After a few days resting tired skin, fingers and forearms we went up to Siurana this morning. The temps are still pretty high, so we were in the shade again at L'Aparador - one of the better hot weather crags, with amazing crack climbs up to 40m. However, as I've done most of these and wasn't feeling ready to commence battle with the one remaining 8 at the crag (due to the lack of chalk or even any sign of it having been climbed before), I settled for a much more convenient alternative - the 7c+ that shares a lower-off with one of the 6c's on the left. Warm-up on the 6c going up; put the clips in the 7c+ coming down - easy!
I also had a quick play on the route on the way down, and worked out one or two moves - it felt steep! After a rest belaying Tash I had a 'no expectations' redpoint, but wasn't really warmed up properly and hadn't worked out the moves as well as I thought so spent a lot of time dithering and completely powered out well before the crux. I came down and had another rest and then did it next go. A strange route - 6 bolts long and with only about 6-7m of actual hard climbing, but the moves were excellent and just what I needed (i.e. bouldering on a rope to get me a bit stronger!).
On the way back we checked out the La Capella crag - home to Ondra's latest addition and another permanently shady crag, useful for the next few months. The 9a 'Jungle Speed' looks like the most do-able route of its grade I've ever seen. If I hadn't just seen a video of someone on it the other day then I'd have guessed around the 8a-8b mark! It is steep, but the holds all look big enough that I reckon even I could pull on them - the footholds/body positions must be atrocious to bump the grade up that much! Ondra's new possible 9b didn't look so easy unfortunately. Thankfully there were also plenty of nice looking 8a's to try when we eventually get round to visiting.
I might pull my finger out tomorrow and see what the final 8 on the L'Aparador wall is like - hopefully as good as the rest of the routes...
On the way back we checked out the La Capella crag - home to Ondra's latest addition and another permanently shady crag, useful for the next few months. The 9a 'Jungle Speed' looks like the most do-able route of its grade I've ever seen. If I hadn't just seen a video of someone on it the other day then I'd have guessed around the 8a-8b mark! It is steep, but the holds all look big enough that I reckon even I could pull on them - the footholds/body positions must be atrocious to bump the grade up that much! Ondra's new possible 9b didn't look so easy unfortunately. Thankfully there were also plenty of nice looking 8a's to try when we eventually get round to visiting.
I might pull my finger out tomorrow and see what the final 8 on the L'Aparador wall is like - hopefully as good as the rest of the routes...
No comments:
Post a Comment