The day V

And finally today was the day!!!!  After many a day in the wild, watching only crazy goats hop from one vertical wall to the next, listening to the wind howling in the trees and bushes below, breathing in the smell of the cave at the base, Pedro finally did it!  Cruising the hard moves, clipping the last hard draw from above, resting, and going all out for it.  And there it is - Lourdes, the classic 8b of Montserrat, finally became his friend.  I almost feel sad not to have to go to the base of this beautiful wall anymore, sitting with feet dangling off the small ledge, as if belaying on a multipitch again, in the wild setting with the Penedes on the horizon, and sculpted rock faces around me.  What a place...have I finally arrived?  Or is the journey only starting?

Another dream come true, hope you have a great week, Pedro, and enjoy the moment, the mountain has left you a beautiful present, a precious memory of touching, not the void, but its soul.  Felicidades, bou!!!

Relax in Bruixes

Breathing fresh air and pulling on large holds on a crag away from home for a change - Bruixes, a little gem in the vicinity of Lleida, perfect for endurance-improving, tufa-pulling, yellow-colored start of spring.  Bruixes actually means witches in Catalan, this is supposedly a bewitched spot, and for me it symbolizes all the overhanging tufa climbing that I once ago discovered in Kalymnos, and so far have been totally unable to master.  

Following my strategy of antagonist forces, I flailed over all the untried 7bs of the area, trying not to get injured as I did a month before in a similar situation of recovery from training in Siurana.  Tufas were nicer to me, only trashed skin and tired muscles resulted from the trip this time.  It was also the week-end of too much food, over-eating dinner, breakfast, and dinner again at the Hotel du Lac, nothing like the local "cerranito" sandwich to get all the energy back in a mouthful.

Pau getting more than warmed up on Ansia, a polished 7a+

And Pau again, battering power-endurance on Orient, a classic tufa 7c+

{ rant }
Oh, one day, one day, I will come back and send those overhanging projects.  One day, I will not be tired, I will do Energia, try Primera Linea, cruise Occident, and maybe, oh, maybe, even have the power-endurance to go floating over the moves of Orient.  So far, those dreams remain dreams, and the hard reality made up of few pull-ups, insufficient core (body tension), limited endurance, and generally low power combine to make it another dream crag for the un-foreseeable future I still dare to dream of. Maybe a long stay at Rodellar during the upcoming season will help, maybe my training efforts will one day convert me into an overhang-climbing machine, maybe one day... I will give up on dreaming and start climbing long routes and serious mountains again instead of obsessing about 30 meters of juggy limestone.
{ end of rant }