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.
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| 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!
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| Note the crowds! |
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| A busy day at Siuranella Central. |
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