On the rest day it was decided that the other celebrated Rodellar pasttime should be engaged in - namely, canyoning. Best described as "a huge waterpark made by nature", I'll let the pics do the talking.
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| Canyoning in Rodellar comes highly recommended by the Upskill crash test dummies! |
And then all too soon the final day of climbing was upon us. And with it
the realisation that, hell, there's a bunch of routes the guys did not
want to leave Rodellar without bagging. It happens every camp. The
final day is a day of madness, desperation, flappers. I call it project
clean-up day.
After yesterday's canyoning adventure, I might have been forgiven for thinking that the team would be smashed, but for perhaps the first time, everyone was awake and at breakfast before me. Coffee was on, they were keen.
First point of call was
Bikini sector for some obligatory warm-ups. You might take it as a measure of
someone's level of tiredness, that they tied in like this... (can you spot the error?)
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| Surely you've seen it. If not, read on for the answer * |
In this case, not a life-threatening error, however, a perfect demonstration
as to why we do our cross checks and verbalisation! Safety first, people! We're
in climbing for a good time
and a long time!
* Answer: Rope not fed through leg loops!
Warm-up's done, let's jet. Projects were looming at
Pince Sane Rire (translation: tongue-in-cheek) so we blitzed up the scree before the Saturday crowds arrived. I got all three projects drawed up in minutes, and it was go time. May on
Ciao Bambino 6b (20), Kirsty on
Los Hermanos Peruanos 6b+ (21) and Kirill on
Esclava Laboral 6c+ (22/23). Results from the matches below:
May Pang vs Ciao Bambino
Round 1: Huge fall from the final mantle move. So close.
Round 2: Fall at half height.
Ciao Bambino declared winner of this bout.
Kirsty Kitto vs Los Hermanos Peruanos
Round 1: Fall after the last bolt.
Round 2: Fall after the last bolt.
Round 3: Fall after the last bolt.
Los Hermanos Peruanos declared winner of this bout.
Kirill Talanine vs Esclava Laboral 6c+
Round 1: Shock! Esclava Laboral is knocked out!
Kirill Talanine declared winner!
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| And for his redpoint of Esclava Laboral, Kirill receives this... |
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| ...and a championship belt. |
Ordinarily after an afternoon of projecting, we might shuffle off home. But noooooo! This was
project clean-up day and there was more cleaning to be done. So off to
El Delfin it was.
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| By this stage, Kirsty had decided that the only thing that would keep her together was tape. |
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Kirsty had unfinished business with the 6b+ (21)
Tú Aquí No Has Venido a Escalar. And even with the assistance of tape and three valiant attempts, it was not to be. Bugger! One to come back for!
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| Tú Aquí No Has Venido a Escalar 6b+ (21) |
Kirill was already glorying in his hardest lead to date earlier in the day, so anything now was icing. As it turned out, he ended up one hanging the fiercely overhanging
Bis a Bis 7a (23) on lead. A pretty big improvement from the guy who was projecting 6a+ (19) on the first day!
And May. What can we say? The project was the unnamed 6a+ (19) on the left side of the arch which she'd been on before on two different days. This route had a particularly long and balancy reach move crux, with runout climbing above. On her first burn, she slumped off the crux and things weren't looking good for a takedown. On the second try however, she climbed well up to the crux, set up for the long reach, static-ed up most of the way to the rail, then unleashed a small pop, stuck the finger edge with one hand and began to barndoor off. Immediately the ground crew went into action yelling
"Hold on! Hold on! Venga Venga! A Muerte (to the death!)!!!" Somehow she managed to edge a couple of fingers deeper, and reel back her body into position. She ticked. Glorious battle, sweet victory. While technically not her hardest tick of the trip, it was the biggest battle. And to finish it up as the light was fading on the final day - perfection.
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| Stoked! |
Well, all good things must come to an end, and we have just dropped the crew back to their hotels in Barcelona where they'll be variously heading home, or continuing their climbing adventures.
Thank you, dear reader, for joining us on our Rodellar adventure. I hope this might have provided a bit of psyche and motivation for you to go out and attack your climbing goals. Go try something really hard. It's good for the soul.
16 years on, and still loving climbing with a passion. Seriously, how
good is this sport?
--Lee Cujes
