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