Or in English… Strong until Death! We’ve now been in Albarracin for a week and
we’re both looking for longer term projects to try and send during our time
here. I’ve been trying various 7C’s,
7C+’s and even the odd 8A to find suitable candidates.
I’m particularly psyched by the line Fuerte a Muerte. The problem is situated on a stunning boulder
in the Arrastradero sector of Albarracin.
The boulder is a 30-40 degree overhanging face, however, it is not
smooth, instead it is punctuated by many sculptural curving ledges and
edges. Normally, these would provide
many holds and facilitate easy climbing, but on this boulder the ledges are
usually sloping and not always orientated in a useful way! Last year I climbed two other lines
(Ineschakra and Manuchakra) on the boulder, but didn’t entertain the thought of
trying Fuerte a Muerte. Fuerte a Muerte
is graded 8A (albeit a soft one) and is considerably harder than any boulder
problem I’ve climbed previously.
However, it is a stunning line and looks like it will climb really
well. The problem starts to the right of
Manuchakra, climbs into the start of Manuchakra and traverses left to finish up
Ineschakra. The problem is pure power
endurance, with no easy moves and a very hard cruz sequence about two thirds of
the way through.
My first goal was to see if I can even get close to doing
the moves. The crux move is known for
being a particularly brutal shoulder move – those who climb with me will know I
like brutal shoulder moves! I managed to
do most of the moves in my first session, but (surprise, surprise) was
struggling to do the brutal crux moves.
The crux involves reaching up for a small right hand crimp and then
moving rightwards into a left hand gaston.
The problem is holding the rotation of the body and usually involves a
dynamic throw into the left shoulder gaston.
I was just about to give up on the crux when I thought I’d try to deploy
more technique, as I was struggling with the usual brute strength method which I’d
seen many others use. I tweaked the
position of my hips and managed to balance my body so that I could reach the
right hand crimp statically and in control.
A further movement of the hips (and pulling quite hard) allowed me to reach
comfortably into the left hand gaston.
Fantastic, I’d done the crux moves on Fuerte a Muerte! I rested for a few minutes and repeated the
crux moves again (to check it wasn’t a fluke!).
I’d managed to do all the moves in the first session, which is certainly
a big step towards sending the problem!
The problem is by no means done and is it still going to
take a mammoth effort to link all the moves.
I hope to be able to climb it in two halves during the next session…
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