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...
With Tim, Jess and Henry safely back in blighty, we spent my parents' final day here up at Montsant. Ali and I had a morning hit at Roca de Las Horas (struggling to climb under the weight of the previous days' BBQs!) before joining my parents at the church for a picnic. The wild flowers were out in force, such bright colours and looking beautiful in the sun!
Attempting to climb "Mal de Ventre" - it's steep! Lovely views though.
The stunningly located Ermita Mare de Deu de Montsant
Picnic in the sun behind the church, trying to spot the Pyrenees through the haze...
Wild flowers :-)
More wild flowers!
And a few more for luck. A stunning display :-)
Heading back down the twisty turny track, Siurana in the background. A very nice day.
Route number two for me and Ali-the-former-climber was in the stunning area around Montsant. A large loop which took us between some new little villages and along tracks beneath the Montsant ridge and under some of the old climbing haunts. It was supposed to be about 35km on 100% rideable tracks / quiet roads but the cheeky addition of a new track which didn't feature on our map set us on a rather large detour! The detour also involved some smaller tracks to get us back on course, but this included some of my favourite bits of the ride so it didn't matter :-)
...and we're off! Lovely wide undulating tracks through almond trees
Down toward Vilella Alta with our destination, the Montsant Ridge, in the background
Vilella Alta. I saw my first snake of the year when I stopped to take this!
Pretty church. We didn't drop into the service in our lycra though!
The coolest track in the world - Cami de Cartoixans - which runs for some 15 km under the Montsant Ridge (with many optional side tracks too ;-))
Lunch after a slight detour and the final slog for the day!
Looking out to Vilella Alta - you can cover so much ground on a bike!
The ultimate "grand design" project. Ali would need to do a bit of work... but views to die for and Raco de Missa as your local crag? yes please! Better get saving and / or buying some lottery tickets!
The second instalment in the Montsant Marathon was another beautiful sunny day split between Barrots and Carrasclet. We met up with Pete & Àngels, as Pete was keen to get a few crag shots with people actually in them!
Tash on 'Per amor a l'art' (6a+) at Carrasclets.
'El monstruo del Arbo-ness L3' (7a) - not bad positions!
I then got back on an 8a at Carrasclets that I'd tried last November called 'Ciática'. This route is so different from most routes at Montsant, with a whole mix of styles and very few pockets, but last time I was on it I just couldn't touch it - this is what I wrote in my logbook:
"A brilliant route, but NOT 8a. Steady start on solid finger locks up the initial crack to a rest. Then 3 bolts worth of climbing which I could barely do any moves of, up to a good pocket. From here fairly steady but nice technical climbing to the top on amazing small flakes & rugosities. Must have lost crucial holds around the crux section (rock scars evident), as this is the first '8a' in about 4 years that I haven't been able to do a move first go on, never mind 10m worth of climbing!"
Today was much more succesful and I managed to work out the moves fairly easily. Not sure if I was just being useless last time or if I'm significantly stronger this year. Either way I had a couple of decent redpoints but frustratingly fell both times on the last of the hard moves on the crux section. From here there's still a lot of climbing to the top but it's more sustained and less cruxy. The second time I managed to pull straight back on and go to the top so hopefully next time it'll go - progress from last year anyway! I have a habit of saying this at the moment, but it's one of the best routes I've ever been on. Really interesting climbing up a truly stunning piece of rock.
This week's Montsant marathon began with some low level cloud and a very murky start down in Cornudella. True to form, though, after the walk-in we ended up in bright sunshine looking down on a spectacular sea of cloud in the valley below.
The destination for today was 'El Libro' - a huge open book corner, and one of the most striking and recognisable features along the Montsant range as you drive on the road between Cornudella and Morera far below. This crag has to be among the least frequented of all the Montsant crags, due to its long approach (1hr) and more complicated access, but it is also without doubt THE most spectacularly positioned of them all!
Most of the routes start from this very narrow ledge system bisecting the enormous plumb vertical walls of "the book", with a huge drop almost straight down to the road a looong way down - exposure guaranteed!
We started on the right-hand side of the crag, where the routes start from 'relative' terra firma. I say relative because you're still stepping off a ledge hundreds of metres above the valley floor, but the ledge is significantly wider here than further round! I did a 6b+ and 7b here before moving round to the left-hand side where the ledge narrows.
The routes were, on the whole, very good quality. If they were at Raco de Missa or another more classic sector they'd be chalked, clean, and incredibly popular. But as it is, with the more involved approach I wouldn't be surprised if they'd seen only a handful of ascents. And, like with Cogullons last weekend, with it being bird banned for half the year and summer too hot there's only a very short window when it's possible to climb here. As a result the routes felt very 'new', with some scrittly rock and lots of dust/dirt that gets washed down in places from above, giving the rock its characteristic grey and brown streaked appearance.
I had to clean a superb 7a+ crack line (El gordinflon) as I went, including a bit of gardening where the grass had grown back towards the top - right where the crux was! On the way down I cleaned up some holds on a 7c to the right (very much needed!), tick-marked a few holds and tried a few of the moves. After Tash had top-roped the 7a+ I managed to tick my route first go. Another absolute classic on perfect rock. It just needs some more traffic to keep it clean!!!
'La listilla' (F7c) - El Libro, Montsant. Not exactly a 'redpoint' but I can't claim the onsight either...then again who cares when the climbing & positions are as good as this!
Scrambling over the block on the way out from the crag.
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...
