Tres Ponts Takedown, Siurana Smackdown

March has been a busy month. Last weekend Equipo Caracoles checked out a new area called Tres Ponts, and most recently we spent a weekend at the infamous Siurana. Equipo Caracoles is the name we’ve given ourselves, it literally means Team Snails. Appropriate, considering our habit for leaving late and enjoying luxurious and lengthy breakfasts before finally going climbing. Luckily the climbing is Spain is pretty punishing, so despite our lazy pace we always come back having climbed enough.

Tres Ponts is a small crag near Andorra, and gets its name from the nearby three bridges crossing the Rio Segre. The rock itself is unique, more than anything because of the endless “cantos invertidos” or jug underclings. An undercling is just like any other hold except it’s upside down. To get an idea of the holds at Tres Ponts imagine grabbing the lip of a bucket, now turn the bucket upside down. A lot of the climbing revolved around reaching up high to an undercling, placing the feet as high as possible, reaching for another undercling, repeat, repeat, and repeat. It’s exhausting, especially considering the climbing is all overhanging. Another technicality is that since the holds are upside down it’s impossible to rest with a straight arm. If you want to rest your forearms you are forced to actively hold your upper body in a flexed position, usually a position resembling carrying furniture. Well it turns out I’m pretty good at the style because I had my best weekend of first go climbing to date! On Saturday I bagged the 35 meter Instint Salvatge 12c onsight after a long fight to the anchors. I think the route name accurately describes my state of being during the climb, pure savage instinct. For a long stretch of the climb I was fighting for every hold, no time to rest or to chalk, just movement. It was perfect. I’ll remember that one for a while.

Here are some shots of the only climb I fell on the whole weekend. Of course I don't have photos of the climbs I did...

Half of Equipo Caracoles: Me, Edu, Dimitry 

The evening brought the usual tonterías from Equipo Caracol. After finding out that we would have to wait another hour for dinner, we quickly rushed to the local sausage store where they serve free samples. Apparently the store is famous in Spain, and some top chefs special order the sausages for their restaurants. Being a starving climber made the samples even more delicious. That only killed half an hour, so we decided to go back to the restaurant and beg to be served a little early. A nice three course dinner and some local wine quickly sent us scurrying towards our sleeping bags.

We were back to Tres Ponts on Sunday with high spirits. After warming up on a tough 11d and one of the best 12a’s I have ever done, Dimitry and I decided to have a go at one of the area classics: Alt Urgell 12d. Dimitry went first, figuring out the powerful opening sequence, but a small error botched his onsight a few moves later. After getting to the top I lowered him down and prepared to give the route a good flash go. A flash is similar to an onsight in that it is a first try, but unlike an onsight a flash means the climber knows the moves of the climb. In this case since I had seen Dimitry climb the opening moves and I had asked him about the moves above, so I knew what to do and what to expect. I managed to link the small edges and technical climbing through the first few bolts. Despite nearly falling on some easier climbing, I finished off all 35 meters and clip the chains without falling, my first 12d flash.

Tres Ponts

The school week between climbing adventures was much worse than normal and hopefully the worst week of the year. Several long days and one long night were spent writing a final essay for my Greek Art class. I don’t get any credit for the class, but for some reason I still put a lot of effort into the essay.

Next up was the infamous Siurana. I should say famous, but after my last experience getting terrified twenty feet above a bolt unable to move Siurana permanently earned the “in-“ prefix. Saturday somewhat mirrored my first experience, but was a bit less terrifying. In terms of performance it was definitely the worst day of climbing I’ve had in a long time. I only onsighted two 11c’s and an 11d, falling on both 12a’s and a 12b. To put this into perspective I haven’t fallen on a 12a or 12b in a several months, and in this case I was actually unable to do the crux moves on one of the 12a’s and the 12b. The style of climbing of Siurana is the opposite of what I am good at: small edges, vertical climbing, and very technical. The good thing is that it exposed a weakness, and I can clearly see what I need to do to improve. Sunday I got on a couple climbs that were a little more suitable for my style and I had a great day. A couple easy onsights were followed by getting spanked on an 11d. I finished off the day with my best 12c onsight and a nice 12a onsight. The 12c “El prado del rey” was probably the most difficult onsight I have done to date. In seems silly to onsight a 12c but fail on an 11d. I guess it all comes down to the style of the climb. The 12c was much more physical and based on endurance while the 11d was more technical. Overall the weekend was great, and I hope I can come back to Siurana to continue improving and to keep on learning.