I'm going to have sore legs tomorrow!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1029509 

We decided to stay closer to home today and check out the area the other side of Masriudoms (only a 15 minute drive from our place). I wasn't sure whether it would be as scenic as the better-known National Parks around Montsant / Siurana, with their stunning views and mountains, but I was wrong. Very, very, wrong. I can also confirm that the mountains are every bit as steep! 

Starting the day with a good old slog! From Masriudoms village at 200m then to the first coll at 600m. You can actually  just about see Montbrio in the distance... 

Another coll at 600m...

If Carlsberg did picnic areas... This incredible spot looked brand new, jutting out on a promontory looking out to sea  

Resting my weary legs!

The tiny sleepy hamlet of Castello - pretty much the only evidence of human presence we saw in the mountains!

Descending with sea views

Beer makes life more pleasant....well, kneebars at least!

Tash successfully made it back to the UK with her car over the weekend and then flew back here yesterday, so we're now a one car family! Given that we pretty much always climb together and drive in to work and back together it seemed completely pointless running two cars out here.

This morning she passed her 'daddy car' inititation, driving to Masriudoms, so she'll be allowed to drive my car ;-) She might need to practise some parking manoeuvres though, as mine is about twice as long as hers!!

The weather was pretty different to the last few weeks - very overcast and it had rained a bit overnight, so there was only one choice of destination this morning really.

Masriudoms framed by the almond blossom.

I made sure I warmed up properly today, after the flash pump I got last week. So I went up and then downclimbed ATP 6c to get a bit more blood flowing, before putting the first three draws in my route again ('Ricacera' extension - F8a+). The air was very still and humid and the rock felt quite cold and damp, so I wasn't sure how I'd get on with the rest of the route. But thankfully I came down, belayed Tash on her warm up, and then climbed the route first go. I felt way better today after a decent warm-up and had also made a kneepad by taping Tash's beer towel round my thigh, so I could stay at the kneebar rest a bit longer (way more comfortable with some padding!). I actually felt recovered when I left the rest today and, apart from a worrying moment when my hand slipped out of the big wet (and muddy!) pocket just after the kneebar (I was so close to falling off!), the rest of the route felt fine. Pumpy, but it all felt well in control. And most importantly, another amazing long route. Again today I felt a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment at having climbed it, as that leaves only the routes on the right wall for me to do...or maybe I need to borrow a drill and try my hand at putting up some more routes!

Me at the half-height kneebar rest, showing the line of the route. F7c+/8a to here and F8a+ to the top. This is where the beer towel came in useful!

And then afterwards Tash climbed her project first go too, despite having cold hands! Which means she can now get stuck into one of the extensions, where the wall steepens up and the good tufa climbing starts (though it'll be a bit of a step up, as the easiest is F7b+!!).

So with both our routes ticked off in quick time, we headed home for a cup of tea after a short but satisfying morning's work!

Misled by the morning murk...

With the forecast looking really good again this week, we were all set for a day at Siurana today. But we woke up to find Montbrió under a layer of murk, and couldn't even see up to the hills from the balcony...normally a bad omen! There was no sign of it burning off any time soon and it felt cold outside so we opted for the safety of Masriudoms again. But as soon as we'd parked up and started walking in, the sun came out and the temperature rocketed. We'd been well and truly duped!!

Even the almond trees are being fooled by the temperatures...they think it's spring!

Almond tree blossom - one for the nature lovers!

By the time we got to the cave it was starting to get really hot so I decided to get on my route straight away, before the temperatures got unbearable. I quickly warmed up on ATP 6c, then put the first 3 draws in my route (Ricacera). I came down and immediately went for a redpoint. The bottom crux moves felt fine, but I got a really bad flash pump immediately after, which I ended up fighting all the way (one go up a short 6c obviously wasn't sufficient warm up!). I was really pumped by the end of the 8a section, but managed to get a little bit back at the knee-bar - though nowhere near as much as I normally would from a hands off rest. I carried on anyway onto the extension and made it through the bulge and onto the upper wall, which felt fine despite being really tired and pumped, until my efforts were halted when a foothold broke. Tash was standing a way off to the right to avoid the occasional loose stuff I was kicking down, so she went flying when I fell and I took a massive fall!!! Quite exciting.

I was too disappointed for my efforts to end with a hold breaking, after fighting the pump for so long, that I couldn't face another go. So I just went to the top and stripped it on the way down, then sat around belaying and sunbathing for the rest of the day :-)

Tash had quite a few goes on ATP 6c, falling every time at the same crux move. By the time she managed to get through this move though it was absolutely baking and she was too tired to finish it off. But at least she got to a new high point!

Tash finally getting through the crux moves on ATP L1 (F6c), only to run out of steam higher up.

New toys and a new project at Masriudoms...

As is so common in this area, the start of a period of beautiful clear sunny weather comes hand in hand with a fresh breeze from the north...or more precisely a howling gale. The reason there are so many wind turbines around the hills behind us becomes evident at times like this!

But Masriudoms is always a good bet when it's so windy - a haven of warmth and shelter! After Karin & Steve had been on the Ricacera extension on Monday I was keen to get on it myself and have a look, on their recommendation. Especially as they'd taken the time to do a bit of gardening, brushing and general hold cleaning - thanks Steve! The route turned out to be very good, once again! This time with the best climbing of the route on the upper half. And apart from the big pocket that Steve had obviously had to thoroughly clear out, the rock in general was clean and solid. This pocket was still a little damp, but hopefully in another few days with the wind it'll be nice & dry. The route also turned out to be easier than I'd expected - quite a bit easier than the one I did on Monday. The lower half is significantly easier than 'Rancios', with only a few tricky moves at the start - but these weren't as hard as I'd remembered (though they are very reachy!) Then you get a perfect hands off knee-bar rest at the end of the 8a section, and the upper wall is probably comparable with the top half of 'Rancios', except maybe without the scary crux bit.

I was very tempted to come down and have a redpoint straight away, but I know Tash is keen to come back soon for her project, so I decided to leave it for next time...plus I didn't want to tick another route off the list at Masriudoms too quickly!

Javi had a go at the 7b+ extension of ATP but couldn't quite make the crux moves, so I went up to finish the route (to the end of the 8a bit) and get his draws out just for a bit of training, to end the day nicely. A short day, but as it was fourth day on I was ready for an 'active' rest day before tomorrow.

The new toys were Tash's brand new 80m rope (only its second day out!) and Javi's brand new GRIGRI 2. The new GRIGRI was very nice - super smooth paying out, like the cinch, and noticeably smaller than the old one...but at €65 I think I'll cope just using the one we've got for now!

New toys today - new rope & the GRIGRI 2 (neither of them mine unfortunately!!)

One down...not many left to go!

Not much to say about today really, and I'm not sure whether to feel pleased or disappointed.

It was very cloudy up towards the hills but sunny down on the coast so we opted for Masriudoms again, hoping that the rain from Friday hadn't caused too much seepage. The crag was still bone dry, so we were worrying for nothing!

Everything went to plan - I warmed up, put the draws in the lower half of 'Los rancios de la aldea' and left some draws in the mid-height belay to collect on the way past. Then had a bit of a rest belaying Tash on ATP and chatting to Karin & Steve. Then I climbed the route first go. The lower half felt pretty steady, so I'm pleased about that - if I compare it to how hard it felt a year or two ago when I was trying it. I managed to rest and de-pump at the chains of the lower half, and then the climbing on the top half just felt like a case of keeping it together to the end (even the scary crux cross-through didn't feel too bad) so I'm pleased about that too - nice to know I haven't lost all my stamina! The climbing was just as good as I remember, and the whole route makes for easily one of the best and longest routes at the crag.

But lowering down I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. As much as I wanted to get it done, I also didn't want to tick another route off the 'to-do' list, as I'm running out of new stuff to do there too quickly - I wish there were 10 more routes just like it! I only have one more extension to do in the main area (Ricacera 8a+) and then the rest start off the ledge on the right, which is a bit more of a pain to get to, up the fixed ropes. There were draws in the 8a 'Tango Ferez' today which did look good so maybe I'll get on that next time?

 


Steve Crowe on the crux starting moves of 'Ricacera' (F8a)

 

I belayed Tash on ATP and got some shots of Steve on 'Ricacera', before it was time to go.






 




Try to spot Steve on the extension to 'Ricacera' (F8a+) - another HUGE route!! Today's route for me follows the pink dots to a belay below a roof about 10m out of shot!
Half-height belay marked with the big dot :-)



 


Masriudoms in the rain...

It had rained overnight and after my intense climbing day yesterday I was a bit achey so we were very tempted just to stay in bed, but with a poor forecast for the next few days we decided to make the effort!

Destination: Masriudoms again. This place is so steep and overhangs so much that it stays dry even in the heaviest rain (apart from after prolonged periods when the seepage comes through).

I put the draws in the first half of 'Los rancios de la aldea' and then re-redpointed it again. I came down and collected some more draws and then headed on up the extension. It's another incredible addition to the crag - 50m long and with incredible tufa climbing right the way to the top. The crux of the upper half involves taking an undercut with your left hand and then getting your feet really high and doing a strange off-balance cross through move right across your body to get an undercut sidepull which you have to almost fall onto. One final rock-over onto a really high right foot leads to a clip and a rest before another 15m or so of easier, but still pumpy climbing, gets you to the top. The crux section is quite scary, as you already have your feet a few metres above the bolt when you start the hard moves and then it's another 3-4 metres of strange off-balance climbing before the next one. After getting the draws in to the top I managed to link the second half of the route on top-rope, despite being really tired from yesterday, so hopefully next time I manage to get through the bottom half (definitely still the crux of the whole route) I'll be able to have a good go at the extension. Anyway, it's a good one for building up some endurance on, as it's really long with plenty of shake-outs in the upper half and pumpy climbing in between.

Tash made good progress on her project (the pumpy 6c first section of ATP) so she was happy!

The incredible long routes at Masriudoms - 'Los rancios de la aldea' full route (F8a+), 50m on the left and 'ATP' L3 (F8a), 40m on the right.

It snowed a few centimetres in Siurana today and more forecast for tomorrow, with changeable weather on the way at the weekend so we'll see what we manage to get done in the next few days...

Walking out from Masriudoms in the rain after another successful day.

Masriudoms in the sun...

Another cold start (though not as cold as it has been of late) and an earlier start at work on Wednesdays meant that we (me & Javi) decided to go to my local crag, that is Masriudoms, in order to maximise climbing time.

   

Masriudoms - home of free oranges, limes, almonds and most importantly...tufas!



"Old French dude" trying the 7c+ (the connection comes straight up from the left to join the route here)

I started with my usual warm-up on the mega-long line of ATP. The climbing is relatively consistent all the way and pretty juggy, and has belays at different points up it so you can just go as far as you want depending on how good you're feeling, until you get nicely warmed up. Today I stopped at the 7b+ chains for my warm-up (other days I've been pumped at the end of the 6c so I knew I was feeling relatively good today)

I've been to Masriudoms so many times now that, although I never get bored of climbing there, I am running out of new routes to do very quickly. One of my only potential 'on-sights' left to do was a connection route on the left wall linking the start of a 7c into the end of a 7c+ to give, unsurprisingly, another 7c+. It sounds a bit pointless but, in fact, it's a more direct line than either of the other routes and is probably the most obvious way up this bit of wall. Anyway, despite having climbed both the 7c and 7c+ before and this connection having very little new climbing, I was nevertheless pleased to do it first go (on-sight / retro-flash / whatever you want to call it!!)

[This French guy's mate had the most amazing hands I've ever seen - ridiculously fat sausage fingers!!!]

"Old French dude" higher up on the 7c+

One of the other routes I have left to do here is the 8a+ extension to 'Los rancios de la aldea'. This is one of the best routes at Masriudoms, even just to half way (hard 8a), with amazing varied and technical climbing up some quality tufas. Unfortunately it's starting to show signs of over-use with some crucial footholds getting polished, to the extent that it's quite reminiscent of the catwalk at Malham! Anyway, with the intention of attempting the extension some time soon I decided to try and repeat the lower half and familiarise myself with it again. So I put the draws in and worked the crux moves. After a quick rest I managed to re-redpoint the route, though it was a bit touch-and-go moving rightwards to the final big tufa, where the difficulties end and there are some jugs to shake out on. Bring on the extension!

Me on 'Los rancios de la aldea' - the first belay is just below the top of this picture - the full route is twice this length (50m!!)





I finished the day with a lap on what is fast becoming my party piece at this crag - ATP again, but this time to the chains at the top of the 8a. It's such a fun route to climb - 40m of the most perfect tufa climbing and when someone has the draws in all the way then you can just keep going 'til you fall. By now it was time to leave, and after packing A LOT of climbing into only a few hours I was feeling pretty tired too.