Margalef Part 2....

part of sector el laboratori. spot FRFM

And so my siesta to Spain has finally ended.  Managed to take some nice photos and videos of a couple of hard sends and best of all, I pretty much completed everything on my tick list!!! This is phenomenal considering the fact that I would usually only complete at most 50% of what I wanted to climb on all my previous trips.

Rest day activity - visiting Oliana

and this is terradets!

Continuing from my previous post, I wanted to get onto something harder, midway through my climbing trip. Had my eyes set on either Nina Mala 8b, Darwin Dixie 8b+ or Aitzol (previously 8c, now downgraded to 8b+). Ended up working on Flash Over 8b+, which shares the same start as Nina Mala because I saw 3 guys on it and the moves were so beautiful. 

santa linya

I also had the good fortune of catching Adam Pustelnik coming close on his flash attempt, falling right at the very top! This monster of a climb weighs in at about 28m with about 55-65 moves depending on your sequence. There are 3 decent rests with poor foot holds separated by sustained steep climbing on pockets at the beginning 1/3 and boulder cruxes no harder than V5/6. It’s no wonder why climbers with good endurance can send the climb quickly eg. Sasha who sent it on her 2^nd attempt. I also had the good fortune to witness some French lass finish this climb….with a little bit of effort.

rest days activities

more sightseeing.....

As the route catches the sun after about 3pm, I had to adjourn to another sector, el Laboratori to work on another route, Zona 30 which is considered to be a pretty solid 8b. This climb was also been worked on by the 9 year old Angie from Australia who send it just a few days before me. Zone 30, opened by Markus Bock, is totally the opposite style of climbing from Flash Over. It’s about 8m long with about 15 moves to the anchors. The action basically starts from the 1^st move and chalking is not mandatory. I chose this climb wanting to maintain some strength and power but I also knew it was a very risky bet working on two hard climbs in a day. I could either send both OR go home empty handed.

this is how you put up runners! =D

To spare you the details of my mental and physical battle (more mental actually), I left everything to the very last day and send both climbs!!! Flash Over on my 3^rd go of the day (13 tries in all, though I should have got it done with 8 instead) at about 2pm and Zona 30 on my 2^nd go at 6pm. In between these 4 days of climbing, I also managed to get myself onto a few other nice 7Bs at sector Finestra.

margalef conglomerate

To put this trip in comparison with previous ones, this was the most fulfilling one to date. There are just too many beautiful climbs and sectors left unclimbed and unexplored. The one sector which I really want to go back to is Espadelles. Unfortunately I had only 1 day here and it was too warm to go back to as it faces the sun constantly. Will have to be back here when it’s colder and enjoy the climbs in the sun. Margalef offers all kinds of routes that will suit many climbers on conglomerate rock.

it can be quite chilly in the morning

Here’s a list of my sends in terms of difficulty:

1. Flash Over 8b+

2. Zona 30 8b (send on same day as 1.)

3. Photoshot 8b, 2^nd go

4. La Bombi 8b, 2^nd go (send on same day as 3. Felt more like 8a/+, crux being clipping the 3^rd draw!)

5. El Fustigador 8a+, FLASH (my first flash of this grade)

6. Dr Feelgood 8a, ONSIGHT (my first official 8a onsight =)

7. Dando Brea, 8a FLASH

8. Malasombra 7c+, ONSIGHT (superb climb and NOT easy for the grade)

9. Aeroplastica L1 7c+, 2^nd go (super polished, the only climb in the 7^th grade I fell off from)

And many other climbs in the 6s and 7s……

me on Photoshot, 8b

I am seriously considering postponing my trip to Hueco Tanks to come back to Margalef again. We shall see what happens though. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures and video of my send! Will post more soon!

Photoshot, 8b from Jay Koh on Vimeo.