Welcome to a slightly different blog… From now on Ali will be writing a purely climbing blog and I’ll be covering the “other stuff”. So if you want the beta on his latest crushes click HERE, or read on for the more fluffy stuff from our travels and non climbing life...
Graham and Mary's final day and a visit to another of our local landmarks, the "hanging church" or "Ermita de la Mare de Deu de la Roca" if you want to be accurate. Perched up on a deep red sandstone promentary, this cute little church and surrounding buildings are a fun place to explore and enjoy views down the coast...
Walking up through the olives groves from the town of Mont Roig.
Since the torrential rain all day Monday and Tuesday the weather's been a bit frustrating this week. Forecasts have predicted rain most days which hasn't really ended up coming to anything - I guess that's a good thing?! Nevertheless we've managed to get out, and probably more than usual, as every day it was a case of 'making the most of it before the rain comes'.
Wednesday we stupidly opted for a 'quick drying' crag - La Riba - but underestimated the normally trickling river, which had become a completely impassable raging torrent.
Dry crag. Wet river!
We salvaged the day after a long detour to end up at La Mussara, which was a little too hot in the sun so shredded my tips on some crimpy wall climbs. Highlight of the day was a superb 7b called 'Noni' - a burly start on rock and features not dissimilar to the middle bit of Malham cove.
Thursday we were up at Siurana, where there were still plenty of wet streaks about. We opted for a new esoteric sector - Grau de la Covassa - up on the Siuranella cliffs. Turned out to be quite good. I had a go up a hard 7c+ there named 'Via del Cugat'. Had a decent redpoint on it but need to go back and finish it off.
Wetness at sector Solarium - route is 'Total Insanity' 8a.
Friday was another morning spent failing on the major project at Mont-roig. I still haven't managed to repeat the link I did a few weeks ago - not sure if this is to do with the dampness there's been every time since or if I'm getting weaker. Hope it's just the former! Anyway I did manage to do something new there - 'Atog allargada', given font 7a+ in the guide but I've learnt not to believe anything written in that! Felt the same as 'Parasiempre' extension so probably 7b/+ ish. Will be good to get to Font again in April to get a feel for how bouldering grades actually work again!
Not a huge amount of new climbing on it but thought I'd record it anyway.
Saturday it was supposed to rain again but as per usual it didn't really come to anything and there was even bright sunshine in the morning!
Autumn colours in the Priorat vineyards. Montsant in the background.
Dave, Paul & Sarah were planning to go to Montsant so we headed up to Raco de Missa to meet them. Turns out they only had the old Rockfax guide which has the most inaccurate approach description ever written. So they arrived just as we had to leave at 3pm - in fact, Dave didn't actually get there until we'd left, after a 3hr hike around the hills trying to find the crag! We had a decent day's climbing before the drizzle came, though were both tired from the previous three days. I managed to fill in a few gaps, on-sighting some superb low 7's that I'd overlooked previously.
Anyway, the latest long term forecast shows just a few more days of bad weather then it looks to be finally settling down to what we're more used to at this time of year - cold, crisp blue sky days perfect for crushing in the sun. Fingers crossed it turns out to be accurate...
Not exactly true as there'll be loads of climbs I haven't recorded, but according to my logbook on UKC it was our 500th climb together this Tuesday. And what with her birthday on Saturday it'll have to be a double celebration. Or not!
Anyway the route in question was 'Twin Turbo' (7c) at L'Aparador in Siurana. I tried this over a month ago as one of my first routes after the long summer break but couldn't even do the crux moves. Today, after warming up, I tried it putting the draws in but fell from the final hard move through the crux. I wasn't surprised at failing but was quite pleased at how much easier it felt than last time. Anyway I lowered to the ground and did it next go, so ground-up I guess? On the way down I worked a few of the crux moves on the 7c+ next door but lost a lot of skin in the process, but that's ready for a redpoint next time we go up there.
We checked out the neighbouring crags of La Covassa and La Capella afterwards, where there's been a load of development since the new guide was published, especially at Covassa. A new sector seems to have been discovered on the right-hand side, following some gardening and ivy removal, which looks very good. No grades or names known so a trip to the campsite bar is required.
Yesterday (Thursday), we returned to Mont-roig for a bouldering session to try and top up the power levels. I was keen to have a go at linking the project right from the start, but instead failed to even repeat the link I did last Saturday. I initially thought this problem was impossible, but then made quite fast progress linking the individual moves so thought "it's not too bad after all". Now i'm back to my original thinking. Maybe not impossible but certainly very hard. The 7c grade might be justified for this one. We'll see...
The weather's been a bit poor since we got back from Cuenca. It's rained to some degree more or less every day, so I haven't been massively psyched to make the trip over the hill. Saturday we nipped out for a short bouldering session at Mont-roig, when I managed to link the 'Contracorriente' project from the jugs in the middle of the prow to the end (what I was trying in the last video). But I was way too tired to then link it from the true start.
Today we went up again, but after more rain overnight and no wind to dry the rock off some of the crucial slopers on the prow were a bit damp so I couldn't repeat what I did on Saturday, despite some determined and quite painful attempts! I then had a play on 'Virus' (7c), which comes directly out from the back of the cave, but couldn't do the final two moves. Definitely a good one to persevere with, in order to develop some pure power! Then finished off by repeating the Parasiempre extension, which I was quite pleased with as it felt pretty steady. A sure sign of some progress...hopefully!
The forecast shows an improvement in the weather this week so looks like we'll be out again soon...
Again, not the most interesting post but I finally made progress on the MUCH harder right-hand version of the prow at Mont-roig. This problem can be started in two separate places but the hard climbing really starts from a big jug about halfway along the prow, so that's where I've been working it from. I worked out all the individual moves and then managed to do it from the jug in two halves. It's going to be hard I think, but the moves are brilliant and despite sharing the same start and finish to Parasiempre it feels like a completely different problem. I'm psyched to go back and try linking it from the start...
Not a great video - more for me to remember the moves.
Oh, and here's a photo to show how close the bouldering is to home (pink arrow!)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Not very exciting, but today we went back to Mont-roig. I managed the extension to Parasiempre. The guide gives it Font 7C but it can't possibly be this - it maybe adds a grade or so onto the original problem so 7B/+ ish. It's been so long since I've bouldered on any confirmed problems in more established areas so I honestly have no idea. Whatever grade, it's a great problem. I'm just pleased to feel some progress from a few weeks ago when I was struggling on the original 7a+ start.
Back at Mont-roig for some more boulder crushing today. After a quick warm-up I set about trying the right-hand start to the prow problem (Contracorriente). I managed to work out one or two individual moves but it felt HARD and I couldn't link much of it at all. So instead I tried the extended version of Parasiempre that I managed last week. Starting stood up off to the right of the roof and then linking in to the 7a+ version via a good crack/rail through the roof bumps this up to font 7c according to the guide. I reckon this is a bit OTT but the extension certainly means you're pretty tired by the time you get into the original start. After working out the initial moves, which ended up being some cool 3D climbing to get into the roof crack, I had a go at linking into the previous start. I managed to get through the extension and into the original problem but powered out at the crux throw out to the lip, as I'd predicted. It definitely adds a fair bit onto the 7a+ version but time will tell whether it's as much as three grades...I suspect not!
We returned to Mont-roig today. It was super hot, even at 10am when we first arrived but thankfully the best sectors are in the shade (though I might not be so grateful for that in the winter!). After warming up on the easier of the roof sectors I moved on to the best bit of rock at Mont-roig - Pandora's Box.
The long-term project still remains a project but today I managed to do the easier left-hand start to it - Parasiempre (font 7a+). There isn't that much of any real quality at Mont-roig but this is right up there with some of the best problems I've done anywhere. It would be a classic even somewhere like Font I reckon. [It'll be waiting for you in February Matt!]. And Tash was on hand to get a quick vid - this was actually a second lap on it 'cos she missed the start first time round so it's a bit sketchy at the end! Good training though I suppose ;-)
With Tash's back still giving her problems, meaning that climbing and even belaying weren't possible, we decided to head out to the local boulders at Mont-roig so I could climb and Tash could have a hobble around (as well as being on photo duties!). It's somewhere that I'd been once before but couldn't really get psyched by - the rock's quite soft and sandy and most of the problems are bum-scraping sit starts!
However, luckily there are a few worthwhile sectors with more solid rock and some pretty decent eliminates and link-ups and also one totally independent fridge-hugging prow problem on perfectly clean and solid rock. The best thing is that it feels pretty damn hard so it'll be a good training project, and only ~10mins from the house!
The "hanging church" at Mont-roig.
A bit of bush-whacking in between the problems!
Some of the amazing features in the rock - a sign of the durability of the rock here!
Honeycomb rock at one of the good steep sectors - luckily the rock here is actually solid!
Awesome steep roof with plenty of eliminates and link-ups.
