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.
