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Chironico
So with a grand total of 4 days climbing in Magic Woods before we looked at the weather report which was full of rain, we set off to Chironico also in Switzerland. This place usually stays a bit cooler than everywhere else as it’s higher. We were wrong! It was boiling usually getting to about 35’ in the day. The climbing became frustrating because of the heat and our skin was feeling the consequences.
We got some good things done and it was nice to be back there but we had to leave with projects still to complete as we couldn’t help thinking we could be doing better else-where. Next was to try Gotthard and Susten Pass in higher ground, hopefully with cooler temperatures. We arrived to rain. Our luck felt like it was starting to run out. However we sat tight for a day and we were given most of a day to climb with only brief showers. The scenery of the susten pass boulders is amazing if you’re lucky enough to get a clear day.
While walking up the valley, you’re surrounded by friendly sheep, a massive waterfall in the corner, a random very old farmer who looked like he should be at home looking after himself instead of his sheep and some beavers. In the one day we had, we both managed another 8a. This is Simon’s first so he was rather content with himself. Luckily it suited both our styles and it was dispatched with-in a couple of hours. Sadly we didn’t get given another chance to return to the valley, so we uped and off again.
We decided to change the scenery and a border change. Italy this time. We picked a place we had never heard of before and were going to give it a chance. We read some reviews on the internet and set off. We arrived at the field that the boulders were in, just off the main road into a small village. I let out a deep sigh. It was rubbish! In fact so insignificant I can’t even remember the name and we’ve deleted the topo off the laptop. Four or five boulders in a field with lines crammed into them so in the topo looked like there were loads of problems to do. We looked around. The quality was even worse closer up. We got straight back in the van and left. Spirits running low we headed for France. Annot. Sandstone bouldering, up and coming area and from the reviews this place couldn’t be bad! Have a guess… Scattered sandstone boulders in the trees. I was getting excited and couldn’t wait to get out the van and finally climb something.
Ok a little hot but I didn’t care. We threw the under the first boulder we found, crammed our shoes on and pulled on. Well, tried. The sandstone wasn’t hard packed. It fell off as you touched it. The reviews mentioned it being a bit unclean but not this loose! I was starting to doubt whether we’ll ever climb again this year! It was nice to attempt to boulder and we managed to top out on some of the boulders but the rock was unsafely poor. Heads hanging low yet again we vacated. Verdon here we come.
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Albarracin
200 miles down the road from Rodellar and we arrived in Albarracin at 12 o’clock at night. The drive wasn’t too bad but the roads were awesome. After not too long I was fast asleep and Simon pressed on.
After an interesting night sleep where the van nearly rolled down the hill at 3:00am leaving us jittery until the morning we made our plans to get some climbing done.
Man were we weak! Having not climbed for about a month at this point we had lost it completely, we were both weak and out of it mentally. After a day of frustrating shut downs we went back to the van and our skin seemed to have been unimpressed with the lay off as well and our tips were looking thin already. As I lay in bed with stinging fingers and no boulders ticked off I felt so pleased to have been climbing hard and was completely content for the first time in the trip.
A few days in we met a guy called Rodrigo while we were trying a 7c called “El Circo Del Sol” in sector Sol (naturally) who is from a town called Cuenca which is about 100 miles from Albarracin. He told us there was a competition in his wall on the 14th March and we couldn’t resist the temptation so planned to go there on the following Wednesday or Thursday for the Sunday competition.
After a few more days of climbing and some rest days we went to try Aeroline a 7c problem with a roof, slopers, a massive heel hook and a tiny little crimp and on Simons third go on his second session he sent it. He was really pleased and it was the first good tick of the trip and gave him the psyche for more. After that he got on “Frambuesa” a nasty 8a that ate his skin very quickly and by the time I decided to give up his forefinger on his right hand was super thin. We got some lunch and headed to “Arrastradero” a big and varied sector about 15 minutes walk from the van with loads to go at. We started with a 7b called “Space Cowboys” which had a hard finish that I managed to figure out. After the beta was found I sent it pretty quickly with the help of some uncharacteristic power screams. With the sneaky beta Simon got up it a few minutes later also accompanied by some screaming (it’s one of those problems) and we moved onto “Innashakra”. By this point Simon’s finger tip was through and looked like a little mouth so we drew some eyes on it to make a face but it didn’t help with the climbing.
Innashakra is hard! It’s hard at the start, hard in the middle and hard at the end. It took me at least half an hour to work it all out and then did it as it started to rain (we are sick of rain). Simon’s efforts were thwarted by an exploding little finger on his left hand and a skinless forefinger on his right hand. A bit of a shame for Simon to be out of action from lack of skin but it was a good day of climbing having done a 7c and a 7b each. At this point Simon’s skin was completely destroyed and he needed to rest to get some back so we went to sector Sol so I could try an 8a line on the Karmansia boulder. It looks like an awesome problem and it should go after a couple of sessions, I did all the moves but couldn’t string them together so watch this space (hopefully for a pair of ascents).
The week leading up to the comp soon turned out to be a complete wash out as it pounded it down with snow for two nights running leaving us surrounded by snow for the next few days. It didn’t seem like it was going to be melting anytime soon as it never got above freezing so we decided to go to Cuenca earlier than planned. Hopefully while we were there we could get some sport climbing done before the competition knowing that if the weather was rubbish we could always climb inside.
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Rodellar
The drive to Rodellar is a 400 mile epic which in the van is about 8/9 hours. We opted for the no toll roads route to save the cash which only adds a little time but adds a lot more interest to the drive and I’d recommend it to anyone driving from France into Spain. The highlight is that it includes a tunnel at 6000 feet which is straight down for 1.5km where the van broke the LDV Convoy land speed record of 84 mph in neutral! Fortunately the snow didn’t stop us in the mountains and we made it across the border at about 23:30 with about 2 hours to go. We arrived in Rodellar with an empty tank (literally and metaphorically) to find that there is no petrol station there and hoping that there is one fairly nearby.
Unfortunately the next day we were told that the nearest petrol station is 30km away. There was a possibility that we wouldn’t make it as the van was completely dry but after a nail biting journey we spluttered into the petrol station and filled her up to the brim. The weather was awesome and we were pretty pleased with ourselves for the decision to sack off the Gorge Du Tarn.
We got back to Rodellar, got our kit together and sin guide book we went off to find a route that looked doable and then check out the grades afterwards at the Refugio. We had a pretty good session but felt absolutely stamina-less and got shut down pretty hard. We gave the route 6c+ and fortunately for our egos it turned out to be 7b, it’s an awesome route and definitely one to get done someday.
The next day it rained and all climbing was rendered impossible, nightmare! We had just come from the coldest place in the world and this one was now the wettest. We got some shopping done at the supermarket which is about 45 minutes drive away and chilled out at the Refugio. The next day it rained and the next day it rained, the next day… it rained!
The Refugio (Kalandraka) is really cool and it has free Wifi all the time and free pool but there’s no amount of pool that can make the rubbish weather bearable. On the days when it didn’t rain the rock was still too wet to climb on from the day before and it wasn’t particularly warm either.
By the tenth day we decided to check the weather and if it wasn’t going to be getting any better we would high tail it out of Rodellar and get ourselves to Albarracin which is another 200 miles south and a bit more out of the mountains. The weather forecast said rain everyday for the foreseeable future and in Albarracin it was windy but dry. After an epic day breaking the water container and stripping clips (in the dark) from what was going to be our training route we said our goodbyes to the guys at the Refugio and left that evening.
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Last day in the UK!
Sunday saw a lot of frantic activity as it was our last day to make sure we had got ourselves sorted and everything was packed in the van. Later that night we drove down to the tunnel and slept over at J11 of the M20 at the 24 services. It advertises itself as being an early arrivals services but don’t be fooled… it’s not 24 hours!
So 6.30am Monday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and drove to the check-in. All went smoothly and as soon as we got in the tunnel we went straight back to bed for half an hour. Next stop in France was Paris though as soon as we drove off the tube it was raining. Good old France! It wasn’t much better in Paris, although it stopped long enough for us to get on our bikes and ride around to the Eiffel Tower but only after about half an hour of looking for somewhere to park the van. We stayed for about two hours after which we got bored of the busy city and decided to head straight for Millau in the Midi Pyrenees. And here we are now, currently sat in McDonalds using their Wi-Fi to bring you this update. It currently snowing and extremely cold so we’re off to see if climbing is actually possible! I will keep you posted with updates and photos. Until next time…
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Off on the Road Trip, oh yeah!
So the van is just about finished, only last minute touches needed now. We picked up the Berghaus logos so the van is all branded up now!
As we’re moving out of our house we’ve been sleeping in the van on the street outside in preparation to get everything how we want it. And I must say I really like it! It does feel a bit weird getting into the van at night to sleep in outside my own house but it’s comfy and cosy with a roaring fire in our wood stove burner to keep us warm.
Also I went to see my chiropractor today. Just an all over check up to make sure I’m working properly but also to make sure my knees were healing after my operation on them. His name is Matthew Pigden working at Peak Wellbeing in Belper. If you ever need to see a chiropractor he is your man, I’d recommend him to anyone!
And my climbing is on the up again after my op. My knees are doing well and nearly back to normal but I’ll have to sit and wait for a full recovery or should I say climb and wait….. When I had the braces on I lost quite a lot of weight from my legs as I wasn’t using them, as a result making me lighter but still as strong because I was still training my arms.
I’m so excited to go on this trip and can’t believe it’s now so close. The last 3 months couldn’t go quick enough and now I’m down to my last week and its flying by!
This time next week I’ll be leaving in two days so I’d better go and do some more work. Keep following the site to see where and what I’m doing next!
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