Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

We cheated a little and left Juan in a car park for Christmas and New Year.  We got a great deal on an apartment so treated ourselves to the luxury of warmth and hot showers.

We decided on lamb for Christmas dinner and went to the butchers to get some tasty meat.  My Spanish was slightly lacking and the butcher brought out an entire lamb.  After some gesturing he hacked the lamb down the middle and chopped a leg off.  We ended up with a very tasty looking leg of Lamb.  The apartment was lacking an oven, so we slow cooked the lamb in a large pan for 5 hours.  It was awesome! The lamb was complimented with a great bottle of red from 'Les Twitchies' - Thank you!

The van animals (Derek, Simon, Chad, Nigel, Caesar, Burt and Glen) joined us for Christmas too.  It was a pretty rowdy affair, especially when they got hold of the Whiskey miniatures!  Many thanks to my parents who provided a lovely bag of prevents, which we literally put under the tree!

Danian and Pinturas Buldestres - 7C+'s!

Psyched....!  Got my first 7C+ (Danian) and quickly followed it with my second (Pinturas Buldestres).  Danian almost went in one session and was quickly dispatched during the second session.  If I'm honest, I'd say it felt soft... Perhaps it suited me, and it certainly helped to be taller.  It's not the most impressive looking boulder, but it did climb well. Danian 7C+ video

I was much more psyched about sending Pinturas Buldestres 7C+ (stand start).  Pinturas is a beautiful problem up the middle of an overhanging scoop.  The holds are small crimps and the feet very technical.  On first inspection the problem looked pretty straightforward.  However, when pulling on I realised it was far from straightforward!  All the holds are at 45 degrees and the feet are small and difficult to weight.  The position and angle of the holds makes the moves very brutal on the shoulders!  I only just managed the first move during the first session.  I got close on the second session and managed to send it on the third session - so pleased to send such a stunning problem.  It felt noticeably harder than any of the 7C's I've done, so I feel pretty confident it weighs in around 7C+.  There is a sit which goes at 8A too... I did all the sit moves after sending the stand, and am pretty sure I can do the sit in another session or two.  Watch this space...
Pinturas Buldestres 7C+ video

Climbing, Climbing and more Climbing!

The weather has been perfect over the last few weeks - cool and sunny! The friction on the rock is great and the sun is warm enough to stop us freezing (just!).  We've been busy sending lots of problems. Claire has sent lots of 6B's, 6B+'s and some 6C's (videos to follow). I have been sending lots of 7A's, 7A+'s and 7B's.  A couple of 7B+'s too. A couple of videos:

- Motivos Personales 7B+

- Liquen Bastardo 7A+ (flash)

I got very close to sending Danian 7C+ in a session too. My last attempt was with a head torch in the dark. I did all of the hard climbing, but couldn't see on the easy top out and fell - very annoyed! It will go next time though!  

Lolo, Mayte, Luke and Javi

Last week we were joined by our Spanish friends Lolo, Mayte and their dog Luke (pronouced Lu-Ki)!  We first met them in Val di Mello and it was great to see them again and catch up. We climbed for four whole days and felt pretty broken afterwards!

We also met another Spanish climber - Javi.  Javi is here for about two weeks and we have had lots of fun bouldering together.

So Many Projects...

So many projects... but I've (Claire) finally sent one of them!  An unnamed 6C in the Peninsula sector (Click here for video) which I'm very pleased to have sent as its my first 6c this trip and a good sign my shoulder is getting stronger and healing well.  Making the most of the good conditions I also managed to send another 6c the next climbing day La Letrina (direct) video to follow as its not been edited yet - it felt a little soft but still a really nice fun climb.   

I seem to be spending most of my time here running around trying new projects - Some things that are way too hard for me, some that will go next time I go back to them and some that should go with a little work.  Hopefully I'll send some more soon rather than making my project list even longer - at the rate I'm going we'll need another trip next year to finish off my project list :).  

Now I'm off to enjoy the remainder of my rest day and looking forward to the arrival and climbing with of our friends Lolo and Mayte tomorrow.  

Much love all xxx 

Cold but beautiful...

Albarracin continues to be cold, but it has generally been beautiful and sunny. Takes a while to warm into climbing, but the friction on the rock is awesome.

Fuerte a Muerte…!

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…