Time is starting to fly

We’ve now been back from the comp in Cuenca for almost two weeks so I thought it was time for an update. We got back on the Monday and were completely shattered from the weekend and ended up going to bed at 9:00pm and sleeping right through ‘til the morning!

Having had a day of rest and with clear blue skies we were pretty keen to get back to climbing here in Albarracin. Unfortunately my skin was ravaged from the comp and I needed another day off for it to grow back. We went back to Manushakra for Leah to try and finish it which was very frustrating and it took a lot for me to not climb. Unfortunately it didn’t go for Leah so we headed back to the van for some recovery.

Some local wildlife!

On Wednesday morning we woke up to more good weather and made our way up the hill to Manushakra again, this time I tried Innashakra a fair bit and then tried Manushakra but couldn’t get to the top of either. Leah succeeded on Manushakra 7b+ and I succeeded in getting immensely frustrated. By the end of the session my skin was (once again) ruined which meant more resting to come.

Thursday morning came quickly and my skin actually didn’t feel too bad so we decided to go to sector Sol and try one of our projects. The problem is Circo del Sol 7c and it’s got some really cool moves on it (knee-bars, mono’s etc). Surprisingly we both got it done in quick succession and on only our second visit. My second 7c of the trip I’m really chuffed and it gave me a little more confidence after recent shut downs. Afterwards Leah wanted to finish off Respect which she started before Cuenca and did it really quickly. It started to rain so we ran for cover back to the van.

Friday was indeed time for some more skin recovery and neither of us climbed much at all but we went for a walk, played some hacky-sack and chilled out in the sun. It’s a hard life.

Working hard in Albarracin

Saturday was the beginning of the sending train. We went to a sector called Techos to check out some problems and got sucked into a recce at a bunch of sectors. We didn’t climb much at all but made some mental notes for things to come back to. Afterwards we went back to the van and chilled for a while and I said I would like to try the 7a roof behind the van. I tried it when we first got here but felt weak as anything and failed miserably. Today was different, I got it on my third go and was psyched. Leah suggested going to check out a 7a+ called El Ermitano. We both had in done after about 25 minutes and were keen for more so we went to Aeroline and did another 7a+ called La Rave. A good evenings climbing for both of us and probably my best consecutive ticks ever!

Waking up on Sunday we both felt good and wanted to continue the momentum of Saturday. We went to sector Sol and did a 7a+ arête, Aristranauta 7b+ and then Ojos Negros a 7b+ traverse that we failed on last year and did second go this year. Once we finished, it started to rain a bit so we went back to the van feeling pretty pleased with the day and nursing trashed skin (yet again).

Some more local wildlife

Monday was shopping day which was dull but the supplies were not! We had a good days rest and then had Spag Bog for dinner which was amazing!

Tuesday was back to climbing at Penninsula where we had a couple of 7a+ leftovers from last year. Amazingly they both went without a hitch although the top out of the second one was a bit worrying to say the least! That evening we cracked out the Cobb (oven) and had a giant bagel that we bought from the supermarket and I mean GIANT!

The traverse at Penninsula 7a+

Yesterday I had another good day at Arrastradero doing Esperanza 7a and Escaramuza 7b+ which I flashed with Leah’s beta. It’s my hardest flash yet so I was well stoked. Afterwards I wanted to try Innashakra again it’s 7c but it feels really hard. After working out all the moves I was too tired to finish it so it was one to come back to. I wasn’t too put out because I’d still had another awesome days climbing and it’s not going anywhere.

Surprisingly, today it was to be. We went over to Innashakra and on my third proper go after warming up, I sent the monster. I was so pleased to have done it, although I now need to do Manashakra as well. Unfortunately there was seriously heavy rain last night so it was too wet today but soon it will be mine!

Innashakra 7c... Done!

Tonight its spaghetti and Chorizo, can’t wait!

Hasta Luego.

The trip up till now

Leave the UK

On Sunday 7^th February we made our way down to the early arrival services on the M20 on the way to Folkestone. The plan was to sleep near the tunnel terminal to make it easier in the morning. We got to the “Stop 24” services at about 23:00 to discover that it actually isn’t 24 hour! What is that about? You would think as an early arrivals services it would be 24/7 but don’t be fooled. Either way, it was a good place to sleep over so we would be ready for the morning.

Morning came and as we had an early crossing it came a bit too quickly. Lying in the bed I couldn’t help thinking that it was the last time for a while that my awakening would be dictated to me by something or someone else.

We got ready and made our way the last 10 miles down to the car park at the terminal. The only thing on my mind was a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich so I was more than a little pleased when I went into the departure area and found the perfect place to purchase such morsels. During the slightly slow process of getting said sustenance we got the last call for our train and still hadn’t picked up any Euros. We rushed over to the Travelex kiosk and got a rechargeable debit card (which doesn’t charge any commission or extra charges for withdrawing money) which you can recharge online and then dashed to the platform.

We made it just in time and cruised into line. Once we parked up we made the most of the luxury of having a bed behind us and went for a lie down. It seemed like only moments later that we were woken up by the announcements on the tannoy saying that we were nearly in France and people needed to get back to their vehicles, sweet!

Paris

We got off the train and headed straight for Paris. It’s actually further than you think from Calais and we arrived in the early afternoon. The weather was really no very good so we weren’t really looking forward to sightseeing but we felt we should as we were nearby. It took us an age to get through Paris and find somewhere near the centre that we could park the van. We finally found a place near the river at the astonishing price of €6 an hour! We got the bikes off the back of the van and road to the Eiffel tower. It was no more than 0°C and my hands were numb within 2 minutes of riding. When we got to the tower we took some tourist style photos and decided that rather than continue the unpleasant experience of riding round in the freezing cold and grey clouds threatening to rain at any moment we just go back to the van and press on.

Tours

The plan was now to head to Tours to break up the journey to Millau and the Gorge du Tarn. As we got back to the van and left Paris the weather immediately closed in and it started hammering it down (a good choice to cut our losses and leave) and we started to doubt whether it was worth going to see another city in the cold and rain. It didn’t take long for us to scrap the idea of Tours and set a course for Millau which made for 600 miles of driving from Folkestone in a day with a stop off on the way and all in a van that will barely do 60mph.

We did pretty well considering that time, speed and distance were all acting against us but as we hit the Pyrenees the snow started to get a little worrying. We decided to hit the sack in a service station at about 1500m surrounded by fairly deep snow at 1:00am we were a little chilly but slept well.

As the day started at 6:00am and ended at 1:00am it was a bit of a long one so we didn’t get up until about 10ish and made our way to Millau which was now only 80 miles away. After exploring the town of Millau (which is a really pretty place) we managed to find the climbing shop which is shut in the afternoons so we had to come back the next day in the morning. We went and found a supermarket and then somewhere to park up for the night.

Next morning we woke up and went to the climbing shop to get the guide book for the area and then got ourselves over to the Gorge itself and easily found a lay-by at the bottom of “Gymnase” which is one of the better cold weather sector (apparently) we checked out the crag and then set the van up assuming that we would be sticking around for some time. We felled a tree for fire wood so we could stay warm in the evenings and cooked some food with a view to getting started on the climbing the next morning.

We woke up to some serious cold but being English we tried to go climbing anyway and found an awesome 8a to get stuck into. It was too cold! Both o us kept getting numb hands as soon as we started up the first section and couldn’t climb on. We were climbing in our down jackets and belaying in all the warm stuff we had but it was really grim. After a couple of days we decided it wasn’t going to be getting any warmer in the immediate future so we made the decision to move the trip on one destination and make the voyage to Rodellar in Spain. We couldn’t start the van but fortunately a guy in a truck stopped and gave us a jump start so we were on our way. As we drove out of the Gorge there were huge icicles hanging off the bank all the way along the road and it turned out the temperature was going above -5°C during the day and much colder at night, no wonder it felt chilly!

Rodellar

The drive to Rodellar is another 400 mile epic which in the van is about 8/9 hours. We opted for the no toll roads route to save the cash which only adds a little time but adds a lot more interest to the drive and I’d recommend it to anyone driving from France into Spain as it includes a tunnel at 6000 feet which is straight down for 1.5km where the van broke the LDV Convoy land speed record of 84 mph in neutral! Fortunately the snow didn’t stop us in the mountains and we made it across the border at about 23:30 with about 2 hours to go. We arrived in Rodellar with an empty tank (literally and metaphorically) to find that there is no petrol station there and hoping that there is one fairly nearby.

Unfortunately the next day we were told that the nearest petrol station is 30km away. There was a possibility that we wouldn’t make it as the van was completely dry but after a nail biting journey we spluttered into the petrol station and filled her up to the brim. The weather was awesome and we were pretty pleased with ourselves for the decision to sack off the Gorge Du Tarn.

We got back to Rodellar, got our kit together and sin guide book we went off to find a route that looked doable and then check out the grades afterwards at the Refugio. We had a pretty good session but felt absolutely stamina-less and got shut down pretty hard. We gave the route 6c+ and fortunately for our egos it turned out to be 7b, it’s an awesome route and definitely one to get done someday.

The next day it rained and all climbing was rendered impossible, nightmare! We had just come from the coldest place in the world and this one was now the wettest. We got some shopping done at the supermarket which is about 45 mins drive away and chilled out at the Refugio. The next day it rained and the next day it rained, the next day... it rained!

The Refugio (Kalandraka) is really cool and it has free Wifi all the time and free pool but there’s no amount of pool that can make the rubbish weather bearable. On the days when it didn’t rain the rock was still too wet to climb on from the day before and it wasn’t particularly warm either.

By the tenth day we decided to check the weather and if it wasn’t going to be getting any better we would high tail it out of Rodellar and get ourselves to Albarracin which is another 200 miles south and a bit more out of the mountains. The weather forecast said rain everyday for the foreseeable future and in Albarracin it was windy but dry. After an epic day breaking the water container and stripping clips (in the dark) from what was going to be our training route we said our goodbyes to the guys at the Refugio and left that evening.

Albarracin

200 miles down the road from Rodellar and we arrived in Albarracin at 12 o’clock at night. The drive wasn’t too bad but the roads were so awesome I couldn’t help thinking about my brother and yearning for something much faster. After not to long Leah was fast asleep and I fired up the mp3 player and treated myself to some Stevie Ray Vaughn and Dire Straights for some old skool night time driving.

After an interesting night sleep where the van nearly rolled down the hill at 3:00am leaving us jittery until the morning we made our plans to get some climbing done.

Man were we weak! Having not climbed for about a month at this point we had lost it completely, we were both weak and out of it mentally. After a day of frustrating shut downs we went back to the van and our skin seemed to have been unimpressed with the lay off as well and our tips were looking thin already. As I lay in bed with stinging fingers and no boulders ticked off I felt so pleased to have been climbing hard and was completely content for the first time in the trip.

A few days in we met a guy called Rodrigo while we were trying a 7c called “El Circo Del Sol” in sector Sol (naturally) who is form a town called Cuenca which is about 100 miles from Albarracin. He told us there was a comp in his wall on the 14^th March and we couldn’t resist the temptation so planned to go there on the following Wednesday or Thursday for the Sunday competition.

After a few more days of climbing and some rest days we went to try Aeroline a 7c problem with a roof, slopers, a massive heel hook and a tiny little crimp and on my third go on this second session I sent it. I was really pleased and it was the first good tick of the trip and gave me the psyche for more. After that I got on “Frambuesa” a nasty 8a that ate my skin very quickly and by the time I decided to give up my forefinger on my right hand was super thin. We got some lunch and headed to “Arrastradero” a big and varied sector about 15 minutes walk from the van with loads to go at. We started with a 7b called “Space Cowboys” which had a hard finish that Leah worked out. After the beta was found she sent it pretty quickly accompanied by some hardcore power screams. With the sneaky beta I got up it a few minutes later also accompanied by some screaming (it’s one of those problems) and we moved onto “Innashakra”. By this point my finger tip was through and looked like a little mouth so we drew some eyes on it to make a face but it didn’t help with the climbing.

Innashakra is hard! It’s hard at the start, hard in the middle and hard at the end. It took Leah about half an hour to work it all out and then did it as it started to rain (we are sick of rain). My efforts were thwarted by an exploding little finger on my left hand and a skinless forefinger on my right hand. A bit of a shame to be out of action from lack of skin but it was a good day of climbing having done a 7c and a 7b each.

At this point my skin was completely destroyed and I needed to rest to get some back so we went to sector Sol so Leah could try an 8a line on the Karmansia boulder. It looks like an awesome problem and it should go after a couple of sessions, she did all the moves but couldn’t string them together so watch this space hopefully for a pair of ascents.

The week leading up to the comp soon to out to be a complete wash out as it pounded it down with snow for two nights running leaving us surrounded by snow for the next few days. It didn’t seem like it was going to be melting anytime soon as it never got above freezing so we decided to go to Cuenca earlier than planned and get some sport climbing done before the competition knowing that if the weather was rubbish we could always climb inside.

The journey to Cuenca was not as quick as we thought it might be, it took about 2.5 hours on the windiest, roughest roads I’ve seen in a long time. When we got to Cuenca we had a cheeky cheeseburger starter at McDonalds and then headed to the wall. We got there a little bit early because they don’t open until 17:00 in the afternoons. When Rodrigo turned up he met us in his usual supremely enthusiastic way and said we were welcome to climb for free while we here. We had a good session at the little wall and Rodrigo invited us to his house for the evening. We met his sister, girlfriend and his sister’s boyfriend and had an intensive Spanish lesson for about 3 hours. This was our first experience of the crazy times that the Spanish do things, for example they cooked dinner at about 00:30 and said that this was normal and we ended up going to bed at about 03:00am madness!

Unsurprisingly we were pretty tired when we got up but we went to climb at the wall anyway which is where we met Rodrigo’s business partner Scott a kiwi who moved to Spain a few years ago and never left. He invited us to stay at his house which was awesome because it meant warm showers and a bed in a room that wasn’t freezing cold.

When we went back to his house we met his girlfriend Chris who is lovely as well and the two of them invited us out to a bar in town that gives free food with every beer! Apparently that is how Tapas used to be but the tradition was lost in most of Spain and the only places it has stayed is Castilla-La-Mancha and Granada so we made the most of it. The food was ridiculous! With each beer you get a small cup of chicken and ham soup and a plate with quails eggs, jamon, bread, honeyed courgette and a big salad all for free, genius.

On the way back from the bar they offered us a bed for the whole week so we’ve stayed here everyday and they even gave us a key so we could come and go as we liked (you know you’re in good hands when you meet fellow climbers). Living here has really given us a good idea of the life of a Spaniard, they never sleep, they are lazy hell and they openly admit it. They have a slow but very good quality of life here and we can only imagine how much slower (and better) it is when the summer kicks in and it’s too hot to actually do anything.

Two days ago we climbed on some routes here and were pretty amazed at what we found. The rock is pretty poor quality and all the routes are held together with large amounts of cement and glue. In some places where there’s blank sections of rock they’ve drilled pockets and chipped crimps into the walls to make the climbs possible then on top of the drilled pockets and crimps they finish off the edges with more cement to make it a nice smooth hold. Can you imagine that on Stanage! We weren’t too fond of the falseness of it all so lost interest in the routes pretty quickly, there is a hell of a lot of rock here but it’s just not very high quality. Friday and today were rest days so we would be in shape for the competition on Sunday and hopefully I could grow back some skin by then and wear a bit less tape to hold myself together. Lucky for us we were informed of Neusc and given some by Rodrigo at the wall. It’s a bit like climb-on balm but not so natural and hippy so in theory it should work a bit better (like the rest of modern medicine). After two days of using it my finger has started to close up already which is awesome.

We just got back from the wall having met Pavi and his mates from Madrid who look like an annoyingly strong bunch and the problems are looking awesome, particularly with the inclusion of the blue volume from Holdz in Sheffield. Hopefully the comp will be a good day with the lots of Spanish craziness and some winning for at least one Brit.

It’s the morning after the comp and we did pretty well. I came third behind Pavi and a local Cuenca climber in the final and Leah beat everyone very soundly. That’s a first and third at a Spanish comp and new crash pad for the trip. We’re not sure where we are going to put it yet because we have no space and it’s massive but we’ll find a way. The day was really good with a decent turn out and we went for a beer afterwards (accompanied with more amazing free food) and got bombarded with Spanish for a while trying to pick up anything we could (not easy when you only know about five words). Once we had finished at the bar we went back to Scott’s where he cooked us Thai green curry (he’s a trained chef) which was much needed.

Today we are off back to the land of Albarracin and hopefully the weather will be like it is here, warm and sunny. We’ll be pretty disappointed if it’s naff again but we need a day or two rest after yesterday so it’s not so bad.

Adios.