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Sport Climbing in Sella, Spain
Late March I went on a sport climbing trip to Sella in Spain. I haven’t sport climbed properly for a couple of years so the trip was going to be quite interesting. The start of the trip started smoothly. I was just getting back into the flow of things and enjoying clipping European bolts again. I was only there for 7 days which isn’t a long time for a sports trip. By the forth day, much to my surprise, I ended up getting to the top of an 8a called Ergomatria at Wild Side. It was my first go of the day and I was only going up to refresh my memory of the moves and warm up a little and then found myself at the top having not fallen.
By the end of that trip I managed a couple of 7c’s, a 7c+ and two 8a’s!
This sparked a thought in my mind but I will fill you all in on that at a later date.
Leah Crane in Sella, Spain
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Albarracin, Spain
So for my first trip abroad this year, it’s off to Albarracin in Spain. Having seen this place on one of the Dosage bouldering DVD’s, I had an insight to what was there. It is very much my style of gymnastic bouldering, very over hanging and big moves. We flew in on the 7th January. We heard it might be a bit snowy but we took our chances anyway as we found cheap flights. Arriving at the airport I decided to just go and check how much snow-chains were and at 45euros we decided not to bother…
Always helps being an ex gymnast so your mate can reach to brush the snow off!
Hungry mouse!
Arriving there it was quite snowy but mainly making everything look pretty rather than getting in the way. Our first glance at the place was only an hour as we arrived late so checked into our bunkhouse.
The first day climbing we went to a sector called Peninsula, a massive, long roof with big moves. Temperature getting quite warm we were worried that it might be too hot. Over the next couple of days the snow started to fall… and fall… and fall. Bummer!! Half way through the trip we decided to go to the main city to get a proper shop as the village of Albarracin was quite expensive. What we didn’t realise was how epic this journey was going to be.
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Peninsula Sector
7b at Techos
Random boulder at techos
On the way back the police stopped us going down the only road back to Albarracin and where we were staying as we didn’t have snow-chains and the roads were too bad. Though after much pleading and partly because we didn’t understand each other, the policeman let us go warning us to drive VERY slowly. I think we managed three more corners before the car just followed the right hand camber of the road and took us into the ditch. Oh dear. Maybe 45euros for snow chains wasn’t bad after all…
oooops! getting towed out the ditch
Many phone calls, and 3 very cold -3degree hours later, Hertz finally sorted us out, pulling the car out of the ditch and paying for our hotel and taxi back the next morning to our abandoned car. We learnt our lesson and bought snow-chains at the next garage. The rest of the trip was good, though with no topping out on the boulders unless you wanted to fight through A LOT of snow. But there are so many roofs in Albarracin we had plenty to go at. I will definitely be returning there soon and hopefully in better weather!!
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Magic Woods and Brione
Just had a fantastic trip in Magic Wood and Brione. After a trip in Easter was changed, because Magic Wood was covered in ice, we decided to have a summer trip and try and get better conditions. During our quick fly-by 5 day bouldering trip in Magic Wood I managed to climb two font7b+’s, happily only taking an hour of work to do both. We headed over to Brione, a famous but undocumented bouldering area in Ticino Switzerland, for a look around. During the scramble around the boulders we found a brilliant looking line, an overhanging 6 foot long crack into a shelf of slopers, leading into a series of looong moves to the high and scary top out. Without knowing the grade I confidently told everyone “This looks easy, we could warm up on this…” It turned out that despite some quite positive holds, the fierce body positions and unhelpful feet made this boulder incredibly powerful and like a competition boulder problem, good holds, but moving between them was impossible. It turned out it was font7c. With only the evening left before the flight home the next day, despite linking the lower section, I couldn’t get the top crux, a powerful left hand lock on slopers with a huge reach right to a moon shaped flatty. Frustrated but determined, I managed to convinced others to let me have another go in the morning and then face a mad rush to the airport in Milan. With a boulderers alpine start (about 9am) giving surprisingly poor conditions, about 20 degrees Celcuis and the crux slopers in the sun, I managed to get the crux move only once when working it in isolation. Then on probably my final go it all went and I managed to top out ‘The Bach Block’ font7c. 
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Switzerland Bouldering (2 weeks in Cresciano and Chironico)
Magic Woods in Switzerland has got to be one of my all time favourite bouldering destinations. So this Easter, rather than head to the normal bouldering area of Fontainebleau in France, we decided to head for Magic Woods and see what we could do with two weeks and sub zero conditions…
Upon our arrival and fresh from the Skymasters competition, I was really psyched, after a long drive through the Swiss Alps, we arrived in the dark, but I knew the perfect bouldering that was to come. Morning came, the sun was shining, but the rock was covered in about 2 cm’s of ice and about 10 cm’s of snow! It was just too early in the year, our gamble hadn’t paid off! Magic Woods was completely unclimbable and probably would stay that way for at least the two weeks we had! Not to be deterred, we got back on the Swiss motorways and made our way to Belinzona, the main town near Cresciano and Chironico, two world class bouldering areas in the Italian region, Ticino, in Switzerland (recently featuring in the Dosage movies). It was fantastic, absolutely perfect conditions… like the perfect conditions every Peak boulderer dreams about, sun shining, gentle breeze and freezing cold rock… The first thing that struck me about the area (Cresciano and Chironico) is how many holds there are… unlike Font where it is so easy to walk past the harder climbs, due to the fact that you need a certain amount of vision to even see the lines, Cresc. and Chir. have lots of very positive holds, on steep granite. Bliss! Even some of the climbs in the top level of climbing (Font 8b and up) have holds that are relatively hang-able, it’s just the linking them that is the hard bit. And so the climbing for us began. The first day went really well, with a couple of 7a’s sent quickly, and even the odd onsight, and lots of climbing the classic problems, at all grades. I even accidently spent some time trying a perfect 50 degree overhanging arete, with tiny holds and flat slopers, before being informed it’s only had two ascents and goes at 8b+! This summarises the bouldering here perfectly, even the hardest look do-able. Days and days of fantastic bouldering ensued, with rest days looking at Swiss castles and some of Sharma and Graham’s lines! Wow!
Some of the highlights for me included, Street Parade 7a – The ultimate in sloping traverses, such a classic and obvious line, in the shade most of the day. What more can I ask for!? Autopilot 7b+ – A roof problem that involved a dyno from a completely horizontal position, requiring me to release two heel hooks at exactly the right moment, amazing…and scary! Pleased to say it went second go. Hannibal Lecter 7b+/7c – 3 days of working this! A 45 degree roof, with crimps and undercuts, leading to a razor sharp crimp on the lip, all with technical heel and toe work, suited me so well. Finally got it after 3 hard days!!! Doctor Crimp - a 15 degree overhanging wall on brutal crimps, with very technical footwork, my last day and I got it with an hour (7c and a classic line). All in all, a wonderful trip, I would recommend Swiss bouldering to anyone. Thanks to Berghaus and my boyfriend for all the film and photos. Watch this space for the movies…
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Climbing in the Peak »« Video: Autopilot (font7b+) – Chironico
Scarpa Bouldering Meet Weekend
I finally got to go to Kyloe in the woods. I’ve wanted to go there for ages and it didn’t fail to impress me, and the same for all of Bowden aswell. It was like being back at font!!
Andy Earl showed us around all the problems so we knew our way around, then all that there was left to do was climb them. Some easier said than done!
After the first full days climbing we went back the campsite, BBQ warming up, a game of volley ball started off. Ha ha a bunch of climbers running around pretending they know how to play!!!
The hardest thing being trying to run around on wet grass without falling over, and finally the game ended and we ate. That didn’t last for long as a game of football sprung into action and I lost count how many times I fell on my arse.
A good weekend had by all!!
Heres a video link from one of the climbs that I did; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRORQSGhSlw
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Video: Jocks and Geordies (font6c) – Kyloe in the Woods »« Churnet Valley