France – its just a better version of Spain!

Morning light at St Guilhem le Desert

This was the quote of the evening from Andy Mann during our farewell dinner last night. Whilst the few bottles of red may have helped to elevate his mood, I like to think he was genuinely high on the French life, sharing a feeling I have had for some time.

We met up with Andy by chance in Margalef and arranged to all meet up again in France once our respective work commitments had finished. This was Andys first time in Europe and he had taken the brave step of travelling alone, just a start and a finish planned, with everything free in between. Caro and I wanted to share with him a little bit of our heaven, and we tried to cram in as many special things as possible into too few short days.

Sunset over St Guilhem

The best bakery in the world, buttery golden light at St Leger, laughing with friends over great food and wine in a language you don’t understand, secret waterfalls on the way to the cliff, hanging hundreds of meters up from old rusty pitons, Souvenir du Pic! The result was exhaustion but was totally worthwhile, and based on the above quote, I feel like we did France proud.

End of the day in St Leger

You might have noticed the reference to old pitons in the last paragraph. Old pitons are certainly not the norm in these parts of the world, nor does their presence guarantee a great experience. However, the old pitions in question happen to be part of La Cadaire, a 4 pitch mixed multipitch in our local area of St Guilhem, and when combined with everything else the route throws at you, they offer a day out you won’t forget.

After finishing our projects in Spain last month, Caroline and I began preparing for out next trip to Sardinia. We have our eyes set on a few hard multi-pitch on the island (no, not that one!) and to give ourselves the best chance, wanted to practice a few little things before jumping in to the deep end.

I had on-sighted La Cadaire the year before and felt like it would be a great route for Caroline to practice dealing with exposure and her fear. The route is around 150m tall, and gently overhangs for its entire length, culminating with the crux pitch at the very top, a boulder 8a through a roof. From the base of the wall, the ground falls away steeply to the valley floor a further few 100m below, and as a result, you feel pretty out there as you cut lose at the lip of the roof, especially as the only gear is rusty downwards pointing pins! I wouldn’t say the route is ever dangerous, as there are a lot of pitons that despite their sketchy appearance actually hold weight. It is however far far away from your average day at a sport cliff – a great way to practice for the long runouts we are sure to find next month.

The amazing gorge of St Guilhem

Caroline dealt perfectly with the challenge, climbing smoothly and keeping a cool head for the entire route. Andy was swinging around on the static the whole time, capturing amazing pictures and video that we hope to be able to share soon. As we approached the top of the wall, the day finished better than we could have ever dreamed as two bas jumpers lined up and dived out over our heads!

The End... for now!

Time for a little update, but unfortunately, it brings bad news. Actually, it contains quite a lot of good news, but also a temporary setback that whilst small, forces attention over everything else.

Esclatamasters has become my main goal, with rest and climbing days all planned around it. The top of the route and crux section (final 15m) is not very overhanging and subsequently has rather small holds. Whilst I wouldn’t call them sharp, like a knife, by their very nature they can be quite abrasive for the skin. The bottom of the route (first 25m) could not be more different. Steep and athletic, with long moves of generally good holds, the bottom is a joy to climb and leaves you rather pumped before the aforementioned finale... fortunately there is a very good knee bar in the middle, phew!

Slow and steady progress was being made, and on my 5^th redpoint I found myself holding the last of the really small holds, eyeing up the first good (3/4 pad incut) edge marking the end of the crux. Dont get me wrong, the route is far from over! There are still 6 tricky moves to go before the giant jug, but latch this hold and I feel there is a good chance to go to the top.

Perhaps from nerves, or just plain old fatigue, I hesitated a little on the move, coming up perhaps 2 or 3 mm short. The hold was almost in my hand, I felt the edge bite into my skin, but it was not quite enough.

It was however, enough to rip a hole the size of Andorra in my middle finger. The dream is dead, and I lowered to the floor feeling numb – which in hindsight, I much preferred to the slightly later feeling of throbbing pain. A very big disappointment, but one has to try to look on the Brightside. Skin will heal, bodies will be stronger after a rest, and motivation will be sky high.

The Wound!

Instead of wait around in Spain, Caro and I decided to head back to France for a few days to take care of some necessary jobs. Hopefully I will be healed in time to get back before the end of next week, but at the very worst, it should be the week after. With a little bit of unexpected free time, I thought it might be interesting to take a few pictures of the several stages I use to care for a big split, perhaps somebody will find it useful in the future, and perhaps someone will just enjoy the gore...

To read more and see the pictures, head over to JPClimbing.com

Birthday Presents

Yesterday, just one day before her birthday, Caroline managed to fight her way to the top of Mind Control at the Spanish super cliff of Oliana. Having climbed the route a few days before, I had a pretty good idea of the difficulties involved, and decided to devote my rest day to being the perfect little Gri-Gri girl (boy) to give her the best chance of success.

My brand new 9.1mm Beal Joker was pulled out to help with the rope drag. We also worked out a nice method of climbing the first section with 2 ropes, clipping the first 5 or 6 QD's on one line then dropping it at the rest to allow the other line to run freely through the remainder of the route. This is also the first time I have used a 100m rope! I remember back to my early days on the grit where a 50m would seem excessive - now, 80m seem short and on cliffs like Oliana, often leaving the climber dangling in space whilst the belayer works out how to get them down!

She clipped the belay on her second try of the day, 3rd red-point in total, with another inspirational display of grit and determination - there was no way she was letting go of the final tricky tufa.

Caroline in the first crux of Mind Control

With another project in the bag, there is nothing else to do today but lay happily in the sun, watch the beautiful view, and enjoy the company of good friends - what more could you wish for on your birthday. Perhaps some good food and wine... tonight?

Congratulations Caro, and happy birthday x

Un Petit Update... Mind Control and Esclatamasters

2 blog posts in 2 days... this makes a pleasant change. This one will be pretty short but I just wanted to share a few excellent pictures from my friend Francisco Taranto Jr, who is here in Spain with Caro and I.

Approaching the rest on Esclatamasters 9a

Francisco is a freelance photographer who is living a lot "on the road" with his girlfriend Sandra, 2 beautiful children, and his cheeky dog Filipo! Home for them is wherever some interesting action might be, so if you happen to see them at the cliff, or their giant 80's Mercedes Westfalia, make sure you say hi! You can check out his website and blog at FotoVertical.org

The last few days have been spent trying a cople of harder routes, one of which got sent, others still a work in progress... Topping out on Mind Control, one of the longer routes up the centre of Oliana was a nice moment indeed. Mind Controll is famous for being one of the 8c+'s onsighted by Adam Ondra last year, and so it was interesting to finally see the route in person, and try to comprehend what onsighting something like that entails, especially in the wet.

The top tufa in Mind Control

With Mind Control in the bag, I moved on to my planned "long term project" in the form of Esclatamasters at the little visited cliff of Perles...

To read more and see the pics, check out JPClimbing.com

Asia, England, France, Germany, Spain... Dont stop movin' even if the world stops turnin'

So many things, so many places, and so little time sat in a coffee shop in Spain... Time is running thin so I will do my best to keep things short and sweet.

Banff European Tour Premier in Munich

We returned from Asia a little earlier than planned to a cold and snowy England. Training was to be the name of the game, that was until we found some luck in the shape of a white 2001 VW Transporter. Owning a van has been something I had considered for a long time, but a lack of funds and time has always stopped me from pulling the trigger.

Training took a back seat, squeezed in as an afterthought at the end of each day as time was devoted to converting the back into the perfect little home on wheels. Perhaps not perfect, but good enough for a winter and spring in Spain and Italy - Insulation, Heater, Electrics, Stove, Grill, Oven... Bed... and a few other little bits and pieces. With the Van on its way to be finished, we caught the slow boat across the channel and after 2 days were back home in the sunny south. Training at out local gym, the super steep Altisimo in Grabels, began again in the hope we would miraculously find some of our lost endurance before the imminent departure to Spain.

Oliana is to long what Altissimo is to steep and I was a little intimidated to say the least. Suddenly the 3 routes a day we had been doing in Asia seemed rather poor groundwork, and dreams of floating up the never-ending tufa began to float away on the breeze. We warmed up, which is actually an odd act in Oliana as the few routes in the 7’s tend to be less than 15m long – not perfect when the hard routes are all closet to 50m.

Despite my fears, Caroline seemed to be coping pretty well...

To read more, go to JPClimbing.com

Postcards from Paradise - Truly Asia

I said the adventure would continue, and boy, what an adventure it was!

We crossed the border to Malaysia, unbeknown to us too late for the last bus or taxi south. We were stranded, stuck, and generally felt a bit stupid – thankfully, we would soon fall on one of the most helpful people of the trip, a local policeman who would drive us around and organise everything for our unexpected stay in this sleepy little town.

It turns out this kindness is not uncommon in this part of the world (except in taxi drivers) and the next morning we made the short trip to Bukit Keteri, still clueless but forever hopeful that fate, or luck would see us right. Stopping at a small “cafe” just opposite the impressive Cliff, the locals greet us with a smile and a wave as we drop our heavy packs and sit down.

“Hello, 2 kopi ice please. Oh and do you know a place we can sleep?”

It is as simple as that! Food, lodgings, and new friends – I am starting to like life in Malaysia. The cafe is run by Liza, who along with her husband, brother, mother and children, makes us feel completely at home. Lisa and the kids prepare us a perfect little nest in the shape of a mosquito net on a raised, covered gazebo, and after call us back to the Cafe for the first of many amazing meals. Food at the front, sleeping out the back, and an amazing cliff just across the road – what more can you ask for?

Mmmmmmmmm... Me Gureng

The climbing at Bukit Keteri is world class and very unique. Bulging blank bellies of white limestone occasionally dotted with giant pockets and melting tufas make for very powerful and dynamic climbing. Routes are often bouldery revolving around one specific crux section but there are a few slightly more pumpy offerings, although they are the minority.

The most striking route of the cliff is the amazing 7b+ Belly Button Window. In addition to being fantastic climbing it is also the most obvious line I have seen in Asia – from the road it stands out like someone has marked it with a highlighter. Obviously, we made a beeline for it on day one and its quality didn’t disappoint.

Read more and see some pics at JPClimbing

Postcards from Paradise - Ton Sai... too bad!

I guess the good luck and permanent smiles could not last forever! This week’s Postcard from Paradise is sadly a little more negative than the last few weeks offerings. Perhaps we are difficult and ungrateful, perhaps the excellent places we have seen over the last 3 weeks have set our expectations too high? Either way, if you don’t want to hear about the darker side of travelling, it might be best to skip this and wait until next week. For easy laughs and a good feeling inside, click here instead...

This trip to South East Asia was always going to be more about exploration, but after a few weeks of jungle bashing and bolting, the idea of plentiful convenient cragging, and the chance to try some harder routes started to appeal.

We left Bangkok early one morning on a flight to Krabi, and by 10am were searching out a place to stay on a very crowded and smelly Ton Sai beach. I had spent a few weeks here in 2007 during my first SEA trips, and I was sad to see how rapidly things have changed, and not for the better.

Hectic (usual) scenes at the Ton Sai Roof

Ton Sai was never going to win any hygiene awards, but now things are getting grim, with piles of garbage and raw sewage everywhere - there are just too many people for the area to handle. Terrible stories of contaminated water from neighbouring waste systems, and ugly infections from the dirty sea are common place. It’s such a shame as the views and situation are breathtaking, truly magnificent – another sad case of paradise lost?

To read the rest of the post, along with more pictures, go to JPClimbing.com