Rodellar

Day 1 of the (real) road-trip started in Rodellar and could not have been better.

The sun was shining, a team of 12 Brits were psyched out of their minds to climb and Sector Surgencia was calling.

I had a great first day; ticking a few 30/35m routes between 7b+ and 8a onsight and things were looking good for the next few days until the rain and snow travelled down to Rodellar.

Stu and I decided to head to Riglos to do something a little bit different. . .

EU ROAD TRIP 2010

Things have moved really quickly over the past few months. . .

Handing my notice in at work and leaving for a road trip around Europe in the summer and then to the US in Autumn seemed a really long way away . . . and now, i've already been on it for 9 days!

My plan was to head to the Pyrennes to do some trad big walls, then to northern Spain and the south of France to really push my grade sport climbing and then on to Rumney, Red River Gorge and Yosemite in September/October. However, the start has already turned out very differently.

On the drive down, expectations of the weather getting warmer as we drove south into France and Spain were replaced with the reality of snow blizzards in the Tarn area.




A weather report told us Europe was / (is) covered by an enormous area of low pressure that wont budge for a while. . . . we changed out route to Barcelona airport, parked the van and promptly got a flight to Mallorca - the only place where it was actually sunny, as Charlie Woodburn proves here -



After 5 days of complete and utter luxury i returned to Barcelona, picked Ste McClure up and headed to Rodellar . . . more coming soon.

Training

Tuppence Ascent - Anstey's Cove

Finally.

After one day attempts spread over about 3 years I am strong enough to cleanly climb Tuppence!

It is a truly incredible route- pure power endurance from the first move off the ground, and with perhaps the most interesting and weird crux move i have ever done - yes, you do have to do that bizarre drop-knee to have any chance of holding that tiny crimp!

It's also a route that has spat a lot of people off over the years - leaving people literally having to spend 10 years projecting the route because it is so difficult to link in one go.

Very, very pleased.

Burning Man Festival

After getting very scared crack-climbing in the Needles for a week, we hooked up with a group of friends from London.

We somehow managed to fit 4 couples into this . . . of our home in the Nevada desert for a week.



Our first night at the festival was incredible - we were constantly confronted with the most mind-blowing sculptures . . .



We partied quite hard that night and were a little worse for wear the next day . . . but what's better than watching the sun go down the next day on top of your RV . . .



Our next fews days were filled with more amazement as we wandered round the playa looking at art installations. I'll shut up and let the art do the talking . . .

More Bielsa Photos

A photo of a 7c+ i on-sighted at Bielsa 2 weeks ago courtesy of Ramon.



An awesome line with 5 parallel tufas in a row that had to be traversed across leading to a huge flake undercut coming up out of shot . . . the line was brand new and may have even been a first ascent . . .

Maximuscle Filming

I have recently done some filming and a photo shoot for Maximuscle.

The finished edit that was produced shows a little look into the kind of training that i do. It was all filmed at my local training venue at the Westway Sports Centre in London. I also did a short interview that looked into how Maximuscle products help me train for competitions and completing routes outside. . . .

http://www.maximuscle.com/maximilk

Rodellar & Bielsa 2009

I am currently out in Northern Spain training prior to the World Cup in Puurs in 2 weeks.

It's great to be out here training on rock as opposed to pulling indoors on plastic on the same routes and boulder problems.

It has been a blinder of a training trip already as I completed my two main goals for the trip within the first two days - Botanics, 8b+. I did this first go last Sunday! I did try the route last year though and i tore my Collaterol Ligament on it and had to stop climbing for 5 months . . .



I also climbed one of the maddest looking lines in Rodellar; El enano de la chepa del Seta, 8a+, again first try. It has a double dyno practically as the last move whilst in a 8m near horizontal roof while you are 25m high!

We also decided to check out Bielsa, a mountain crag in the Pyrenees very close to France. It's a beautiful area spread across 3 very different sectors with incredible views and practically unclimbed on rock!

La Foz was the most impressive area, containing many mid-8 grades through a barrel roof.

Here's a shot of me failing to onsight an 8a+ . . .



With training going so well i am going to be jumping on something that pushes my limits a little further . . . i will keep you updated.

The Needles

What a place.

Possibly the most beautiful climbing area i have ever been to - perfect granite crack-climbing with amazing features and lines.

A magical but quite spooky place - names for sectors like the: Wizard, Magician, Sorcerer, Warlock etc only add to this.

This trip really was an education for me - 2 hour walk-ins, followed by long intimidating crack climbs where my typically English rack - containing double pieces of gear (max) simply was not enough for 40m pitches of cracks of only one size! Also jamming was a new experience for me - i spent most of my time looking for razor edges around the cracks for light relief!

The highlight was working Pyromania - the classic Yaniro, upside down flake climbing 8a+ - i didn't have enough time to head-point it but when i return it will be the first thing that i jump on.



The above photo of Pyromania was taken from Urban Climber's site.

My photos to come . . . (my friend dropped my D90 off a boulder!)

World Champs China

Some photos in the few days run-up to the competition . . .

The training venue where we housed in the run up to the competition.





This is where the Chinese Olympic football, athletics and swimming teams train full time.


The quite unsatisfactory 'training facility' for all of the international competitors (Lead, Boulder and Speed) to stay in shape on prior to the World Championships. As you can see - it got a bit crowded!



Some interesting local behaviour . . .