What happened in the woods this winter pt. 1

No more bouldering for this year. Time to get back on a rope. But what a winter of great bouldering. Helechal is a socialable space to boulder and met people from all over Spain. First up were some powerful people from Madrid. They’re leading 8c so they had a bit of power and stamina but were apparently a bit new to bouldering. I took them around a few of my dream projects. The lines I’m going to do when I get stronger 😉 Here’s the vid of them crushing or a least getting ready to crush some of my dreams….. But one thing these guys showed me was the heal. They were putting in heal hooks everywhere. I’ve been trying to do the same ever since.

 

 

 

Day’s of Power – how to have them and how to avoid an injury!

I had a day of power yesterday. I felt light and every hold felt large and positive. I felt I could climb anything. Projects were dispatched with ease and I felt a huge reservoir of power.

The last time I felt this excess of strength I did two 7A boulder problems and a 7B problem which had been eluding me for months and it felt easy. But  I injured myself in the process and strained a tendon in my left index finger and my right pinkie. I was so pumped up that I didn’t really notice until the next day. The lesson I learnt is that muscles have a Day of Power, but tendons don’t. Tendons (for the thousandth time) take much longer to get strong than muscles. But when I was pulling on a two finger half pad pocket on the 7B and felt light. I had forgotten that.

But yesterday I remembered it. So I didn’t charge down to my projects and start ripping myself apart. I had a great day felt like a god but kept it mortal for the sake of the tendons, which have only just recovered 🙂

However for those who wish to ignore my warning regarding Day’s of Power here are the secret tricks. But you have been warned. My Day’s of Power always come after a couple of months of intense climbing where I can feel that I am over-climbing a bit and starting to ache. I then take a five days off and do one good day of climbing. But not exhausting. Then another five days without climbing. I don’t drink for a few days before and sleep really well. I didn’t do any other exercise apart from some yoga and antagonistic exercises like push ups etc. Then you will be ready. Basically exercise the opposite of your climbing muscles but leave the climbing guns alone for a few days.

Oh and eat plenty the night before and on the day itself never get hungry. Keep snacking so that body is full of the good stuff. Oh and a bit of protein at lunch seemed to help if you are climbing in the afternoon.

That’s what works for me:)

Outclimbed by Bernabé Fernández of Chilam Balam fame.

So I’m climbing in the easiest area of San Bartolo with my girlfriend Katja and her cousin from Switzerland.  A man arrived after us with his pretty girlfriend who was a beginner. He seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place him. Every time I finished a route he came over and climbed a route next to me much better. I did harder and harder routes and the guy did them more and more easily. So I head towards the hardest route I’ve ever done. Dandy Con Laprones in Habitacion a 7a. I’m pretty confident he won’t be following me up this one, I thought. I struggle up, making lots of grunting noises have one fall but finally make it. The guy strolls over and asks if I’ve finished. ‘Uh yes. You are going to try it’ I say incredulously. ‘Yes I think I will give it a try’. He climbs it with stunning ease and then continues without stopping up another route above which is even harder a 7a+. When he comes down I congratulate him and ask him what is the hardest route he has done on sight. He tries to hide a smirk and gives me a grade which makes him one of the best climbers in the World. It is then that I place his face and realise that it is him on the cover of the main guide book for Andulacia doing the hardest route in the world !!!

To be fair to me…. He was a really humble guy and not at all flashy and he was climbing 4b and 5+ and then a 6b and then finally the 7a and 7a+ extension. But his technique was super awesome and he did every move with a new twist or movement which was like a masterclass for me. I’ve seen a guy doing the 8b next to Lamprones and watched him climb Dandy as well. His technique wasn’t as good as Barnabe. Oh and of course on the big question of whether he did Chilam Balam. For sure, the guys a climbing genius 🙂

 

Redpoint of Mako Blaster 7a, Los Buitres, San Bartolo.

So pleased to get this route in the bag. It’s one of those short bouldery routes with easy moves around a really hard crux. The grade for the these short bouldery routes always represents the one hard move. Whereas on longer routes the crux can be much easier especially on stamina/endurance routes.

But on Mako Blaster it really is a one move 7a. So it packs all its punch into that one move. And it is a move!! Personally I feel it is a hard 6A+/ 6B boulder move. But it always feels so different when you are climbing with a rope rather than away from a mat.

I’ve fallen off it twice in the past, just to pull straight back on and do it easily. But this time I actually changed my approach and really looked up at the actual crux itself and visualised how I would do it before I left the ground. This small mental effort made a really big difference. Once up there it all flowed and I got the sequence easily, even if the move still felt hard.

Tangerine 6C+

I tried this line for about five months over last Summer. Maybe longer. It’s really really thin with micro edges and small lumps for the feet. It’s not much better for the hands. It starts with a jump up to a slopper and then trends upwards and right along a line of small crimps and slopping holds to the end where you find a “medio bueno” (spanish for half ok) hold on the lip. Then to finish you have to do a really hard heal hook rockover for a great hold much further back.

The line might be harder than 6C+ but I haven’t done enough boulders at this difficulty to say.  I think shorter climbers will find it harder reaching between the holds and footholds. But awesome moves all the same and really required a step up in my technique on both body position and feet to send it.

Dandy con Lamparones 7a, San Bartolo

This is a short and bouldery 7a which I got second go. The first go I went too far right which is almost another route and much much harder. Maybe 7a+. The actual route is fair for the grade and gives sustained climbing for it’s short length.

However, it’s all on the fingers so it moves into power endurance near the end as you never really get a break.

You can find it on the Dandy wall opposite Habitación at San Bartolo. The route Sara 6B is hard for the grade on the left of Dandy and is a three star warm up before a try.

More Alcaidesa action.

This is another vid we made last year in Alcaidesa. It’s quite an easy problem but the move over the lip is harder than it looks as you feel quite bunched up and off-balance. The feet don’t go where you’d like so it’s hard to make it look elegant;)

We all agreed that it was probably a soft 6A.

Thanks to James who showed us the problem and cleared the vegetation around the base.

 

Alcaidesa session

Near the end of last year, Andy and me headed over to Alcaidesa to check out the newly opened boulders there. Local enthusiast James has been around all the boulders with industrial vegetation removal tools and has cleared space enough to get at the rock without getting ripped to pieces by brambles and other Spanish spined vegetation.

We did a bit of warming up before heading for the most obvious boulder in the whole place and probably the best line of Alcaidesa. It’s a 6B with a hard start and a big pull from a crimp to a crimp with a pull to another crimp and then finishes over the top with a couple more crimpy moves. It favours people who like crimps. Bit of highball feeling near the top as you would definitely hurt something if you fell from the top. Especially at my age!

The rock is super solid and feels great.

James did it first and after watching carefully, I couldn’t claim an on-sight but was able to flash it. Which felt really good. Felt about right for 6B. In the guide it gives it 6C but we agreed this was too high.

Fisura Solo, 6B+, El Helechal, Bolonia

Andy and me met up with a couple of guys from along the coast, James Holtom and Giacomo Collini to show them some of the problems of El Helechal.

Giacomo is really strong and did a second go repeat of a tricky 6A+ traverse and a second go repeat of the roof problem El Gordo the 6B we first did last week. James did a quick ascent of a problem I found months ago and has been graded 6B+ on the internet and a YouTube vid, (more like 6A+ if you are tall). Then off to the classic El Arco which is graded 6B in Escalar magazine. I’ve got my technique wired for this one so always like to show it off;). Andy did it with a bit of struggle then the main event of the day, Giacomo’s demonstration of determination as he refused to fall off despite fully cutting loose for quite some time. I really thought he was off about three times but he fought back and found a new hold over the lip and a new way of doing it. Congratulations on that one. Felt tired just watching. Giacomo was on curfew and had to leave. The rest of us went down to our new problem Fisura Solo on the face of the big block which we feel is a soft 6B+.

Here is a vid of our efforts. The crucial sequence, in my humble opinion, is to get the left hand in the penultimate pocket, or the end is made very difficult.

Bouldering El Helechal

Had a great day in El Helechal with my two boys and Andy. We did quick ticks of El Gordo a well know 6B roof problem. The crux for me was getting both my hands on the exit face. I cut loose on my first go and fell off. So maintaining body tension and getting out and established was the test. Then it’s just a bit of old-fashioned thuggery to get to the top. Here’s a vid of Andy doing it easily. Bit of technical criticism is that Andy is doing the three pumps before going for the top jug. According to John Sherman’s better bouldering this is just a waste of energy and you should just rock down and give it your max on the first go. Hard to do but I can see his logic.

Then we did a couple of 5, 5C ticks with a nice slab problem just up from El Gordo.

My boy Rufus did this really nice 4A overhanging flake which is a good warm up. He got it first go. He’s done a few 4A boulder problems before in Albarracin. Just reach is a bit of a problem on some!

Finished off with a problem Andy has done before. It’s an obvious hair-line crack running diagonally across the front face of the massive 30m high block in the centre of Helechal. Starting near the ground on two deep but narrow crimpy jugs. Move up using the holds in the crack or on either side of it. Finishing with t massive hold at the top. Avoid all the ledges to the left as they make the problem a ladder. I found it really hard and had to use a full crimp on the right hand which I hate. But the moves are nice, hard and really technical with not much for the feet at the start. Enjoyable problem as I couldn’t do it at all at the start. I’d give it solid 6B+. It just felt way too full on for 6B.