had rained a bit overnight, so there was only one choice of destination this morning really.

Masriudoms framed by the almond blossom.

I made sure I warmed up properly today, after the flash pump I got last week. So I went up and then downclimbed ATP 6c to get a bit more blood flowing, before putting the first three draws in my route again ('Ricacera' extension - F8a+). The air was very still and humid and the rock felt quite cold and damp, so I wasn't sure how I'd get on with the rest of the route. But thankfully I came down, belayed Tash on her warm up, and then climbed the route first go. I felt way better today after a decent warm-up and had also made a kneepad by taping Tash's beer towel round my thigh, so I could stay at the kneebar rest a bit longer (way more comfortable with some padding!). I actually felt recovered when I left the rest today and, apart from a worrying moment when my hand slipped out of the big wet (and muddy!) pocket just after the kneebar (I was so close to falling off!), the rest of the route felt fine. Pumpy, but it all felt well in control. And most importantly, another amazing long route. Again today I felt a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment at having climbed it, as that leaves only the routes on the right wall for me to do...or maybe I need to borrow a drill and try my hand at putting up some more routes!

Me at the half-height kneebar rest, showing the line of the route. F7c+/8a to here and F8a+ to the top. This is where the beer towel came in useful!

And then afterwards Tash climbed her project first go too, despite having cold hands! Which means she can now get stuck into one of the extensions, where the wall steepens up and the good tufa climbing starts (though it'll be a bit of a step up, as the easiest is F7b+!!).

So with both our routes ticked off in quick time, we headed home for a cup of tea after a short but satisfying morning's work!

Photos from 2010...

I've just added a new post with highlights of last year, from before I started this blog.
You'll have to scroll down to the old posts at the bottom of the blog and click on the 2010 post (2010 in pictures).

It's mainly for the family, who haven't seen a lot of these shots before. Apologies to UKC regulars - you've probably seen most of the climbing shots before!

Hope you enjoy it...

Crowd avoidance at Montsant...

After the busy day at Siurana yesterday we decided to make the effort and go somewhere with a decent walk-in (it's usually enough to put the locals off!). So we set off again from Cornudella, this time heading for Raco de Missa - undoubtedly the best sector at Montsant. But when I stopped to get some more photos of the almond tree blossom we were overtaken by a convoy of cars and vans obviously heading for the same parking. And worse still, it was the same group of noisy Spaniards, dogs and kids that were at the crag yesterday!!!! So we quickly changed venues and opted for an even more remote and esoteric sector - Salfores.

The blossom photo that saved us from another day of earache!!

With a 40min uphill approach we were almost guaranteed to have the crag to ourselves, and thankfully we did! I warmed up on an incredible 6c+ that was classic Montsant - 35m of pure pocket pulling. Then did a HUGE 40m long 7b called 'Semilla negra'. Nice climbing but a little dusty through lack of traffic (as is common with some of these esoteric sectors).

I then finished off something I'd been on the last time we were here - a 7c called 'Mar Flotant' that I'd tried to on-sight.

[From my UKC logbook: Lead dog 23/Oct/10 - one to come back for. felt utterly desperate on O/S effort as all the pockets filled with dirt & no chalk anywhere. cleaned it up a bit and linked all in one on top-rope on way down but no time for redpoint. great moves]

I managed to do it putting the draws in today despite the holds being dirty and chalkless again and it felt quite steady, so hopefully that's a sign of improvement?! It was just as good as I remembered though, climbing a gently overhanging wall with really interesting moves all the way and a mixture of pocket pulling (from monos to jugs!), pinches and crimps. I hadn't realised until today that it's the route on the front cover of the guide - a testiment to its quality!

The quality esoteric sector Salfores at Montsant.
'Mar Flotant' (F7c) takes the wall on the extreme right of the photo, climbing past the big pocket and finishing just below the obvious break.
'Espeleon' (F7c) takes a line just to its left and finishes a little higher.

Spurred on by this I then on-sighted the route to its left. Another 7c, but this time lacking the quality of the previous one. The rock was less consolidated so holds kept crumbling in my hands and under my feet, and it was just a never ending series of sharp and painful pockets. The worst of Montsant in one route! But the positions made up for it and I guess it was worthwhile.

I finished off with another hidden gem. A 7b on the extreme left of the sector which looks fairly average from below, but turned out to be a very good quality route - a steep undercut start gets you established and takes you to a good rest then you climb more steep rock with a big hole to get into and then pull out of over a really steep bulge on good pockets. Really interesting climbing.

It's been a while since I've climbed on the conglomerate, either at Montsant or Margalef, and I really noticed that my skin just wasn't used to it, and my pain tolerance for stuffing fingers in sharp pockets had diminished!! So with very sore (but fortunately intact!) skin we decided to call it a day and walked down in the pleasant late afternoon sunshine.

Siurana at the weekend - what a mistake to make!

Well Tash is away this wknd, driving her car back to the UK and my psyche levels are quite low for some reason. So after a lie-in this morning, I finally made it up to Cornudella to meet Xav about 11.30am. Normally I'd be psyched to go to Margalef or Montsant at the weekend, as these are places I can't really get to in the week. But today, despite it being really warm and sunny again, I just couldn't be bothered with the walk-in and opted for an easy access sector in Siurana. We purposely chose a sector out of the main areas and somewhere that's normally quiet, to avoid the weekend crowds - L'Herbolari.

But first I wanted to check out a very small sector that I'd never been to called El Dau, with only two routes (actually it's just a big limestone boulder teetering on the edge above the red sandstone band). They were both really short and bouldery and complete sandbags at the grades (supposedly only 6c and 7a+!). But at least I can tick this crag off the to-do list!

When we arrived at L'Herbolari the crag was quite busy already, with people on most of the easy routes. But soon it just became a circus, as three or four more groups turned up with dogs and kids in tow. The space at the bottom of the routes is quite small, due to the trees coming close to the rock, so everyone was sandwiched in really close together. The dogs were fighting and barking. The kids were screaming and crying. And the adults were shouting to each other, despite being stood only a few metres apart (normal behaviour in Spain!). Thankfully they were only climbing the easy routes so it wasn't a problem for me and apart from not being able to hear Xav when he was climbing due to the noise, it was quite amusing to watch the commotion.

After almost failing to on-sight the 7a+ on the boulder I was a bit worried about how I'd get on for the rest of the day, so did an easier route to get rid of the flash pump. 'Hansel y Gretel' (F6c) turned out to be one of the best routes of the grade in Siurana - 35 metres and total class all the way, starting with some crack laybacking and then arete laybacking just before the top (it feels like you only use your left hand all the way!). The added bonus was that the route is slightly separate from the main sector so it was nice to get away from the ruckus.

After the 6c I did another fantastic route round to the left of the main sector following a shallow groove - Trifàssic de Mascaró (F7b). I was feeling well recovered by now and the 7b felt very steady, so decided to try and on-sight one of the two 7c+'s on the same front face. There was another guy on the best looking one so I had to settle for the left-hand route. The crux was pulling over a steep bulge on sharp and painful pockets reminiscent of Margalef, finishing with a hard pull on a mono. But luckily for me there was only one way to do the sequence so I didn't have to think about the moves; only pull! A nice route despite the sharp pockets.

By this point I was feeling pretty tired so decided to call it a day. After lacking psyche this morning it turned out to be quite a good day. And I managed to get a few half decent photos of the guys on some of the easier routes:

Great positions overlooking the Pantá de Siurana on 'Maria Lluisa' (F6a+)

Spring continues in Siurana...

Another murky start to the day at home, but this time we weren't to be fooled! We knew to expect wall to wall sunshine up at Siurana and we weren't disappointed :-) After a quick stop in Cornudella to get some wine from the local cellar for John & Ros we headed up to Siuranella central. I absolutely love the position of this crag, especially first thing in the morning when you arrive and the valley below is still in shade but you're up on the ledge bathed in sunshine. But with a nice breeze blowing across the crag today the conditions were perfect!

Left-hand side of Siuranella central.

I warmed up on a really nice 6c that I hadn't done before and then did a very soft 7b, before heading round the corner to do a couple of very new 7a+ routes.

Not much else to say about the day really, except that it was a pleasure to be out in the warm sunshine again. At the moment I have to keep reminding myself that it's only the beginning of February!!

Guidebooks were a pretty good invention!!...

The morning murk was around again today in Montbrió so it was very tempting to head to Masriudoms, but remembering how hot it was there yesterday made us risk the drive up the hill. When we got up to the Col de Alforja we ended up above the cloud in beautiful sunshine with a sea of white below sitting over Reus and the coast - magic! And almost the complete opposite of how it normally is.

Looking down on the cloud hanging over Reus and the coast from the Col de Alforja - what we've been sat underneath every morning this week!
Normally it's the total opposite when we have cloud inversions (i.e. clear on the coast and murky over Cornudella and Siurana)

Neither me or Xav were particularly psyched today for some reason so we weren't sure where to go. Plus at the moment it's still just a bit too cold for climbing in the shade, but absolutely baking in the sun so hard to know where to go. In the end we decided just to go to an easy access sector in Siurana and somewhere neither of us had climbed before - La Trona.

It was actually hotter than yesterday, with absolutely no breeze, so it was tops off for power again! I'd only brought Toni's old guide with us, which was completely useless to identify where the routes were, so we ended up pretty much just climbing the most obvious lines. In some ways it was quite liberating setting off not knowing what the route or grade was, but gave us a few surprises along the way!

The routes were really short and bouldery (most only 12-15m), so it was easy to get a lot done quickly. I worked my way along from left to right just doing the nicest looking lines, and only found out what I'd done when I got home and checked the new guide:

Tales of quales F7a

Esta noche pollo F7a

El senyor dels rostolls F7c (I started up this thinking it was 7a!)

La plebe F7c (I started up this thinking it was 6c!!!!)

La chocolat F7a+

Els termites F7a

Para pasar las vacaciones F7a+

In the end it got too hot to climb at all so we relaxed in the sun for a bit before heading homeward for work.

Misled by the morning murk...

With the forecast looking really good again this week, we were all set for a day at Siurana today. But we woke up to find Montbrió under a layer of murk, and couldn't even see up to the hills from the balcony...normally a bad omen! There was no sign of it burning off any time soon and it felt cold outside so we opted for the safety of Masriudoms again. But as soon as we'd parked up and started walking in, the sun came out and the temperature rocketed. We'd been well and truly duped!!

Even the almond trees are being fooled by the temperatures...they think it's spring!

Almond tree blossom - one for the nature lovers!

By the time we got to the cave it was starting to get really hot so I decided to get on my route straight away, before the temperatures got unbearable. I quickly warmed up on ATP 6c, then put the first 3 draws in my route (Ricacera). I came down and immediately went for a redpoint. The bottom crux moves felt fine, but I got a really bad flash pump immediately after, which I ended up fighting all the way (one go up a short 6c obviously wasn't sufficient warm up!). I was really pumped by the end of the 8a section, but managed to get a little bit back at the knee-bar - though nowhere near as much as I normally would from a hands off rest. I carried on anyway onto the extension and made it through the bulge and onto the upper wall, which felt fine despite being really tired and pumped, until my efforts were halted when a foothold broke. Tash was standing a way off to the right to avoid the occasional loose stuff I was kicking down, so she went flying when I fell and I took a massive fall!!! Quite exciting.

I was too disappointed for my efforts to end with a hold breaking, after fighting the pump for so long, that I couldn't face another go. So I just went to the top and stripped it on the way down, then sat around belaying and sunbathing for the rest of the day :-)

Tash had quite a few goes on ATP 6c, falling every time at the same crux move. By the time she managed to get through this move though it was absolutely baking and she was too tired to finish it off. But at least she got to a new high point!

Tash finally getting through the crux moves on ATP L1 (F6c), only to run out of steam higher up.