Hueco Christmas and a Hueco New Year

I am a horrible, selfish person.  Instead of flying home to Seattle to see my family for Christmas, I chose to go climbing in Hueco.

Einar on Brittany in a Blender V9.

OK, I am not a horrible person, but something must be wrong with me.  I would rather drive 12 hours in my shitty car, than fly 3 hours on a shitty plane.  I would rather pay to live in a slightly ghetto RV, than sleep in a nice house for free.  I would rather hang out with filthy strangers and friends under a cold rock, than be cozy and warm with my family in the living room.

Jon Linhart on The Bathtub V9.

I felt guilty about skipping out on my folks, but it's hard to hear your conscious when you are in such a sacred, and beautiful place.  Hueco vibrates with history and culture.  It's easy to imagine ancient people living among the boulders that we recreate on.  A perfect oasis from a harsh desert.  A perfect oasis from modern life. 




Life quickly get stripped down to the basics.  Eat, sleep, climb, repeat.  

Our beloved camper.

Besides my first trip to Hueco in 1998(wow, that makes me sound old), before all the rules, this was by far my most unrestricted experience in recent years.  Mainly because I went with my friend and commercial guide, Rob Guinn.  Thanks Rob!!!

Rob.

Many adventures were had.  Lots of problems were done.  Skin was shredded.  Holds were fondled.  Limits were pushed.  Muscles got sore.  Unfinished business was left.

Ida.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end.  So back to real life, the obscure tour, and choss mongering.  Until next time Hueco!

Ager- Spain's Shelf Road

I hate Shelf Road.  Aside from a couple of good routes, I find the climbing unpleasant, and most of the lines a bit squeezed and contrived.  I would rather climb at the gym than spend a day at Shelf.  In fact, I would rather not climb.  This said, somehow, I managed to spend my last climbing day in Spain at an area called Ager- Spain's Shelf Road.

The night before, we were looking through the guidebook trying to find an nice climbing area on the way to Barcelona.  Ager had a good spread of grades, and lots of routes, but I could tell from the pictures that it was Shelf-like.  Despite my strong protests, we ended up Ager.

On a positive note, the view is amazing.  These are taken from the parking area.  

The view from the cliff is even better

This was the first cliff we visited in Spain that didn't have hoards of people waiting for every route.  Probably because the crag gets good in January and we were 2 months early.  But we didn't know that, so we pushed on.

The crag is mostly vertical to slightly under with a short overhanging wave within the first 20 feet.  Small, sharp crimps abound.  Tufas and steep rock are seriously lacking at this crag.

 The middle cliff was definitely the proudest cliff at Ager.

Lower right wall.  The lack of chalk and visible holds made the 5.11's and 5.12's in the orange sections of this crag look like 5.15!

 Cool ancient wall at the base of the wall.

 Ted on some 12+ in the blazing sun.  So hot!  Temperature hot, I mean.

It was a hard day.  Disappointed by the cliff, but still trying to climb, I went to put my "good" shoes on and ripped out the tongue! 

Frustrated, I grabbed my camera and tried to find some beauty outside of the climbing.  The most interesting thing I found was some wormwood.

We stopped at the obsevatory for Doug at the end of the day.  Apparently, Ager is famous for it's clear skies.

Ager was our last attempt to see as much of Spain as we could.  In my opinion, it felt like a horrible waste to spend our last day at such a low quality area.  Although I hated the climbing, I still felt fortunate to be there.

The climbing was over, and my thoughts shifted towards home and the familiar.    Maybe the next time I go to Shelf, I will think about Ager, and remember how beautiful climbing is and how lucky I am.

Sant Llorenc de Montgai

Since we left Barcelona late, we decided to check out Sant Llorenc de Montgai on our way up to Terradets.  We scouted this area out a few days earlier and were excited to check out the steep, brown caves at the top of the hill.

The right cave.

Another view.

The amazing view.  Arguably better than the climbing.

Here are some shots from the day.  Ted on Patiasso al Pallaso 7c+.  I never complain about polished routes, but this route is slimy!  Looks way better than it climbs- probably because I am a sucker for tufas.

This climber really, really, really likes brushes!  Four brushes held to his chalkbag by the elastic from an old pair of underwear.

The frustratingly crowded left cave.  Why aren't these people at Terradets?

Unknown Spanish climber on Montse la Traviesa 7c.

Tired of waiting for the good routes, Ted got on this crumbly 7c.

Of course, there was poop everywhere.  This was directly below the route Ted is trying above.

Although we had fun and were glad we explored another crag, we all agreed that our time would have been better spent at Terradets.  However, if this was in Boulder, we would shamelessly climb there.

Barcelona

Despite two Iphones and five college degrees, we still drove around in circles trying to find our hotel in Barcelona.  Eventually, we parked our cars, and checked into our hotel.

 

I love alleys(you never know what you will find around the corner). Fortunately, Barcelona is full of them!  Here are some of the things I found...  

 

Video of the inside of a huge cathedral.

We also strolled some bigger streets, like the La Rambla.  Apparently, this is the pickpocket capital of Europe.  Despite looking very American and touristy, nobody got ripped off.  Probably because we look so burly and tough!

There is also a very impressive market just off the La Rambla.

One night we hiked to the top of a huge hill to see Gaudi's Parc Guell.  Here's the view. 

On Alan's last night in Spain, we went out for a nice meal.

  

 Ted even got a haircut.  No more Muy Senior.

After a few days, we got restless, 

and felt the familiar tug of climbing.  So we packed up, and headed back to the promise land.