A delayed weekend in Margalef...

Due to it being a fairly miserable, grey, and damp day on Saturday (finished off with a spectacular thunderstorm) we decided to delay our weekend plans and stay over in Margalef on Sunday night instead.

Despite the biblical amounts of rain the previous night, Sunday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, but with all the water evaporating rapidly in the heat it was like a rainforest in Margalef, with what felt like 100% humidity! Not great conditions, but on the plus side the rain seemed to have put most people off, and the crags were nice and quiet.

We went first to Can Verdures to warm up, where I did a 6c and 7a and Tash did a couple of nice routes. Then we went round to Cova Soleiada - home to a dozen excellent routes from 8a - 8c+ and, barring a solitary 6c, nothing easier. My project here is Esau Directa, something I've been on numerous times before over the last few years but never invested too much time in, so every time I get on it I've forgotten how to do it! First go up was no different and it felt desperate again, not helped by the ridiculous humidity which made the small tufa pinches and shallow slopey pockets in the lower half very hard to hold. So after sweating my way up it and expending a lot of energy working the moves out, I was feeling pretty frustrated and wasn't too keen for another go up it. Plus my right elbow (well, the base of the bicep where it joins the elbow), which I pulled in St Leger, was starting to twinge again. So I stripped the draws on the way down. But after sitting around for half an hour or so to stop sweating, I decided to have another play just on the bottom half (where all the hardest climbing is). This time, as is so often the case, with the moves more familiar it felt much more do-able, but with the humidity as it was I couldn't imagine being able to redpoint it. And by now my bicep was really starting to hurt. Not knowing when I'd next be back on the route, to make it more efficient I tried making a video describing the beta so I'd remember for next time, but forgot what to do half way through the description - doh!

The awesome Cova Soleiada (left) catching the morning sun. Can Verdures on the right.



Monday morning was another beautiful sunny day, and today we opted for the other valley in Margalef and the Raco de la Finestra crag - the best shady sector in Margalef by a long way but normally busy at weekends. Today it was deserted, and Tash finally managed to do Magraña. This 6b+ is without doubt one of the best low grade routes in Margalef, climbing amazing flowing tufa rock like dripping candle wax. Normally it has a constant queue of people waiting for it, but today no-one!

Pete's excellent photo of a fantastic route - 'Magraña' (6b+)

After this we moved round to the left-hand side of the crag. I ticked off a few routes that I couldn't remember if I'd done before or not (two 7b's) and then put the draws in the brilliant 'Crucigrama' (7a+/b). Tash wanted to try a 7b, so this seemed like a good one to start on. It felt harder than I remembered, especially the initial moves around the first bolt and I'm sure a hold has broken making it more difficult - solid 7b now? Tash had a good go at it, and once past the initial hard section she made good progress - one to work on?

I then put the draws in a 7c+ that I'd been on years ago - 'Morphos'. First go up it felt hard and really sweaty and humid again, but after a short rest I had a redpoint. Surprisingly I felt quite good on it but halfway through the crux my hand just unexpectedly greased and I was off - such were the conditions! We didn't have time for another go, so headed back home in time for work.

Raco de la Finestra - the huge shadow on the left is the main feature of the crag (an enormous 30m overhang) but sadly home to nothing easier than 8c! What a crag!