Life in Kaos

My life has been strange during the last...should I say three years?  Life in Kaos sounds about right as a title for this mess I have been senselessly contributing to, day in and day out.  A dry tree in the middle of a glamorous landscape, a flower in bloom on a satellite planet on a circuitous way around a beehive.  Taking it easy, taking it hard.  I left it all behind and took a four-day break in my favorite mountains, driving North again, full of motivation for the project, a need to forget, a want to remember.  The project went quickly, on the first night I sent Cobra Canaria, using new beta for the last sequence and doing the mini-dyno with the right hand instead of a much longer traverse right and back left I used to do before.  After the first lame try, I proudly listened to inspirational Sarah, no fear, only trust in the foot, an almost mechanical execution - put the foot, get up, dispara, there we go, what Holly named my "Levitation Project" has just been sent.

Taking it easy the next day, we visited Kaos and the top of Pared Inerte for some onsighting action.  After not appreciating at all the loose rock on Ordesa, figuring out the moves but not having any motivation to repeat Unai's 7c, I finally had loads of fun onsighting Toulomni Meadows and Tsaranoro, my kind of climbing, my kind of fun, "boring" for Sarah - my newly found friend that effortlessly onsighted wet Los Congitos, after only one year of climbing and a lifetime of gymnastics.  Below a shadowy Darth Vader of myself belaying the gifted Sarah on another test-piece, Massa Kumba:

Taking it easy again, we drove next to the hot Rodellar for a change in scenery and climbing style.  I let Sarah enjoy the commercial side of climbing in Spain, and hopped myself on a couple of lines to check my newly gained strength or the illusion thereof.  Conclusion: pull-ups are definitely working (had loads of fun leading the second half of Pequeno Pablo and Vis a vis, thanks Piju for the draws on that one), my long resistance ends at move # 13 (could not stick the beginning sequence of Pequeno Pablo, have to come back strong and just send this route once and for all), and I am definitely starting to enjoy Rodellar (a good project to get my self-esteem up: IronMan, first pitch, crux all figured out, although pretty hard moves for shorter people I believe).  I will be back.

Last winter I used to climb with boys, making them discover the beauty of this land I have been trying to make in a little tiny way my own for a while now - Ville, Philip, Martin, Mark.  In the reverse side of the model, this summer I climb with girls, also strangers here, like me, also thirsty to climb more and more, like me.  Big thanks to my girl partners for living with my crazy character for a couple of days, belaying me on my projects, and enjoying the climbing as much as I do - Holly from Bishop, CA, and Sarah from Massachusetts:

Other girls I climbed with this year - Sharon and Delphine, while regretting for not climbing more with Silvia and Cathy.  Girl climbing rules, and now off to Norway to climb with Helena...

All pictures courtesy of Sarah.