To chip or not to chip...

After the mixed weather over the weekend the sun has finally returned and the temperatures are up. Once the morning cloud inversion had burnt off it turned out to be a beautiful day up in Siurana. Today we headed to one familiar sector (Can Gans Dionis) and one new (Ca la Boja).

Tash admiring the view before heading down to the sectors.

I warmed up on a weird 7a+ called 'Pendre la tete', and then did a 7b starting out of a tree! Both routes were a bit strange, in that they climbed slightly away from the bolts so you never felt 'on route'. But they both had nice climbing on them despite this. Tash did a nice 6a+ and 6b:

Tash on 'Eto e diferente' (F6a+) at Can Gans Dionis, Siurana.

We then went to a sector that I hadn't been to before. It's not huge, with only a few decent routes, and I'd always been put off by the fixed ropes that I thought you had to start off, but it turned out that it was better to start from the floor. I did the brilliant 7b called 'La loca mas loca del bedevil' - chipped / drilled into existence, but it's one route that I can forgive the creator for!! It was amazing. Steep, with big moves between pockets on an otherwise totally blank wall and then a satisfying dyno to finish! I had a play on the 8a+ to the right afterwards (Fam de Mai) but it was starting to get a bit warm by now and it felt very tough for the grade (there was one move I couldn't do) so I sacked it off.

As much as I hate the idea of massacring a piece of rock by chipping / drilling holds, especially ones as perfect and aesthetic as the Siurana crags, I have to admit that they did create some pretty nice routes on occasion! That doesn't excuse them for doing it, but I guess it was a while ago and they had a different mindset back then. I can see why linking seemingly blank sections between obvious pockets and other features might be appealing...but they weren't to know how much things would move on, in terms of climber's abilities. An impossibly blank wall to one person might just be a 9b+ in the waiting for Ondra....