First shade-chasing of the year!

Summer's definitely on the way, and with no wind today we decided to climb in the shade for the first time this year to get some better conditions. A bit worrying that we're having to retreat to the shade so early in the year! Destination: Reserva India at Siurana - somewhere I went to once in the first few weeks of moving to Spain, but didn't think much of so never went back. On second visit today it was much better than I remembered and perfect for the hot weather at the moment.

The day didn't start so well mind, as we got there to find a waterfall gushing down one half of the crag (the part where the icefall sometimes forms in winter), meaning that a lot of the routes were out, and then I slipped on the wet rock and went down pretty hard on my elbow and hip.

The warm up was 'Jeronimo' (7a) and I left the draws in for Tash to have a go. It was quite satisfying how easy this felt today, as I remember it felt tough when I did it two and a half years ago. I then did a brilliant 7b climbing an obvious groove called 'Cheyene'. The only drama was when a hold ripped completely off the wall at the 2nd bolt and sent me flying backwards! I lowered back to the ground and then did it all the way - nice route.

After working the route once on lead, Tash had a redpoint go on Jeronimo. She managed to get through the crux at the bottom but frustratingly her foot slipped in the groove on the easy part! When she'd calmed down and the red mist had dissipated she did it fairly smoothly next go, so not all bad! Her first '7a in a day'!

Next up for me was the 8a breaking out left from Cheyene and heading up to the awesome hanging crack that splits the prow. It felt a little bit eliminate at the bottom, though the climbing was still good, but once you got up into the corner below the cracked prow it became 3 star territory. Pulling round the roof with awkwardly high feet and getting established in the crack was the technical crux, but climbing the final crack was way pumpier than I expected (not helped when I forgot how to do it and then nearly blew it when my foot popped on a dusty foothold just as I grabbed the next hold which kept me on!). Despite all this, thankfully I managed it first redpoint.

Hopefully next time we go here the waterfall will have dried up and we can get on some of the other routes.

Another one down at Siuranella...

With the forecast predicting warm but breezy, we headed up to Siuranella central today. They were right about the wind, but the sun never really came out properly until later this afternoon, so it stayed quite cool all the time we were up there. Good temps for climbing but a little chilly belaying. Tash onsighted a 6b+ as her warm up, then I put the draws in a 7a called 'Boca seca man', for her to try later. With my fingers warmed up, I had a go at an amazing 7c+ (Traficans de ferralla). The crux came quite low down, just above the 3rd bolt, and was fairly typical Siurana climbing with small sidepulls and poor feet. After this it eased off, with plenty of interesting technical climbing split by good rests and finished with a rockover onto a precarious slab. I came down, belayed Tash on the 7a, and then did it first redpoint - thankfully with no dramas (and a good job, as the holds at the crux were skin shredders!). Another fantastic route, as this photo hopefully shows:-

Some dude on the crux of 'Traficans de ferralla' (7c+) © Guillaume Oberli (pic stolen from 8a.nu)

Unfinished business at La Mussara...

Another quick trip to La Mussara this morning, in order for me to try and finish off the route I'd been on last week. I warmed up on the awesome 6c+ crack/groove of 'El Canto del gallo' and then did a brilliant 7b just to the left - 'Dinamita pa los pollos'. At least, the guide claimed it to be 7b. In reality it had a hard move low down which probably would have warranted 7b on its own, but then had another really thin rockover higher up, pulling on a tiny 1mm deep skin ripping left-hand edge, which was much harder. The climbing was stunning though, and on a really aesthetic piece of wall - would have warranted 3 stars if it wasn't so escapable at the crux.

After a short rest belaying Tash on 'El canto', I set off on my aim for the day - the bizarrely named 'Psssh...'! The bottom section was harder than I remembered, with a tricky section past the groove at the 3rd bolt to get the good break, followed by easier climbing on big positive edges and sidepulls to the strange top section, where I'd failed last week having not extended the top quickdraw. This time, despite taking a longer draw to use there, I still had a bit of trouble getting my foot high onto the foothold for the weird and slightly worrying rockover move. Thankfully I got it on the hold eventually and finished it off. The route turned out to be much better than I first thought last week and I'm quite glad I got back on it.

'Psssh...' (F7c+) at La Mussara © Mark Glaister
Crap quality but I didn't get any photos from today so it'll have to do!



More local crag exploration...

As the clocks went forward last night we decided to use that as an excuse not to get up this morning, obviously in order to avoid jet lag! So after a lie in and lazy morning we opted for a bit of a walk and some crag exploration in the sunshine instead of climbing.

First on the list was the bit of rock to the left of the main cave at Masriudoms. I've always looked at it and wondered if there were any routes over there, and today I finally went up to check it out. Turns out that most of the rock isn't as good quality as it looks from below, but there were two lines on it which went up some nice tufas.

The rock on the left end of Masriudoms.

The small section of good tufa rock - two routes up it that I could see.

I also found this little house - needs plenty of work, but it could be a future renovation project?! Perfect location right underneath Masriudoms cave.

After Masriudoms we walked along the meandering dry river bed towards Masboquera. It started off fairly wide and open...

...but soon became much deeper and more interesting. It reminded me of some of the dry wadis in Oman.



A few spots for a paddle too!





Before we got to the next crag on the list. I've seen this north-facing one many times from the top of some of the very longest routes at Masriudoms and wondered if it had any climbing on.



After a horrible horrible bush whack through some awful vegetation that was determined to rip my clothes up and scratch me to death, I made it to the base of the crag. Amazingly, although they were wet today after recent rains, there were a few routes up this tufa part of the wall.

Bizarrely, when I was walking back to the main track through the vegetation I found this pile of fresh baguettes and ciabattas just dumped in a clearing. Considering that it was about 50m from the dirt track, which was about another 1km from the road, and with no path to get to it, it seemed like a strange place to put your leftover bread!
I can only think it might be bait to tempt the boars to the hunters?

One final crag that we saw from the track on the way back - I'd had enough bush-whacking for one day by this point so we decided to save it for next time!

Tash ticks another 7a!

After a foggy start down in Montbrió, we got up above the murk on the way up the hill and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. In fact, sweating our way up the approach path to Racó de Missa it became apparent that it was going to be a hot one!

Tash had one aim for the day - a 7a that she's tried every time we went there and had been getting closer and closer to each time. But it's been a while since we last went to Racó de Missa, so she was a bit worried that she'd have forgotten the moves, especially as she'd never done it all in one go on a top-rope before. Ideally, we'd have warmed up well before she had a proper go but with the temperatures increasing and the wall in full sun all day she decided just to go for it immediately. It was a proper fight as she got really pumped but somehow she hung on and ticked it - as her warm-up! I wish I could improve as quickly as her!

By now it was seriously warm and all the routes I wanted to get on in the main cave were still seeping a bit, so we went round to the right-hand sector which was still in the shade. I'd never climbed here before, so it was nice to get on something new and with a slight breeze the conditions were perfect at first. Having never seen anyone climbing round on this side of the cave, it came as no surprise that the routes were totally unchalked and the rock still 'settling down'! I warmed up on a 6c+ and then a 7a+ which went through some steep ground on fairly worrying rock.

After this, I saw a new route that wasn't even in the latest guide - the bolts were brand new and incredibly shiny with the stickers still on them, so it must have been put up very recently!

The route name painted at the bottom - note the length & number of draws needed!

The route went up an amazing concave piece of wall, starting with a 6b+ slab and then gradually steepening and steepening until you got to the overhanging headwall of the 7c extension. I wasn't expecting much from the onsight, considering how hard the '6b+' first pitch was, but the extension looked so good I just had to try. The climbing on it was fantastic and although it wasn't exactly loose, the holds were just slightly crumbly and dirty (as you'd expect from such a new route) so as well as finding the best pockets you had to test and re-test everything as you went - a very slow process! I was really pleased to get through quite a few sections of hard climbing, despite some exciting moments when a foothold or handhold crumbled on me. But after over an hour of climbing on the overhanging section in full sun, I got to the steepest part just below the top feeling pretty pumped. It wasn't helped by the fact that I was now hauling about 50m of rope up as I went and was near impossible to pull the rope up to clip! I went up and down from the shakeout to the mono moves through the bulge several times, before finally commiting to it, but when I missed a good hidden pocket and slapped for some slopey pockets over the bulge instead, I was off! Grrr. I was pretty disappointed to have fallen so close to the top after fighting for so long on it, but that's the way it goes sometimes! After pulling back on I found the hidden pocket and realised I was just one move from a huge jug before an easy finish! Close but no cigar. By this point I literally had nothing left and couldn't contemplate a redpoint attempt so I stripped it and left it for another day. The route is truly amazing - yet another HUGE Montsant classic, and when it gets a bit more traffic to clean it up it'll be a very popular one I think. I was totally destroyed when I got down and needed some time to recover, so we went round for Tash to do some more climbing. She on-sighted a brilliant 6c but was too tired to finish the next route off, so I went up to get the draws out. At 6b+ this felt hard enough, so I might need a rest day tomorrow to recover properly!

The right-hand side of Racó de Missa - home to some more HUGE routes.

Xmas holiday booked already...

Despite a murky start to the day, we headed up to La Mussara for a quick climb before work. It was nice to be out again after a few days of resting and then more sitting around waiting for the electrican to come round yesterday. But at least the lack of Internet and other distractions meant that we did something useful with our time and planned some of this year's holidays. And thanks to Tash getting inspired by an article in the National Geographic magazine that she picked up the other day, we've booked our Christmas trip already - more on that later!

This morning we went to the Soterrani sector at La Mussara, which had some surprisingly good routes - in particular some really nice crack and corner climbs. After warming up on a 6b+ and 6c+, I did three 7b's one after another - the routes getting steeper and steeper each time. By the third one I was feeling pretty tired (having had no rest between them) and had to fight a bit at the crux when I messed up the sequence and had to do a long move off an undercut mono on some quite steep ground. All three of them were really nice, but the highlight was probably the final one ('El pez mas viejo del rio'), starting up an easy slab before tackling a steep headwall starting with jugs, then small pockets and finally crimps and the undercut mono just before the top - brilliant climbing!

But in more exciting news - we've just booked flights to Jordan for New Year! :-)

When Tash read about the amazing village of Petra in the National Geographic yesterday she got pretty excited about going. I've ALWAYS wanted to go there since watching Indiana Jones and the last Crusade as a kid(!), and when we realised how close it was to the amazing desert sandstone climbing in Wadi Rum it was just crying out for a visit. And then when Tash found return flights for £100, it was too good to miss. So it's all booked - New Year in the desert!

Tash's inspiration for the trip.

My inspiration for the trip!

And this! (spot the climbers!)

And this!

Rest days; welcome and unwelcome...

After five days of climbing I was in need of a few rest days, which coincided nicely with a couple of grey and cloudy days. While I was sorting out some of the stuff in the spare room, I found some pairs of climbing shoes that I'd forgotten about, bringing my collection to a grand total of seven pairs and an extra random right boot!

Don't think I'll need to get any new ones for a while!

One of the jobs I needed to do yesterday was to shorten the wiring on the hall light and raise the shade, so that I didn't bang my head on it any more. Now I'm no electrician, but I like to think that I can do a simple job like that without blowing the fuse! So after sorting the wire and switching the power back on I was fairly happy with the results and we had no problems all afternoon. Unfortunately when we got back after work, within 10mins the power had blown and we had no electricity at all. I couldn't help thinking there might be some coincidence between my earlier handywork and the lack of power! And by this time it was about 10.30pm and we couldn't get through to the landlord, so candles it was!

This morning we finally got in touch with the landlord and he came round to do exactly the same as I'd done to try and solve the problem (i.e. flick the circuit breakers up and down a few times!), before admitting defeat and calling a sparky. Thankfully we didn't have to wait on Spanish time too much and the electrician was round within half an hour. The verdict: the main fuse had blown down in the basement - entirely unconnected with my antics yesterday. Manhood restored! Shame it meant that we had to wait in all morning to sort it out and couldn't go climbing - hopefully we'll get out tomorrow instead...

Surprise success on day five...

We normally don't go to Montsant during the week because of the longer walk-in to most sectors, but flicking through the guide recently I spotted somewhere that I'd walked past two and a half years ago trying to find Raco de Missa for the first time. It was a huge boulder right next to the path, and I remember thinking it had some good-looking steep routes on but as we had no guide back then I had no idea what they were. So being in possession of the guide now, and with it having a sub 10 minute walk-in we decided to check it out properly today.

Thankfully the boulder was as good and as big as I remembered, with routes on all four faces - some better than others - with the best on the overhanging south facing wall.

The steep south face of the Totxo de la Morera boulder.

I started on the more vertical west face, with a nice 6c and 6c+ up typical pocketed Montsant rock, and then Tash did some good 6a's on the east face, before we moved round onto the main event - the overhanging south face.

I did an amazing 7a which started with some steep jug pulling to a good bridge rest, before more huge jugs led out left into an overhanging flared groove where the crux was - an awesome route!

I then had a go up a really nice 8a called 'Planeta fumus' on the seriously steep wall just to the left. Feeling tired after four days of climbing and having not done anything so steep in what seems like a very long time I wasn't expecting to find it easy, and when I dogged my way to the top I was proved right. On first acquaintance there were several moves which I found hard, including one just below the top consisting of a powerful throw out right from a three finger slot with your left hand to a good undercut, from where it should all be over. I couldn't imagine having enough left to do this move after getting through all the rest of it, so I didn't expect much from my redpoint go. After belaying Tash on the 7a, I set off on my zero stress 'no expectations' redpoint, and was surprised to get through the bottom crux without too much of a problem. I was even more surprised when I didn't feel that tired when I got to the mid-height shake-out, so it was pretty frustrating when my hand got stuck in the rope when I was going for the final crux throw out right at the top, and I couldn't get my hand to the jug! Doh!

I thought that would be it for the day, as I felt pretty tired, but decided to have another go just for a bit of training and to see what would happen. So after belaying Tash again on the 7a I set off on my 'even less expectation' redpoint, and was yet again surprised to get through the lower crux and then managed to stick the move I'd fallen on last time (remembering to put my arm the right side of the rope!). From here it should be all over, but I was rapidly running low on juice and missed the next hold (the penultimate jug, just before clipping the chain!) but thankfully with a bit of encouragement from Tash I held on and had another go at the move - this time catching the jug and clipping the chain. First 8a for about a month (I've mainly been trying to onsight recently), and I was pretty pleased to get it third go and in a day - hopefully if I can keep the motivation up it should be a productive trip to St Leger next month!

The awesome 'Taló dret' (7a) on the Totxo de la Morera boulder - it continues up the flakes above then heads out left to the hanging groove.
'Planeta fumus' (8a) goes up the right hand side of the steep wall to my left.

Tash is in training for St Leger too!

Never doubt yr.no!

The amazing weather website that is http://www.yr.no/ was once again bang on with its prediction for today, despite it looking pretty unlikely this morning. The forecast was for sun first thing, then becoming cloudy around 2pm with a chance of light rain. But when there wasn't a single cloud in the sky this morning I had my doubts!

We had another day of exploration - today checking out some new sectors at Mont-ral. The first on the agenda was the Riu sector, down at the bottom of the valley in a beautiful location and with only the sound of the river to listen to all day - no screaming babies or barking dogs! The temperatures were pretty similar to yesterday with the sun shining and a bit of wind to keep things cool (yes I put suncream on today!). I started on an amazing 6c crack climb ('Kk's crack') with good finger locks and plenty of laybacking - a brilliant route. Then did another fantastic 7a+ curving crack/groove called 'Zimbabwe', which came complete with a 'wedged death flake' (guidebook description!) that you had to climb on top of and hope it didn't come loose! The polish on the block testified to the fact that it'd been there for a while, but it was still a bit worrying standing on it. I then ticked off the only remaining good-looking route at the sector - a 6c+ called 'Je suis pille' - total sandbag at the grade, with some hard moves to gain the hanging crack and then another thin move at the top of this, but another very good quality route.

At this point there still wasn't a cloud in the sky so I put more suncream on, in anticipation of a nice stint of sunbathing while belaying Tash on some routes. But low and behold, just as she was setting off on 'Kk's crack' the clouds predicted by yr.no started to roll in (just before 2pm like they said!) and I had to put my damn t-shirt on!

Tash just about to set off on 'Kk's crack' (6c) at the Riu sector in Mont-ral (sun still shining at this point!)
The route goes up the crack directly above her head and the 7a+ follows the groove to the left (which kinks right halfway up)

After this we moved on to check out some more new sectors. Next up was the small L'Escenari buttress, directly above the main walkers track. The first routes we got to were pretty short and fairly uninspiring, but just round the corner was a much longer part of the wall, with some better looking routes on. I did a 7a first, on perfect rock and with some really interesting climbing, then the 7b to its right. The rock at this sector was completely different to the rest of Mont-ral - more solid and compact like Siurana and gave really good crimpy climbing. The 7b was even better than the 7a and had a brilliant rising traverse up a slanting crack to get a good hold out on the right and then a rockover back leftwards over the bulge, before some easier but still quality climbing to the top. Without doubt a 3* route in anyone's money!

After this route I was feeling pretty tired and, with another day climbing tomorrow, I decided to call it a day. Unfortunately it was really cloudy and quite chilly now, so the planned sunbathing by the river will have to wait until next time! It's nice to know the forecast was accurate though!

We walked back up the main track and had a look at two other sectors on the way back - Totxo Graffiti (definitely worth coming back for a couple of 7b+'s) and El terrari (short routes, but maybe worth a few hours on the way to or from some of the other sectors).

First sunburn of the year...

...sorry Mum! Yes, I got burnt today.

After a few days climbing on crimps we opted for a change and went up to Montsant and the Roca de les Hores sector for some pockets, this time approaching from the Ermita de Sant Joan by a steep 40 minute uphill walk. It was beautiful wall to wall sunshine, but with a slight breeze keeping the temperatures down, so the sun didn't feel as strong as it obviously was! That's my excuse anyway - yes I should have put suncream on!

Anyway, to the climbing, and it was a day of onsighting for us both. I was feeling quite tired after the last few days and felt heavy and sluggish right from the first route, so I stuck to 7a's all day (hopefully I can climb more than two days in a row when we go to France at Easter!). After warming up on a 6b+, I did a brilliant long 7a ('Porca Miseria') - classic Montsant pocket pulling - and then a 7a+ with a tricky start involving a really blind move on a hidden mono crimp thing, then easier but amazing climbing. It felt like 7a+ if you found the mono thing and 7b/+ if you didn't!

Tash had a good day too, doing three 6b's and a 6b+ all on sight! I then finished off with one of the better routes I've done at Montsant - a 7a+ called 'Pell de gallina'. The start was on some nice grey tufa rock with a blank section linked by some perfect two-finger pockets, then a steeper upper section on more typical Montsant pocketed rock. It felt like hard 7a+ and included some spicy runouts (only 9 bolts for over 35m of climbing), and was made even more spicy thanks to some of the pockets at the top being completely filled with water, just when I was getting pumped! After this route I was pretty tired and sunburnt so we had some lunch, before walking along the top of the Cingles de Sant Joan crags and down the far side, to make a nice loop and avoid walking back down the same way - amazing views from the top of the ridge and a good view of the 7c+ I want to get on at Cingles de Sant Joan. A nice day out in the sun - but next time I'll listen to Tash and slap on some suncream!

Tash enjoying the sun and views from the base of Roca de les Hores.

The amazing wall at Cingles de Sant Joan with 'Espill' (F7c+) on, and also a project to the right - both of which I'm very keen to try next time we go here!

Some of the amazingly positioned crags at Montsant - Cingles de Sant Joan in front and Roca de les Hores at the back.

Looking down on Cornudella and Siurana in the late afternoon sunshine on the walk down.

A quick hit on La Mussara...

After so long without climbing and a good forecast for the foreseeable future I'm pretty keen to get out as much as possible so, despite starting work earlier on Fridays, we decided to go out again today for a brief session. This time to La Mussara.

I took a photo similar to this last time we were here but today I managed to get the sea in on the left, showing the amazing position of the crags!



The conditions were almost identical to the last time we were here too, with really clear air and a strong wind blowing making it quite chilly. I warmed up on a hard and strange 6b+, made harder by the fact that my fingers were so cold that I couldn't feel them. I then did an amazing 7a+ which had a few long moves between pockets at the start to gain a hanging crack in the wall, which you had to get jams in with both hands. After a few moves on jams the crack became positive enough to layback and continued like this all the way to the top of the crag - brilliant!

After this I got on a very strange 7c+ called 'Psssh....', which there's a photo of in the old Rockfax guide. The route had some really nice climbing on it but the line was a bit odd and felt quite eliminate at one point. The final few moves were also pretty scary, consisting of a big rockover onto a foothold right next to the bolt, so it was almost impossible to keep your foot out of the way of the rope and felt like you'd just get it caught in the rope if you fell - not nice! I decided not to have another go, so stripped it on the way down.

Tash then did a good bit of onsighting and went up a sandbag 5+ and a couple of 6a+s. After belaying her and going over the moves on 'Psssh...' I decided to have another go just to put it to bed. I managed to get through all the hard climbing at the bottom, but forgot to extend the top draw (the one next to the rockover foothold), so when I went to put my foot on the hold I just couldn't physically get it on the hold without standing on the rope, but couldn't reverse it, which ended my efforts just before the chain - doh! I'm keen to get back on it, as the climbing felt much better the second time, but I must remember to extend the top quickdraw next time!!!

Remembering how to climb...

So after what feels like an age without climbing thanks to the persistent rain over the last few days, we finally managed to get out to Siurana today (in reality it's only been a week since I last climbed but it feels much longer!). It chucked it down here pretty much all day on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday and then we had showers yesterday too. The first day was a bit of a novelty and it was quite nice to be inside cooking roast dinner, drinking wine and watching films etc with the rain lashing down outside. But after the second day of it we'd had enough! You forget what it's like not to be able to just go out climbing when you want to, and for your activities to be dictated so much by the weather. It's one reason why I think I'd find it hard to move back to the UK. 

Anyway, after all that rain the crags were thoroughly soaked! We originally planned to go to Siuranella this morning, but on the drive up it was clear that the grey streaks on the crags were still running with water and that would limit what routes I'd be able to get on. So we carried on up to the village, passing Ondra on the way up who was at the parking for El Pati (strangely having his shoelaces tied for him by his mum - devoted mother or injured perhaps??). As much as I didn't really want to resort to going to Can Melafots, it was the only crag that was pretty much bone dry so was the obvious choice today - testified by the arrival of Sharma and Daila not long after, who were being filmed for something. I doubt he would have normally chosen to climb at Melafots, even if it was only to be filmed for the TV - it's not the most inspiring of crags in Siurana!

Having said that, every time I go there I'm pleasantly surprised how good the routes turn out to be. They're not very continuous and tend to consist of a hard start followed by some easier climbing before another tricky bit towards the top, but the rock is nice and the moves usually fairly interesting. My warm up (Remulo y Romo 7a) was exactly like this, and better than I thought it'd be. Tash had a go at leading it afterwards, because at this stage we thought it was the 6c next door, but she didn't get very far so I ended up climbing it again to get the draws out.

I then moved over to Ca la Isabel, the sector just along from Melafots, and got on a route that Mac had recommended to me a while ago ('La diosa del sexo' 7c+). It followed the same formula as the Melafots routes and had a pretty bouldery start, followed by a hands off rest on a ledge and then some easier climbing up the final steep section. I came very close to sacking it off at the first bolt when I couldn't work out how to do the start without a dynamic move to grab a really painful hold. After a few goes at this poor method I sorted out a better and more static way, using the painful hold with the other hand and it was way easier. The upper steep bit was also easier than I expected from the way Mac had described it and was really enjoyable with some long moves between good holds and an awesome 'cut loose' sideways move. After putting the draws in I came down and had a few minutes rest before doing it first go. I was quite pleased that it felt so steady, having only sat on the sofa for the last week eating roast dinners, cake and scones. But it's probably more a sign that it wasn't very hard for 7c+! Anyway, a great route and it was really nice to be outside climbing again.

Driving down from Siurana there were plenty of people climbing up at Siuranella and the rock was so much drier than this morning, so hopefully in a day or two it'll be back to business as usual and all the rock will be back in action.

Some dude on 'Boy's don't cry' (F7c) at Sector Ca la Isabel, just to the left of my route for today.



Post-deluge exploration & sightseeing around Gandesa...

After the torrential rain all day yesterday we made a decision not to even try and climb today. Serious amounts of water fell out of the sky over the previous 24 hours, so we figured that instead of heading out with the intention of climbing and being disappointed when everything was wet, we'd go out just to explore some new crags and climb if they were dry. That way it wouldn't be a wasted day either way - can't fault the logic eh?!

I've been meaning to have a look at the crags around Pinell de Brai / Gandesa (about an hour south-west of us) for a while now, so when Pete mentioned the place again recently it reminded me that I needed to go and I thought this would be an ideal opportunity. We drove down there and first went to Pinell de Brai village, as I'd read online that the most up to date topos were kept at a certain bar there. We couldn't find this bar for love nor money, despite there being about six different ones in what was a pretty small village! Even when we asked for it by name they didn't know of its existence, or of a bakery where they were also supposed to keep the topos - so it looked like that was a red herring! Fortunately I'd found a map just with the location of the crags on someone's blog last night, so we drove there and managed to find the crags easily enough. Suffice it to say I was pretty impressed!

The sunny Mirador sector.

The Cova sector - home of some amazing looking steep tufa lines (all soaking wet today!)

Looking out from the Cova to the Mirador sector across the valley.

As we didn't have any information about the routes we decided not to climb, plus most of the good looking routes were wet today, but it was definitely good enough to warrant a return visit, especially as the best crags were shaded all morning so it'll be good for when it wams up. It still amazes me how many crags there are within the immediate area that I haven't even been to!

After checking out all the sectors in the area we drove over to a place called Fontcalda, which Tash had seen last night when we were trying to find info about the climbing and thought looked nice. The tiny road to get there was pretty spectacular, following the top of a long ridge before dropping down into the bottom of the valley where there was a deep gorge.

The awesome scenery on the drive to Fontcalda.

The gorge at Fontcalda - plenty of muddy water in it after yesterday's rain! Will be a nice swimming spot in the summer when it's a bit clearer ;-)

The overflowing gorge at Fontcalda - note the bannister on the right!

The Santuari i Balneari de la Fontcalda through the gorge.

Apparently there's a natural hot spring around here somewhere - it was overflowing with plenty of cold & muddy stuff today though!

Via Verde (disused railway line turned into a cycle path) which passes through Fontcalda.
I'm pretty keen to cycle the whole trail in summer - it passes through some pretty awesome places!

After we'd had a look around the church and gorge at Fontcalda and also the Via Verde, we drove home via Gandesa. And driving through Gandesa what did we see? - the bakery where the topos were supposedly kept! Unfortunately it was closed by now. But when I got home I had another quick look online for the topos for the crags we'd been to today and found them almost immediately! A bit too late for today, but at least I've got them for next time.

On the drive back to Montbrió we found this across the road.
I've always wondered when these normally dry river beds ever had water in them - after 24 hours solid rain it seems!

The rain in Spain falls mainly...well...everywhere!





It's been a long time coming, but finally we've had some proper rain today! It had been forecast to be bad for the last week, so at least we could plan to be indoors doing something different...mainly eating!

So we bought a big chicken...

...and cooked roast dinner! Note the mummy and daddy sized plates ;-)

And also made a massive lemon cake - with ground almonds made from what we collected at Masriudoms last October!

Summer training starts early...

We've had a few days of pretty grey and miserable weather this week. No rain yet, but Tuesday and Wednesday were very overcast, so we weren't that psyched to go out climbing - I'm definitely turning into a fair weather climber!

Today the sun was out again and it was actually really warm, so it wasn't hard to leave the house this morning. We went to Siuranella again, but this time to the South sector. I warmed up by putting the draws in Tash's aim for the day - the 6b+ 'Like a cuc' - and then I did the 7b+ ('Statge') which breaks out left from it. This was actually better than it looks, despite feeling a bit eliminate at the bottom, and saves the crux until the very end!

Tash then got on 'Like a cuc' and did it as her warm up! Such a massive difference from the last time she was on it in January when she was really struggling from the outset, and didn't even manage to get to the top! It's really good to see how much progress she's made in the last five months since moving down here and climbing more regularly.

I then did an awesome 7b called 'Laberint dels cucs'. This provided probably the most traditional experience of any climb I've done in Siurana, and was good training for some crack climbing in the summer! It had absolutely no chalk on it and was pretty dirty, especially towards the top where I had to do some cleaning as I went(!), so I guess it doesn't get climbed very often. After a steep, bouldery start it follows a striking crack/groove all the way to the top of the crag, requiring a combination of laybacking, bridging, jamming and insecure back & footing! Excellent stuff, and not what you expect from a sport route in Siurana! A real hidden gem, if you like that kind of thing!

I finished off by putting the draws in 'Ayla' (7a) for Tash to have a go on top-rope. I'd forgotten how strenuous this route is at the bottom(!), especially today in full sun and with the crack being a little humid/damp. Tash had a good workout on this, including some practice for the summer pulling between draws at the bottom! ;-) On the way down I had a quick play on the 8a that breaks out left from it ('Drack'), but it was pretty crap to be honest. Only three or four hard moves on tiny tiny crimps making up the meat of the route, to get between the crack of Ayla out to the easy crack up the arete on the left. The crux felt nigh on impossible today with sweaty fingers and I didn't want to lose too much skin trying so very quickly sacked it off!

Big swing out from one of the routes at Siuranella South.

Pancake day!

Mmmm...pancakes for breakfast!

Last time I ate pancakes was in the summer, to cheer us up when we were in Switzerland sheltering from the rain parked in a hydro-electric tunnel! This morning was an altogether more pleasant and less depressing experience!

Pancakes made with Natacha marg!

Sunshine & success at Siuranella...

There's a poor forecast for later this week so, not knowing when we'd next be able to get out, we decided to go climbing today while the sun was still shining. I was pretty tired from the last few days so it was a struggle to get out of bed, but it's hard not to get psyched once you see it's wall to wall sunshine outside!

We went to Siuranella Central in the hope that there'd be a breeze to cool things down a bit - it was really warm in the sun! But when we got up there it was completely still, and warming up on 'Tikis mikis' it became obvious that it was going to get very warm very quickly. So I immediately got on my project for the day - 'Flipo en colores' (7c+) while it was still just about in the shade. The crux involves some really balancy climbing, pulling on incredibly small crimps, so with sweaty fingers it'd be next to impossible. I did the same as last time I tried it and put the draws in the first five bolts, which makes up the crux of the route, then came down and went for a redpoint. Satisfyingly, I got through the crux first time and nailed the final dyno to the jug, which spells the end of the hardest bit of climbing. But it's been so long since I'd been on the route that I couldn't remember what to do after, so there was a fair bit of sketching above. Thankfully I did remember that there was a hard move just before the very top, so I made sure I took advantage of the rest beforehand and didn't fluff it this time, despite forgetting what to do again! I'm pretty pleased to finally put this route to bed, as I remember the first time I tried it and how long it took just to even work out the crux moves! Plus I was so close to doing it the last time. Anyway it's another great route. The fact that it comes quite close to the 7a next door towards the top slightly detracts from it, but the lower half including the crux is brilliant climbing and finishes with a really satisfying throw to a jug which just looks so far away until you commit to it.

After this Tash warmed up on a 6a and then finished off one of her projects from the last time we were here - a really nice 6c. By this time the wind had picked up so it was chilly when belaying but perfect conditions for climbing.

Tash about to set off on her warm up - note the lack of crowds!

I then had a go up another 7c+ - this time called 'El visionario'. It was a brilliant route and all the moves felt fine except for one heinous rock-over off a tiny tiny crimp. I was losing skin really quickly trying the move, so decided to come back another day when it was colder and with fresh skin.

When I got down from this route the masses had once again descended onto the crag - I'm not sure why it was so busy here today. It was good conditions and really sunny, and I guess the easy routes are concentrated into one area so it probably seemed busier than it actually was, plus it's a holiday in Barcelona apparently. Either way we were ready to leave the crag by this time so left them all to fight over the routes, happy that we'd had an early start!

Note the crowds!

A busy day at Siuranella Central.