Road
Trip Part 2
To start with this blog is a bit late due to the lack of
decent Wi-Fi in the second half of the road trip. Despite this I will continue
on from where I left off.
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| Ego Centrismo 7c |
So after a rest day of slack lining, blog writing etc, we
returned to Ego Centrismo for the early afternoon. We started on a cool 7a+ then I went for the
on-sight of the 7c which is the sector’s name sake. At about half height at this sector the rock
type changed and from my experience on previous climbs at the sector the climbs
became easier when reaching the higher rock type as it became more angular and
juggy. This climb looked to be no
exception. It begins full on with
essentially a campus move off an insecure finger stack. After this it’s sustained on crimps for a few
clips, I had a bit of a scare crossing over into what looked to be a flat jug
only to find it very sloping, fortunately as I fell away from the wall I bumped
my hand again to find a good pocket at the back that saved me. Trying to relax on a good hold I looked up at
the next blank section of rock, the only hold was a good looking pocket high up,
unwilling to go for it because I knew I was near the easier climbing of the
upper section I attempted to lock it down and static for the pocket despite
knowing the move would be easier as a dead point. Tickling the bottom of the hold I fell away
from the wall. Pulling back on and adding some dynamics to the move it was
easy, as was the rest of the route. Cursing myself for such a stupid mistake I
did the climb second go comfortably.
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| Alex on Les Cadres Regeneren 8a |
Alex then finished the 8a he had tried here last time and then
as the sun came round onto the rock we headed for Gran Boveda with the
intention of getting ourselves pumped out our minds for training. On arriving we found the 8a we wanted to get
on, Coloseum, had a permanent queue. Instead we opted for another 8a to the
left. Alex tried it first and after
battling with a sustained tougher section he was defeated by a big move into an
undercut crack that frustratingly was just too small to allow you to properly
get your fingers into. He worked the
climb to the top then I tried. I didn’t
enjoy the climbing and found myself not wanting to continue. Demotivated for that climb and only really
psyched to have another go at Coloseum which still had a long queue I decided
to sack it off for the evening and belayed Alex a couple of times until he
managed it.
For our final day in Rodellar, we both agreed we should return
to El Delphin and finish of the impressive climb through the arch. But first we decided to check out Bikini
another of the morning crags there. First
we got on a 7a+ with the intention of warming up, it was nails and terrible. Hoping this would not be a trend for the crag
Alex tried a short 8b which was also terrible. Concluding that this was an awful sector we
left for El Delphin. After trekking up
the scree slope to the base of the arch I decided to go first in the hope of
finishing it quickly so we could get on the other impressive climbing in the
huge cave of Las Ventannas. Again I did
the first section easily as it is a line of sharp jugs. Moving higher into the harder climbing I reach
the final crux boulder problem to escape the intimidating roof you are on. Annoyingly I fell from the same move as I had
before. Alex was up next and managed it.
After a short rest chatting to some
Americans I tried again, I reached the crux feeling more tired than before but
despite this managed to catch the small undercut that I had fallen off going
for on my previous attempts. Thinking
the climb was done I slapped straight for the massive spike jutting out which
marks a sit down rest and easy climbing to the top, forgetting an intermediate
and with how tired I was I pealed off the slopy top of the spike and fell
again. More rested this time I again
reached the crux boulder but was really quite pumped and felt even more tired
despite resting longer, the big move up to the undercut threw me off yet again.
Frustrated now at how tired I felt and
the shrinking window of time I had to finish the climb I began to think I would
not finish it. Finally after an even
longer rest and a slightly altered hand position to try and make the move
easier plus feeling psyched after watching Alex on sight Made in Mascun 7c+ I
went for what would have to be my last attempt before time ran out. Again reaching the crux I was very tired and
assumed I was not going to manage it. The
changed hand position made the move quiet a lot easier and even though I was
tired after four goes that day on the climb and ruined skin from the sharp jugs
below, I just managed the move to the undercut, with nothing left in the tank I
new I would not be able to have the precision to hit the small slot
intermediate. In desperation I slapped
for the spike again, catching it better than before I held it in a crucifix
position, let out a pathetic cry then grovelled my way onto the spike and sat
there hugging the rock panting. The
hardest I’ve had to fight on a route and the most attempts something has taken
me and I later found out to my dismay that it was low in the grade!
The next morning we left Rodellar behind and headed into
Lleida. Reaching the campsite we chilled
in the pool for a while then went to check if Terradets would be climbable in
the evening. It was far too hot so we
decided we would have to get up for an early morning session tomorrow. We got to Terradets nowhere near as early as
we intended and although the rock was in the shade it was still muggy and
humid. We did a 7a+ which we both nearly
fell off the start of due to the warm rock making everything greasy. Alex then tried an 8a there but after feeling
bit odd in the morning I realised that somehow in 30 degree Spain I’d managed
to get a cold! This as well as the poor
condition of the rock was enough for me to decide that it wasn’t worth climbing
anymore. Alex persevered but the
greasiness was taking its toll and he was frustrated at how hard the climbing
felt. Not helped by the fact there was a
bat in one of the route’s crucial holds.
Even after multiple attempts Alex couldn’t do the climb, so we left
feeling a bit miserable and headed to our next campsite near Tres Ponts which
we had more hope for since it is actually a summer crag unlike Terradets and
most of the other climbing in Lleida.
Tres Ponts can only be climbed in the afternoon when the suns
left the rock so we had a chilled morning in which I went for a swim to relax
then we headed off to climb. We started
on a fantastic 7b that neither of us could work out quiet why it was so good
but both unanimously agreed it was brilliant. Then Alex – still desperately trying for an 8a
on-sight tried an 8a which extended off a 7c to add some very thin mildly
overhanging and slab climbing. The small
crimps suited him and finally after a lot of moaning that he would never on-sight
8a, reached the top of the 40m climb. Psyched
I gave it a go, I immediately fell off the first crux at the start still feeling
very ill from my cold but after figuring it out I was more focused on the
climbing and I forgot about feeling ill.
I climbed clean through to the top of the 7c and through the crux of the
8a before falling on a huge reach up into a bad undercut on nearly my full
extension that felt very thin and droppable. After figuring the top out I was happy with
how it went and was psyched for my next go. However the moment I stopped climbing and was
not focused I felt very ill again and it took me a long time to recover to feel
ready again and with how long the climb was it was becoming very time consuming
to attempt the route. Pulling back on
again I felt terrible and fell off the start crux again. Losing hope as I thought myself to be too ill
I lowered down and tried again, this time I just managed it and as I got more
in to the climbing I forgot about feeling ill again and could get on with the
climbing. I made a mess of the upper
crux of the 7c but managed to get through it. I got to the 8a bit feeling quite
tired but I went for it. Almost all the
moves felt like I was going to fall off the bad hand and foot holds as I just
about pulled between them. I got through
the crux and the big move up to the undercut and reached some jugs. Coming out of my bubble I suddenly found
myself feeling ill again and very thirsty, concerned as I looked up at the
relatively easy but still droppable section I thought that my loss of focus
would cost me the route. Fortunately as
I got back into harder climbing I regained my focus and tentatively made my way
to the chains. After so long resting and
so long on the lengthy route we were running out of time that day, Alex had a
quick go on another 8a then we finished off.
Our final day climbing in Spain, we returned to Tres Ponts and
again did the 7b to warm and were both disappointed that the moves didn’t feel
nearly as interesting as before. Next up
we were looking at an impressive 8a line called El Segre. However there were two other climbs spanning
from the 7c+ start of El Segre that went through a big overhang. An 8a+ going
of left from the 7c+ section was recommended to us so we decided to try that
instead. Alex went first and as it was a 55m route and the top half was flat with
good rests every few clips it took 40 minutes before Alex reached the top again
on sight. I was psyched and went for it
but on reaching the crux of the 7c+ I tried to use a terrible intermediate on
one of the crux moves and got myself stuck. I pulled back on and used an odd sequence
which involved getting a knee bar and keeping it in for 4 moves and twisting it
upwards as you moved to hold you into the wall. After that it was enjoyable jug climbing to
the 7c+ chain and then immediately changed to grim sharp crimp climbing for a
couple of clips which was not enjoyable. By this point I decided just to go clip to
clip to work the moves but the weather had other ideas, I could see a storm was
closing in as horrendously loud thunder echoed through the gorge. Trying to reach the top before the rain came I
set off as quickly as possible going by any means but on reaching the 8a lower
off the rain caught me and I was faced by another 15m of 8a+ on flat rock
whilst having rain pound down on me. Somewhat
worried I kept going trying to focus on delicate moves but instead just getting
very wet and wondering how likely it was that lightning above would strike me
whilst having about twenty metal clips hanging off me as a conductor. Just one clip away from the top I thought it
was over only to be confronted by a sloping shelf which with no other holds
around it I would have to mantel it. Ordinarily this would not be too bad but the
fact that there was a small river pouring off it was making it a bit more
difficult. I flung a heel hook up which
immediately slipped back off, replacing it a bit more carefully it just about
stuck, I thrutched my way onto the shelf and then massively relieved reached
the top only to find myself even more exposed to the rain. Not fancying threading in the current
conditions I lowered off and stripped it as quickly as possible. Although it was a brilliant route the weather
had made it difficult to enjoy the climbing. Looking at the time we realised it had taken
us over 4 hours to do two routes each and needing to leave for our next
campsite we walked out in the rain and made a break for the van in order to
head off for our overnight stop before reaching Ceuse.
I’ll leave this one there for now and finish off the trip in
one last blog in a week or so.
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