La Font de l'Ametlló

I've known Geoff for about eighteen years. I still remember when, before going to work, we regularly met up at a half-pipe in Cambridge. We spent almost an hour skateboarding (Geoff) and rollerblading (me). The objective always was to play and have fun.

When Geoff got in touch to tell me he would be in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, he asked whether we could squeeze in a bit of rock climbing. It didn't take long for the both of us to organise our agendas and keep Thursday free!

After getting all the gear from my place, we headed South of Barcelona. We stopped at a small village, Ordal, for a nice eggs and bacon breakfast. We were going to need the calories!

Shortly afterwards we were parking in a forest, next to the La Font de l'Ametlló crag. Even though we were only an hour away from Barcelona, we wouldn't see anybody again until we got back on the road.

After refreshing a few concepts and the use of the gri-gri, as Geoff had done a bit of rock climbing in the past, we went for an easy route to gauge his level. When he came down the first route it was clear he enjoyed it, and said we could try something a bit harder even if that meant me holding him at times.

A good start, which was even better because Geoff was totally confident to lock himself to the bolts at the top, untie the figure of eight, thread the rope through the ring, tie himself again, and recover the locking carabiner I always place for top-roping to avoid eroding the gear that is in place.

This meant that we managed to climb quite a bit, so we did Eucalipnos (V), El petit princep (V), Crisis (V+), Roser (6a) and Directa del mogencs (V+).

And we stopped because a) Geoff had a plane to catch and b) I had a salsa lesson I couldn't miss. Well, and also because by that time Geoff's hands were pretty sore!

I really enjoyed the day. It's always a pleasure and fun to hang out with Geoff. Next time I hope we have a bit more time and can go somewhere to climb a multi-pitch route!