Deja-Vu on Capucin

Capucin South-West face, Deja-Vu line in the middle

What better could one do after four days of training?..Climb and climb once more.  Full of excitement and expectations, I keep checking the weather forecast.  It looks awesome, the summer is still with us.  It's been a while since I first saw the picture of Deja-Vu, on top of another Pirineos guidebook by tireless Luichy, but since then that picture stuck in my mind with a persistence of true challenges and a smell of hard work.  What a crack!  For crack-lovers there is nothing like seeing such a picture.  Any true aficionado will remember and start dreaming about lines such as Separate Reality, Supercrack, or Endurance Corner after a good picture or an awesome video.  Deja-Vu is one of these crown jewel lines of the Pyrenees, maybe not that well-known, but oh how inspiring. 

Dani jamming hard, 2nd pitch

Hidden in a seldom-visited cirque in the Eastern corner of Aiguestortes National Park, 1,5 hour away from the Amitges refuge, Capucin is one of several towers in the middle of the cirque, in front of Basssiero Towers.  On the approach one is immediately struck by the polished, vertical face, interrupted by the crack.  THE crack.  After the easier and well-bolted first pitch, the business starts: jamming (or laybacking, up to you) for a sustained and what seems infinite 30 meters of pure granite crack climbing.  It's been a while I haven't used my jamming gloves and technique, and this was it.  Happily clipping a couple of bolts on the line, and putting in cams in between, my day was accomplished when clipping the anchor on this one.   What a pitch!  Dani effortlessly came up and led the next pitch, that seemed a bit easier than the supposed 7a+. 

Following pitch 4, the hardest and last one

The last pitch had us a bit more worried, and I was wondering where the crux would be, heading up for a short traverse, and then a diagonal undercling-layback off the fingertips test-piece.  However, the problem came later, on the slab, when a move probably no more than 6c made my head crazy, my feet clumsy, and my fingers powerless.  Downclimbing twice, I gave up, and Dani again faultlessly flashed the pitch to the top.  Seconding the pitch, the moves revealed themselves to be more of a head game than physically hard.

Mountain tribe on the top

The day after, to rest a little, we explored the nice-looking South Face of Petita Agulla d'Amitges, first warming up on Dedos de Luz, good orange crack, and finishing the day up Anglada Guillamon, a dihedral-chimney fun up the Agulla.  Several good lines remain to project on this sun-bathed wall, such as a possible 7c line to the right of the Anglada's first pitch, and an incredible crack, apparently freed this summer at around 7b, on the left of the rappel line between Agulla Petita and the Casco.  Life goes on, full of climbs to be enjoyed, places to visit, and people to meet.  Thanks Dani for encouragement, company, and finishing the hard pitches for me, ninja power!