Sweden calling...

I am going to Sweden for 12 days! Bohuslan! Climbing! And the rest of my experience will hopefully be summed up in the two videos above! Won't have my laptop so no updates but no doubt there will be some extended waffling when I return...

La Pedriza 10.

The final kitty of the day is....a bonus one ;)

Well I have started writing this long before the final day and will no doubt finish it long after, but this is how it went in between those times...

Get up eat tortilla pack car cruise to La Pedriza walk into shady crag to do slabs and one steep arete realise shady crag is sunny cos we're early for a change ARSE try F6a slab fall off ARSE try F6a+ slab and give up ARSE both utterly nails get on semi-shady F6a+ slab do several English 6a cruxes randomly fall off top DOUBLE FUCKING ARSE fuck slabs go round to steep F6c arete cruise it YAY FUN redeem something out of the day walk back down go for swim in icy mountain river BRRRRR repack climbing bags and drive 5 hours to Alicante due to cunning timing arrive waaay early wait for hours for checkin YAWN eventually get through and stuff self on Burger King YUM more waiting at gate YAWN eventually get on plane pointing right direction MP3 player runs out of batteries and can't get comfortable to sleep FFS land wait for sodding ages for hordes of numpties to dribble through customs FFS YAWN wait more for airport parking bus JESUS FUCKING YAWN car starts thank god crash into bed at 1:30 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

10 days of climbing, and a really cool new area explored (what it is all about), I feel pretty...
...chuffed

Climbing: The 6c arete was very cool. I got a bit bored of how purely random the slabs were by this point.

Wildlife: Nowt.

And: Tired.

La Pedriza 9.

Today's kitty of the day is....small ginger and white (cute despite gammy eye).

Today we couldn't get into the damn Pedriza park. At the main entrance there was the usual gridlock queue (surely mostly walkers....if you're that keen on walking then just park up and fucking WALK you dickwads and let the climbers get in to climb....this applies to Llanberis and Burbage and everywhere else in the world too), and the village entrance was barricaded by police FFS. So we spun round and headed back to the lime and explored a different valley crag that was thrumming with other climbers but seemed to have enough easy routes to soak up the ceaseless tide of punterdom (us included). We pulled on plentiful pockets and rattled off several shady routes which made for a good back-up day. Tomorrow an early rise, a hope that the devoutly religious Spaniards keep away, and a swift morning slabbing it up before a long drive to a late flight...

Climbing: Lots of steady pockety routes, fun but not much that really left it's mark apart from a cool little roof with awkward jamming in it (that the locals seem to avoid by a much harder duo pocket lock).

Wildlife: Camping kitty #12 - small, black and scruff (kinda cute, funny stare, pissed all over the hire car), and that's about it.

And: 8th day on and still syked, I was keen to push it more this afternoon if there had been anything else inspiring. Mmmm climbing is good yes.

La Pedriza 8.

Today's kitty of the day is small mongrel (annoying and hissy). A controversial choice but she is such a regular feature that it seems fair.

Let's play a game. Grab a blank granite slab, a pair of rock shoes, and a dice. Yes, a dice, you know, standard D6 that you roll to see if your Orcs hit with their axes or your Space Marine was saved by his armour. Got that? Good.

Pick a smear. Take your time if you like, there are many to choose from, but be aware there will be subtleties and factors you have no idea of that will randomise your choice. Now, roll your dice....you don't get to see the result, but you will feel it's effect:

1 - 3 : Your foot sticks.

4 : Your foot just sticks but has set you off balance, add +1 to your next roll.

5 - 6+ : Your foot slips and you fall off.

Now, assuming the result was 1 - 4 and you stayed on, pick another smear, and roll again (maybe with that +1 modifier you're not aware of), and again. And again. And again and again and again.

THIS is Pedriza. This is what we face on the slabs.


Climbing: 4 slab routes, including my first F6b+ (which was very good), but 3 failures on F6b/+s. The game of chance....bad luck to fall and fail, good luck to stick and succeed....roll the dice. Plus rounded off with a few minor but fun steep routes at a roadside crag. Good overall!

Wildlife: The usual motley crue with no change and no new kitties.

And: Despite wearing a t-shirt (or perhaps because of, since it was my hideous yellow Fiend t-shirt), I have more sunburn and have just eaten my own bodyweight in a very garlicky potato stew. Good luck me sleeping tonight :S

La Pedriza 7.

Today's kitty of the day is....large ginger (cross, ugly, and a personal favourite). A last minute winner with good reason I'm sure you'll agree.

Lime lime glorious lime. Well it is glorious out here rather than the blocky blotchy ugly polished choss that people climb back home. Chee Dale I ask you?? Honestly. Ponton D'Oliva is where it's at. It is actually a really good crag of very typical Euro-lime with lots of routes. And lots of pockets. I've pulled on so many today I've lost count and lost enough skin around my knuckles....but kept my tips nice and fresh for more granite horrors tomorrow. As well as good climbing there was good climbing dog action: Primo was my favourite as he had the optimum balance of chilled out most of the time but utterly daft and giddy once you stroked him:


But also this unnamed perro was a winner for cute faces (admittedly mostly when trying to scavenge queso y chorizo).


Talking of chorizo, I have some for supper, and I
chorizo :)

Climbing: 6 very fine routes, including a trio of good F6cs with thuggy starts and delectable finishes. Felt more like proper grades and proper climbing. Tired by the end! Back to slabs tomorrow to get spanked like the bitch that I am.

Wildlife: Kitties #9 to #11 - large ginger (cross, ugly, and a personal favourite), small black two (only one eye but a cute miaow), medium tortoise shell (actually looks like a proper cat rather than a scruffy mongrel). Plus loads of good crag dogs. Muy bueno perros! Or something like that.

And: 6th day on, still syked. Forecast still good...

La Pedriza 6

Today's kitty of the day is....small ginger (cute).

Today was a day of Anger and Lust. We were back on the slabs to rest our arms and trash our feet, and to continue trying to get to grips with this elusive slippery sneaky sandbag style. We found a shady slab, albeit not by finding the correct path to it, the usual boulder-bash being both an adequate warm-up and the redpoint crux of the day. We rattled off a few "easy" ones in swift succession, and one of them actually felt "easy". Possibly only a short grade undergraded. The Anger came next when I got on what could be the slab highlight of the trip, a mighty F6b+. Having done a few cruxy moves and generally on easier ground, I slipped off one poxy F6a+ move to finish. What a DICK.


Cue quickdraw and shoe hurling and a substantial stream of tourettes. As infuriating as this was, the general feasibility opened up the possibility of breaking the seemingly impenetrable F6b barrier. So I tried a F6c, did the crux moves of that (English 6b?) and then slipped off a slopey pull higher up, mostly due to warm conditions. It seems as the grade increases, the level of sandbagging decreases. Possibly. It also seems the conditions play as serious a role as they should - a couple of locals confirmed that "winter yes is the time for best climbing". Woot. Might have to come back. Not least because the Lust is there....finishing with a skin-of-teeth F6b, I felt a strangely alluring balance between the holdless horror of it all, and the zen-like zone of faith in friction. There is a seduction in these sheer slabs, a dark sensuality, a game of chance where one must seek calm in a hidden storm...

I rounded off the day with a dip in a snow-melt mountain river, mmm refreshing, an a huge tapas feast at a local bar. We could see the bar staff gazing and smirking at us when we'd clearly ordered too much and mountains of food kept coming, but they were all friendly handshakes and adioses and graciases when we paid the bill ;).

Climbing: Slabs slabs slabs slabs. 4 routes and a few more attempts....but it was supposed to be a sort of rest day....

Wildlife: The usual birdlife, camping kitty #8 - small, black (cute but limping), and lots of lizards today too.

And: Thanks to the hordes of people attempting to ID the mysterious heron-like things from my inept and vague descriptions, and congratulations to sidewinder who IDed them as White Storks. Here is a picture of a White Stork:

La Pedriza 5.

This is what we have to wake up to:

Gosh I am tired. Today we combined the steepness of limestone-style climbing with the texture of granite-style climbing and with a walk-in specifically designed to fuck my shit up. We headed to the mini-summit of Cancho De Los Muertos in search of steep shady granite walls, lo, after a "stop and rest every 2 mins" death-slog, we found what was promised.

The view from Cancho De Los Muertos:


Cancho De Los Muertos from the view:

The Cancho is rather fine place indeed, with sheer buttresses forming a summit crossroads micro-plateau, each way out leading to a different spectacular compass viewpoint, and some ways out leading to cool little climbing canyons. We did a lot in the main one of these, relishing in the shade, sliver of sun, and occasional fresh breeze....and relishing in steep granite climbing WITH HOLDS. Yes, actual holds. That one can pull on and all! The only slight detriment being that some of them were quite small and most of them required quite a bit of pulling, so the skin has suffered. A night of marinating in anti-hydral cream and a day of "gentle slabs" calls. Eeeek!

Climbing: 7 good, satisfying routes, 6 short and intense steep things, one so-called easy slab to "warm down".

Wildlife: All the usual suspect, plus one bonus ginger and white cat (seemed quite placid lying on a wall, so I threw chorizo at it). Still don't know what the bloody red beaked heron things are.

And: 0% San Miguel. The connoisseur's choice. And by "connoisseur" I mean "idiot".

La Pedriza 4.

Today it has not been raining. Instead, this was the sky at lunchtime:


Which was nice. There was a rather late start due to a somewhat cloudier forecast, and a pleasant breakfast fending off innumerably shy yet greedy kitties. Then, rather than slogging into La Pedriza with uncertainty as to what would dry, we went back to the limestone we recced yesterday. This proved to be a more than adequate choice with a vast amount of quickly drying routes set in a plush valley with a harmonious combination of natural beauty and minor manmade spectacle.


After 5 fun and mostly undergraded routes starting off a convenient walkway (somewhat more substantial than El Camino Del Rey), we had lunch and took stock of the situation. Despite the 11am departure, it was still only 3:30pm! Well there was only one sensible option, so we headed around to the other side, recced some now-baking routes for another day, and finished off with a blast of steep pocket pulling. The sides of my fingers are now trashed but my tips should be ready for more granite tomorrow...

This is not the approach path I am looking for...

Climbing: Lots. I thought the limestone was going to be a second-best rest/rainy day option compared to the granite, but it's pretty swish in it's own right.

Wildlife: The following cats that attempted to raid/scavenge our bungalow: big and black (mean looking), black and white (bland), big and white/ginger and fluffy (king cat, must overheat here), small ginger (cutest), small mongrel (annoying and hissy and not getting any more food), other small mongrel (also cute)

And: Fucking crickets. Like a constant ray gun fire alarm rave outside. Why can't the kitties eat them??

La Pedriza 3.

It is raining. This is bad, but not as bad as it could be. Firstly, our bungalow. This is a cramped, over-priced, uninsulated, wobbly box with fake wood plastic walls, loose sliding doors, a poxy micro-hob, and a bathroom sink unit that leaks and comes away from the wall. It is also - assuming one isn't using that sink - apparently completely watertight, and potentially warm. I knew with the non-100%-guaranteed dry climate that there was a good reason to get a bungalow rather than camp, and tonight's relative comfort and general relaxation makes the extortionate extra Euros and hours spent trying to find a suitable box worthwhile.

Secondly, the overall forecast. It was supposed to rain all day today, but it didn't start until 2:20. At 2:18 I started up a typical sketchy slab route, at 2:25 I lowered off the top just as it was getting problematic. We had preceded this by a couple of longer, easier angled, and smearier pitches. The usual deal but with slightly less bolts. Halfway up the first route I led I was feeling queasy due to the constant tentativeness of it all, by the top I was revelling in the sheer nonsense. So a planned wash-out day turned into actually getting into the park on a Sunday, a bit of walking, a bit of climbing, and then an afternoon vaguelly recceing some pretty nifty looking limestone areas. The forecast is okay tomorrow but the rock might need some drying time, then glorious for the rest of the week. Possibly too glorious with lots of sun and little wind, so we might need to hit the limestone as shelter from the sun (and slabs!) rather than shelter from the rain.

Climbing: One slab with less angle and less holds (was this possible? apparently so), one slab with more angle and more holds, mostly pointing in awkward directions. Fun!

Wildlife: Still more heron-like things, we still don't know what they are. 3 crag dogs one of which apparently would prefer chorizo rather than the stick I offered him. Not a chance.

And: Might be time for my first shower since Friday morning (too scared with sunburn last night). Mmmm hmmm.

La Pedriza 2.

Today it all began: The granite....the slabs....the bolts....the friction....the holds.

The holds??

HOLDS??

There weren't any fucking holds.

The day started somewhat tiresomely with circuitous driving around the local town Manzaneres El Real in search of parking, food, parking, access to La Pedriza national park, parking, and more parking. It seems most of Madrid comes here at the weekend, and you can see why - truly spectacular amounts of undulating, slabby, bulging and layered granite, interspersed by limitless boulders. However the popularity ensures vehicular access is a faff, and even once parked, the deceptive scope ensures ambulatory access is somewhat tiresome if your legs don't work. However the scale of the rock with it's uniform texture is also deceptive, and we reached an appealing slab in reasonable order. A wise choice it seems, due to the "easy" grades and in this case plethoric bolting.

Hmmm yes the grades. There were rumours that the climbing was desperate for the grade, that is one correct way of putting it, another equally correct way is that the grades are complete shite. Either Costa Blanca / El Chorro / Costa Daurada / Siurana / Ceuse / Buoux etc etc are wrong....or Pedriza is. It's not rocket science, everything is simply undergraded by at least one, usually two grades. Oh wait, "It's friction slab climbing, you just aren't used to it yet". Bag of COCKS. I've done enough slabs and friction slabs to know. You don't get San Melas or Chalkstorm given E1 5a do you?? Exactly.

Anyway it's blank, it's desperate, it's tenuous....but it's really rather cool. A whole day of pure and proper slabs. There is a lot more where that came from, in fact rather too much, so we will be seeking the all important variety, to give the feet and mind a rest!

Climbing: Smear smear smear smear feet on nothing smear hands on crystals and be unduly grateful when you get a massive 1cm wide micro-nipple that enables you to get up a F6a after 20m of relentless English 5c slab climbing.

Wildlife: Two wild goats, two horses, lots of cool heron-like things in big nests by the road, and loads of griffon vultures....had seen these years ago in the Verdon and they are spectacular, 1m long, 2.5m wingspan, when they fly overhead it's like the shadow from an airplane.

And: Sunburn, yoiks!

La Pedriza 1.

So I am away in Spain again. A long overdue trip to Pedriza, the well reputed home of terrifying granite sport climbing. It was a toss-up between this and Annot, the increasingly reputed home of sandstone....stuff. Being able to actually buy a Pedriza guidebook (a novel concept that the Annot book writers should perhaps consider) was the deciding factor. So Pedriza it was, but the associated faffing and procrastination has forced a somewhat lengthy journey. Glasgow (wet) > Prestwick (boring) > Alicante (relaxed flight dozing next to two perfectly sulky teenage girls) > 5 hour drive to La Candreda (LONG, but actually went fairly smooth and beta-flashed bypassing Madrid).

Of course since it was dry and sunny and daylight, it would have been particularly ungracious to not stop off for climbing en-route. To ensure a reasonable arrival out our campsite cabin, I picked a nice bulging pockety limestone crag 5 mins down the motorway. A quick stroll in, and so much for a reward for our dedication, almost all the crag, including by far the best bits, was seriously flooded by risen lake levels. The flat grassy base was now 2m of water, so we had to dick around on a poxy upper tier before establishing bungalow basecamp and some much needed crashing out for the night.

Climbing: A few short steep easy routes at by far the worst crag I've climbed at in Europe. Still it loosened the muscles after a long journey.

Wildlife: A small turtle, a giant fish, and a cute, daft, giddy Rottweiler puppy with big paws.

And: A bottle of 7.3% beer on an empty stomach after a full day's travelling washed away all the stresses. And any sort of coherence.

Bugger up at Butterbridge.

The bugger up wasn't mine! I did fine - I went out to boulder, warmed up, wirebrushed a bit, sat out a shower, wrestled with the usual complete bollox Stone Country guide mis-descriptions / mis-grades, and eventually did a couple of cool problems in good fresh conditions, including this:


And the first ascent of this:


Butters V3 **, named in honour of Bbb-bb-but-but-buttttters who seems quite chuffed having done Strawberries recently.

The bugger up came with this:


Part way through my tickling around, I became aware the traffic was starting to go somewhat awry, around a combination of small car transporter and derailed white van, scarcely a few hundred yards from where I was sat (sit starts, you see). 4 police cars, 2 ambulances, 2 fire engines, a salvage truck and a helicopter later, it became obvious things weren't going to move any time soon. All of which was quite interesting in a detached sort of way, except that this was my main route back to Glasgow, and I needed to be back swiftly. Attempted swiftness turned to inevitable sluggishness when my chosen detour route became a nightmare of HGVs having to pass each other on single lane country roads and finally ground to a gridlock. About turn and leg it to Dunoon and catch the ferry back, which is a reassuringly smooth and rather fun experience, apart from it contribution in turning an hour's return into 2 1/2 hours. Ho hum!

This, and that.

Not a lot going on at the moment but that's going to change pretty soon. This week I have had gayflu and it has been pretty gay but fairly shortlived. After a pleasantly energetic week last week I knew it was best to rest and did so quite diligently - the mediocre weather helped too.

The cold has mostly abated, still a bit sore and snuffly but it's out of my head now. Somehow I seem to have missed the "feel considerably better but still hack up great solid lumps of phlegm" stage which is a little disappointing.

Last night I went bouldering at Dumby. I'm really syked for routes at the moment but then again also syked to get a couple of hours out full stop after a day stuck indoors. It had changed from a glorious spring day to a cold spring evening. I kept my t-shirt on and just managed to warm up by the time it got dark. Cold fingers, very sluggish, no energy after gayflu. Only to be expected really. Naturally Dumby is particularly harsh punishment for someone in this ailing state, so I was rubbish. But it was exercise and there was some good news - my tweaky finger has been feeling better all week and was fine last night despite a few crimpy and pockety things. That is good. I reckon it was raving the previous weekend - 4 hours of wild mal-coordinated arm-flailing must have got plenty of blood to my digits.

This week I do have some exciting plans - going out to Sicily from Tuesday morning to Friday night to join a veritable clan of veteran climbers out there who invited me along. More Euro-lime is not my first choice and if the weather was remotely decent (naturally it's not) I'd rather just have a couple of days in the Highlands BUT given the forecast and the opportunity and it does look rather nice in the photos, it would be churlish to refuse. Coming back on Friday night I go straight up to Northumbria for Squirrel's weekend bonanza which might be an Official Burd's Tradding Weekend or something of the sort. All of which is cool but it is avoiding actually climbing in Scotland which is partly why I'm up here!! Hopefully mid-late Spring will be good.

The map of syke.

This is on the wall opposite me, I just have to move my eyes approx 12° up and right, and there it is, clear, colourful and prominent and reminding me of what great potential and great cragging there is up here in sunny Scotland. Plus useful to correlate with forecasts, work out trips and travelling, etc etc.

Pink - suitable cragging in winter/spring.
Large inspiration: Erraid + Scoor (Mull), Creag Dubh, Aberdeen North granite, Gruinard Crags, Inverpollaidh, Caithness area.
Small inspiration:
Creag Nam Fithich, Glen Croe, Glen Ogle, Glen Lednock, Cave Crag, Glen Clova, Pass Of Ballater, Aberdeen South, Reiff, Ardmair, Ardnamurchan.

Orange - suitable cragging mostly in summer.
Large inspiration: Wave Buttress, Earnsheugh + Floors Craig + Craig Stirling (Aberdeen), Duntchelaig, Rosehearty, Loch Tollie + Loch Tolldaih (Gairloch), Sarclett, Latheronwheel, Mid Clyth, Suide Biorach (Skye), Dalbeg + Mangestra + Painted Wall + Magic Geo (Lewis).
Small inspiration: Iona, Glen Lednock, Polldubh Crags, Covesea, Reiff, Diabeg area, Sheigra area, Staffin Slip + Neist + Rubish Hunra (Skye)

Green - sport climbing.
Large inspiration: Elephant Rock, Camel Rock, Moy Rock, Gruinard River crags.
Small inspiration: Glen Ogle, Strathyre, Cave Crag, Weem, Angus quarries, Rob's Reed, Arbroath.

Blue - climbing with large walk-ins (can't do yet).
Large inspiration: The Cobbler, Aonach Dubh, Gharb Bheinn, Sron Na Chich East, Beinn Eighe East, Stac Pollaidh.
Small inspiration: Bonaid Dhonn, Creag Ghlas.

(Plus various lesser Central Belt and Lowland stuff when time/weather preclude travelling elsewhere).

Geeky?? Maybe. It took me all of 40 minutes - I often have longer shits than that. Admittedly I'm usually reading guidebooks on the bog....

10

10 - Ten - Tenerife...

Awesome climbing trip out there. Good to glorious weather, good climbing partner, good, varied and distinctive climbing (my inspiration about it being different to the Euro-lime norm being proved right), lots of great routes (42 in total), F6c+ being the highlight quality grade of the trip (including several F6cs and F7as that were actually F6c+), climbing at 2100m in a vast crater of lava fields beneath the dominating volcano El Teide with a fierce sun and icy crisp air was an amazing day, every breath up there was a delight. Drove straight from the airport to a crag on the first evening and got up early on the last day to squeeze a few great routes in before our flights back. ACE.

Here's a photo diary:

2010.

Shit, is that the year already?? Time flies whether you're having fun or not. The trick is to fly along with it and ride the temporal waves....maybe this year I'll learn it??

2009 brought some interest: emotional ups and downs, a return to climbing strength, a return to trying to sort my mind out, a brush with serious illness, a move to Glasgow, and a whole lot of upheaval....and a whole lot of potential that may as yet be realised.

2010 will bring....Christ, last year has made me even warier of predictions or expectations!! But I do have some aims (or are they resolutions?? well I resolve to try hard to do them...), of which the most interesting are:

1. Life live with passion and inspiration.
2. Follow the path of action (which isn't just "doing stuff").
3. Continue trying to sort my mind out.
4. Continue my post-DVT recovery fitness with determination.
5. Explore as much Scottish rock-climbing as possible.
6. Meet more Scottish rock-climbers to do that with.
7. Improve my social life in general.
8. Climb as many interesting places abroad as possible.
9. TICK BIG NUMBERS.
10. (The last one might not be entirely serious).

N.B. These aren't S.M.A.R.T. goals, in fact they are mostly habits to get into rather than specific goals, ways of life rather than ends to aim for.

Anyway, I'm off to do participate in one of those now. Back in a week!

Defeat.

This morning I drove back from Font after our 4 day New Year trip there.

30+ hours driving
£180 in fuel
1 ½ days climbing
2 days walking around in drizzle and clag
5 peeling finger-tips
4 hours of bad sleep this morning

Was it worth it?

No.

It was the most promising start to a Font trip ever - driving down from Dunkirk to Paris it was -5°C all the way (apart from when it was -6), even when the sun came up, and Monday was a perfect winter sun day. There had been a last-minute forecast of "30% chance of snow showers" on Tue/Wed, which in theory shouldn't have been a problem given the icy temps and bone dry rock. But the reality defied all theory and indeed all common sense. Despite Monday night being at least -2°C if not colder, it somehow rained overnight, which promptly froze, completely fucking up the next few days. Thus Tue and Wed were spent reccing a damp forest - useful for future visits but little consolation really. We managed to find enough dry rock for a few hours bouldering before the ferry on Thu, but it was too little too late.

The company was good, the gite was good, and the food was pretty good. The one ambition I achieved was not bouldering but eating: I finally cooked myself some horse - with Sloper's recommendation on the cooking method - and it was surprisingly mild and melt-in-the-mouth tender. Hurrah. But having an exciting, celebratory, New Year's bouldering trip in the Forest dissolve away into grey, damp, retreat was pretty shit. I'd like to be more philosophical about this but a combination of frustration, cheesemares, long late night drives and general knackeredness has left me feeling pretty bleak today.

When this passes, I'll be able to take in the New Year more, and have some positive, productive thoughts on it.

Reasons to be cheerful #1.

In 3 hours time I will be driving out of Sheffield.
In 8 hours time I will be checking in at Dover.
In 15 hours time I will be stuck in traffic around Paris.
In 18 hours time I will be climbing Font.
The forecast is dry, mostly sunny, and very cold.
The ferry cost £41 return.
We've got a spare (nice, spacious) gite due to someone pulling out.
I'm going with a two friends, one of them my best friend.
It should be cold enough so I can climb well without stressing my elbow.
I've eaten plenty enough over Xmas to insulate me from the cold.

That's 10 pretty good reasons :). Right, time to unpack from London, pack for Font, go for a run, eat dinner, and chill for a bit. Word.