Terradets- Part 1

Ham is huge in Spain.  We saw this poor javelina being proudly displayed in the town center of La Granadella on our way to Terradets.  

There were lots of people(mostly old men) talking and respectfully investigating the wild pig.

Then there was the American... 

After getting lost in Llieda, and we finally made it to the foothills of the Pyranees.

In Camarasa we stopped for lunch at a small, yet busy restaurant.

In the spirit of adventure, we ordered butter and garlic escargot as an appetizer.

Once the aioli sauce showed up, Ted really got his snail on!  Loose Canon wasn't so excited about snails.

Seth had Rabbit.  I guess it tasted like chicken.

 

 

Doug, inspired by the javelina kill in La Granadella, had pigs feet.

This picture makes me want to puke!

During lunch we looked through the Lleida climbing guidebook and decided to check out Sant Llorenc de Montgai, Camarasa, and Ager on our way to Terradets.

A stray cat was hanging out by the restaurant.

Stuffed with exotic food, we headed to Sant Llorenc de Montgai.  We were surprised to find some great looking caves at the top of a small hill at the mouth of a canyon.

Here's a picture of the canyon.

There were some pretty plants.

And as usual, some poop right off the trail.

With the light fading, we quickly looked around, hopped back into the car and raced towards Camarasa.  The climbing didn't look that great, but the river was amazing.  Sorry, no pictures.

Then we zoomed over to Ager, and figured out where the turn off for the area was but didn't commit to the 6 mile drive from the main road because the it was almost dark and Ted was car sick and afraid that he might puke snails.  Gross!

So, we drove to Cellars, and checked into our hotel.

Ted, pleased with the accommodations.  Anything is better than the hotel in Margalef!

Doug doing a little pre-dinner gambling.

 

Bacalao- salted and dried cod.

Alan "Loose Canon" Bishop happy that he finally found some "normal" food.

The next morning we woke up to a heavy fog over the lake.

There were lots of fish feeding near the shore.

I found this climb on a bridge across the street from the hotel.  It even has anchors!

After breakfast, we drove into the canyon and parked near the dam.

The approach to Terradets starts with a re-bar ladder.

After a few minutes of hiking, we were treated to our first view of this amazing wall.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but the wall is about 100 feet tall and about 400 feet long.

This is the view from the cliff.

At the base, from the left side.

Me on L'Aviant 12a.  I don't usually complaint about slippery limestone, but the first 10 feet of this thing was glass!

Me enjoying some great tufas a bit higher on L'Aviant.

Psyched was very high and since it was Alan's last climbing day, we threw ourselves at route after route until absolute darkness.  In fact, Ted had to leave a few draws on his final route because he couldn't see the feet he needed to get to the anchors.  And Alan gave a great effort on his final route of the trip but pumped off right at the top as the sun completely disappeared.   

With 9 days left, we had found the promise land!  Climbing, however, would have to wait because we had to drive Alan to Barcelona.  It was time to trade dirt, rock and tufas, for museums, architecture, and culture.

Margalef

I spent most of the picturesque 4 hour drive from Rodellar to Margalef trying not to puke every time we went around tight turn or stopped suddenly.  We rolled in around 3PM on November 1st(Day of the Dead), noticed a big party at the community center and quickly found our hotel, El Tres Pins,

which was oddly decorated(They had a couple of mounted Javalina heads),

 a bit ghetto(they had a vending machine that kids could get lighters from),

and didn't allow Wentworth(sorry Matt),

but seemed quiet.

After unpacking, we strolled the quaint, hilly streets

and checked out the Refugio/Hostel, where you can buy a Margalef climbing guidebook for 15 Euro.

They had some old school graffiti style climbing art at the Refugio.  

 This one kind of looks like me...

Life was good.

Until that night, when we sat down for dinner and realized that every evening, El Tres Pins morphs from a quiet sanctuary to a mad house complete with horrible food(like pig cheek),

paper thin walls, springy beds, slamming doors, and hoards of people that crank the television so loud you can barely think(or have a conversation).

Plus, that Day of the Dead  party I mentioned earlier, turned into a rave that blared all night long.  Until Doug stormed out of the hotel at 5:30AM, walked across town and told half a dozen teenagers to shut it down.  Go Doug!

Bleary eyed, we headed up the canyon and got out first view of this unique and stunning area.

After a short uphill approach, we reached the Racos de les Tenebres sector and got out first taste of Margalef climbing.  We warmed up on a couple of tweaky vertical 11's, and then moved down the hill to a steeper wall.

Here are some of the best pictures of me on a route called La Corva de la Felicitat 12d.

And Ted on Magic Festival 12d.

At the end of the day, Seth and I decided to try a 13b called Sativa Patatica.  This route follows the curving crack in the picture ab was one of the best routes of the trip!  Here are a couple of Seth.

And me on the same route.

After another horrible meal and a tough night at El Tres Pins, we went to the Finestra Wall.  This is one of the premier sector at Margalef and the crowds were crazy!  I tried El Fustigador 13c, and decided it was too hard to redpoint in a day, so I spent the rest of the day trying to onsight without much luck.

With rain in the forecast, and fully aware that more terrible food and rough nights at El Tres Pins awaited if we stayed, we decided to flee Margalef and drive North to Terradets.