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!

Can Latvians climb? Yes, we can!

It's becoming a classic... people who come to visit me in Barcelona are put through the test of doing a bit of rock climbing. Like Mahdi, who had never climbed and managed to climb a three-pitch route in Montserrat, our friends Santa, Ivars, and their colleague Lāsma, came all the way from Latvia to spend a few days exploring the city, and accepted the challenge.

We were too many people to climb a multi-pitch route, so we decided to go to a sports climbing area called La Font de l'Ametlló, some 45min from the city.

I hope Ivars doesn't mind me mentioning this: while organising the climbing the day before, the most difficult task was to find a harness for him. Fortunately, I look after things pretty well, and after seeing that none of the two harnesses I have would fit him, I had to dig out my first harness ever. In this post you can see a picture from 1984 where I was wearing it. Obviously I didn't tell Ivars he was going to be hanging from a 28-year old harness i.e. made before he was even born. Still, I had to improvise an extension with a sling to tie it all together at the front with a locking carabiner. Somehow, we were all set.

We got up, the day looked excellent, had a nice breakfast, jumped in the van and after a technical stop on the way to have a coffee in a terrace, we parked. A 15-minute walk later we were at the crag.

There weren't many people so we were free to choose routes. A route called Mitica, with a grade of difficulty of IV+, looked perfect for a first contact. Ivars went up first, struggling a bit at the beginning, but moving more gracefully (to put it nicely) as he was going up. He reached the top a bit tired, but after lowering him down I could see he was surprised to have gone up what looked like a very steep wall.

Santa was next, however for some strange reason she got a cramp on her leg only after having made three or four moves. Sadly, that was it for her. When you first climb is not uncommon to get your calves cramped if you go with your heels up too much, but I didn't even get a chance to give Santa some advice. Now she has another excuse to come back.

Lāsma also wanted to give it a go. A bonus Lāsma had was that being a tall girl, an old pair of my climbing shoes fit her perfectly, and it happens that I got them re-soled a few weeks ago, so they are like new. But, unlike Ivars who went up with some running shoes, wearing climbing shoes doesn't mean you go up as if by magic. After the first few meters having some trouble, Lāsma started to use her feet and legs quite well, and a few minutes later possibly became the first Latvian female to have climbed that route!

Including Lara, we all had climbed the route, so was time to move on. We made a mistake by thinking that Mary Brown, also IV+, would be a nice one to do. Lara led it, but when we lowered her down we realised the rope had a lot of friction next to the belay at the top. I led it too to recover some stuff Lara had left at the top and we had to choose another one.

El petit princep, a bit more difficult with grade V, is a route that looks very difficult because it goes through big holes, almost little caves, and a couple of slightly overhang sections, however the holds are generous and it is a fun route to climb. It was time to confirm that Latvians can definitely climb.

I led this one, and Lara would lead it at the end to recover some stuff I left at the belay at the top. Lāsma preferred not to try this one, but Ivars gave it a go.

When Ivars got to the first overhang I had to hold him, and he asked to be lowered down, however we had a referendum and concluded he had to stop being lazy and go for it.

The only person who didn't believe he was capable of going up, was him.

He then managed the first overhang, inside one of the holes he was able to rest a bit and then managed the second overhang. Ivars made it, and probably still doesn't believe it!

We called it a day, and made another technical stop on the way back to enjoy some drinks and patatas bravas under the sun.

Yup, Latvians can climb.

Amelie, il navaglieri di Napoli y la Font de l'Ametlló

Hacía más o menos un cuarto de siglo que Fernando y yo no nos acercábamos a la roca juntos, y ha tenido que ser su hija Amélie, perdón... Melanie, quien ha propiciado que lo hiciéramos el sábado pasado.

A sus quince años, confesó que le molan los AC/DC, asi que aqui dejo esto...


Como el día amaneció completamente encapotado y buscábamos un sitio donde hubiera vias fáciles y poca aproximación, fuimos a la Font de l'Ametlló. Lo que no sabíamos era que el día se iba a abrir, por lo que cuando llegamos pasamos algo de calor, pero había ganas!

Empezamos con la vía Burrada, de IV+, con Melanie asegurándome. Luego subió el papi y por último Melanie, que resolvió muy bien el pasito que a nosotros nos había costado incluso demasiado, y es que en esta escuela no se regala el grado.

Para no perder tiempo y como el descuelgue es el mismo para las dos vías que quedan a la derecha de Burrada, todos hicimos la vía Eukalipnos con la cuerda por arriba. El grado de esta vía es de 6a en la antigua guía Barcelona y alrededores, sin embargo en las reseñas que se encuentran por la red está decotada a V, cosa que encuentro acertado para ser consistente con el resto de vías. Bien directamente o evitando el paso clave un pelo por la derecha, los tres hicimos top.

Tras una paradita para comer las ya clásicas Lays Campesina y bocata, Fernando y yo hicimos la Xoriço, de IV+, también aprovechando el mismo descuelgue. A Melanie, algo cansada, le salvaron de hacerla unas nubes negras que iban viniendo hacia nosotros de manera amenazante. Recogimos los bártulos e incluso tuvimos que correr los últimos metros para llegar al coche porque ya empezaba a llover. En seguida empezó a granizar, de tal manera que paramos bajo unos árboles para evitar abolladuras en el coche.

Me da la sensación de que habrá otra salidita pronto. ;-)

Escapaditas de Semana Santa

Con demasiado que hacer en casa, sólo pudimos escaparnos dos días a hacer un poco de deportiva por los alrededores, un día a la Font de l'Ametlló y otro a la Facu.

En la Font de l'Ametlló esta vez nos fuimos a la zona de la derecha, donde encontramos unas cuantas vías facilitas pero divertidas.






Y en la Facu también estuvimos en la zona de la derecha. Hicimos tres o cuatro vías, acabo de mirar la reseña pero como todos los nombres son de chica pues no logro saber cuáles hicimos. Lo que sí recuerdo es que repetimos una en la que hace un par de años me lesioné un dedo y esta vez la hicimos sin problema. A ver si Lara se acuerda de los nombres y me corrige.
La nota curiosa del dia la dió una chica que cuando estábamos recogiendo llegó con su pareja a la zona. Me preguntó si era fulanito, y resulto que sí. Aunque su cara resultaba familiar yo no lograba recordar de dónde la conocía. Resultó ser la Pilar, compañera de bachillerato!

La Font de l'Ametlló

Hoy hemos aprovechado el fantástico día que ha hecho visitando esta escuela, cerquita de Moja, y que es famosa porque en verano es un hervidero. El día ha sido perfecto, ya que el solete calentaba lo justito.

Queríamos ir al sector central, pero desafortunadamente cuando hemos llegado ya había un gran número de vías ocupadas en ese sector por una gente haciendo un cursillo. Así que nos hemos quedado en el sector izquierdo, junto a tres chavales muy majos y divertidos.

Hemos empezado con la vía Crisis (V) y luego hemos hecho la Directa dels mogencs (V+). Ésta última ya la conocíamos, y nos ha dado un subidón ver lo bien que nos ha salido hoy.

Pero el subidón no ha durado mucho... ya que nos hemos metido en otra vía, de nombre desconocido, que figura en las reseñas como via 14 (6a). En alguna web hay comentarios de si es 6a+. Yo lo único que sé es que la primera barriga no me salía ni a tiros. Después de un buen descanso he hecho otro intento, y he chapado la tercera chapa totalmente in extremis. Pero tan tocado me he quedado, sobre todo porque algunas presas parece que te vayan a segar los dedos, que me he salido por la tangente derecha para luego volver a la vertical y llegar al descuelgue.

Con la cuerda por arriba, tanto Lara como yo hemos probado la vía, y aunque hemos apretado dándole varios golpes de riñón, ninguno ha logrado encadenarla. Ahí queda, para otro día.

De vuelta, hemos parado en el Ordal. Necesitábamos un carajillito de Bayleys para relajar el riñón.