Back in Rodellar

Theresa left to go back to the States on Monday morning and I headed back to Rodellar.  The drive was uneventful and I arrived back to pretty warm temperatures but with blue-bird skies.  I had left my tent up here with some stuff that I didn't want to drag around inside so there was a little bit of trepidation when I arrived that my stuff would still be here and be in good condition.  Everything with the tent was AOK (muy bueno!) so I unpacked from Paris/Mallorca and got reorganized.  As I was packing and making lunch some dark clouds started to gather but I didn't pay them much mind.

Around 2P I started to hike in to the gorge under darker skies. Just as I got out of the village the skies opened up, sending me scurrying to the doorway of an old barn.  I hung out there for 30 minutes while it poured, thinking to the blue skies that had been there just a bit ago.  Eventually the rain eased and I hiked down, muttering darkly.  Once in I noticed a lot of wet streaks on the walls, more seepage.  As I stared and sweared, it stared to rain again.  I hiked quickly to Las Ventanas which is sheltered from the rain.  I talked to a few folks there who said the rains had come back a few days ago and many routes had started seeping again.  There's still some dry stuff around but both of the routes that I wanted to do are soaked.

The last two days have been a little better with rain only for an hour or so in the afternoon with the cliffs starting to dry out.  I rested today, working until 4P or so and then hiked around, checking the conditions and taking some pictures.

Attempt to be artistic.  Climber in the background is on the awkward starting slab of Nanuk.

Same climber as above falling off the very top of Nanuk.

Hopefully you can see why they call it El Delphin now.

A quick recap of Theresa and I's visit to France and Mallorca.  We had a great time, really enjoying Paris (more than we had expected) and Mallorca.  If you rock climb at all, consider putting Mallorca on your list.  Nice sandy beaches, easy to get around for tourists, good climbing, and fairly cheap.  The weather, while a little cold in Paris but acceptable, was perfect in Mallorca.  Hot enough for the beach but not super unpleasantly hot.  I was sad to see Theresa go but now I get to be a dirty climber again!

Alaro

A quick post with some pictures.  We decided to go to Alaro, a climbing and hiking area on the other side of the island, about an hour and 15 minute drive from Cala D'Or.

To reach Alaro you drive up a windy, switchback road for 15 minutes, hoping someone isn't coming the other way.  Park at the goat farm/restaurant and do a little hiking.

Our destination was Sector Chorreras, just one of the sparsely developed areas on the huge wall.  This area is home to Buf!, considered by many people to be the best 7a (11d) in the world.

While there I climbed Buf!, the 11+ beside it, and the 12a beside it.  All climb tufa systems for 25-30m and are amazing.  Is Buf! the best in the world?  Who knows but it is worthy of all its praise, simply fantastic.

I'm cleaning the 11+ here, Buf! climbs the tufas to the right.

After a short day (the wall gets in the sun a little after noon, we hiked to the top of the wall where the ruins of a 13th century castle loom over the valley.

Restaurant/goat farm in the blurred background.

A German couple clued us in to a most interesting fact:  there's a bar at the top of the mountain!  Everything is brought in via horseback and you pack out your own trash.

A nice 30 minute hike down leads back to the car and some European rally-car driving down the switchbacks.

Zombies and the Living Dead

Everything implied by this post’s cryptic title will be made clear.  First the zombies….

If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend Max Brook’s World War Z.

Max is the son of Mel Brooks and has written two interesting books (WWZ and the Zombie Survival Guide) with World War Z being the better of the two.  WWZ details the zombie apocalypse in a very interesting way, using fictional oral histories to slowly paint a complete picture of a world-wide zombie crisis.  Throughout the book the first-hand reports talk about how to stay alive when the living dead are after you.  So what the hell does this have to do with Mallorca?

Well, where we’re staying, the Hotel Rocador, was originally two separate hotels, the Hotel Rocador and the Hotel Rocador Playa.  The hotels are now fairly seamlessly connected into one large property.  However, there are some odd bits here and there.  Some of the public areas of our part of the hotel are no longer in use but remain furnished, creepily deserted and silent.  Areas like the reception desk, the bar, the dining room, and a lower floor are quite eerie in a way reminiscent of the Overlook hotel in the Shining. Theresa and I (she’s read WWZ too) almost simultaneously made comments about zombie preparation when we walked by this desk blocking a stairwell.  I guess that means I married the right person!

Can I get you a drink, Mr. Torrance?

On to part two, the living dead.  Last night while we strolled around Cala D’Or, I saw a sign that made me stop in my tracks.  I’ve already written about my weakness for fruity, island-themed cocktails.  I have one other kryptonite,  one additional Achilles’ Heel that renders me powerless:  Elvis impersonators!  So what did I see last night but a sign for the Elvis de Palma, live and in person.  We of course attended (no cover, unbelievable!) and had a fantastic time.  Pictures will convey the enormity of the evening more than words ever could.

Certainly one of my favorite pictures of all time.

 The King gave me this blue scarf when he "left the building".   The yellow embroidery that can be seen by my right hand says "Elvis de Palma".  Why he gave this to me instead of Theresa is a question that will plague me forever.

Finally, being in Europe during the World Cup (of soccer to Americans) has been pretty cool.  Spain won last night and there was much rejoicing.

Psychobloc!

Psychobloc, the Mallorcan term for deep water soloing (climbing without ropes with the ocean below, otherwise known as deep water soloing (DWS)) has caught the rock climbing world by storm over the last 10 years.  Mallorca sits at the heart of the DWS universe so we had to experience it while we're here.  We headed to Cala Barques, a 15 minute drive from Cala D'Or that was supposed to be great climbing and not so scary.  First my opinions on DWS: it's really fun, totally unique being both liberating and terrifying at the same time.  After swinging around on the crazy jugs and tufas at Cala Barques, I can say that although it's great fun I still prefer roped climbing day in and day out.  Damn good fun though!

Cala Barques is a very popular local's beach for good reason.  Crystal clear blue water, white sand beach, rocks to climb on or jump off, it has lots going for it.  The parking leaves something to be desired, however, as you're on a narrow dirt with (very) limited places to turn around.

Once you find a place to park and hike through the woods, the beach and the bay open up before you.

The climbing takes place in a few separate caves, the first one simply called the Cova.  It's about 12m tall and is accessed by a downclimb (over deep water) on the right hand side.

Like all good climbing areas there are cute girls in bikinis hanging out all over the cliffs.

The climbing here is on jugs and stalactites with nothing much harder than 11d.  Here I am on a 11- that climbs steep jugs.

In the main areas I climbed one 5.10, two 5.11-s, and two 11ds.  We moved over to the next cave where there were some harder routes.  While I wasn't keen on falling, it didn't seem like I would get the full DWS experience without falling or at least getting close.  I decided to try one of the mid 5.12s with a crux up high, telling Theresa (who expertly took all of these pictures) to keep the camera rolling.

An overview of the 2nd cave:

The route starts off not so bad but then has some very long moves between good holds that leave you extended and feeling quite exposed.

Up high the crux revolves around a long move to a decent pocket and then another long move to a shelf.  In the summer the rock sweats, making some of the holds feel less than desirable.  You don't notice on the big holds but the pocket felt wet and greasy.  I tried making a big move off the pocket but I was off!

And I was in the briny!  The fall wasn't as bad as I might have thought although it was a bit scary at first.  Shoes, chalkbag, me, everything was now soaked.  We saw several people using liquid chalk at it seems like that's the way to go.  I tried the route once more but the sweaty holds and no chalk didn't add up to success.

Overall a fun day in a beautiful setting.  Thanks to Theresa for all the great pictures, the new camera worked great!

Mallorca in the Sun

We made it hassle free from Paris (Orly, much less confusing than CDG) to Barcelona and then Barcelona to Mallorca, bags and all.  We collected our rental car at the airport and headed east towards Cala D'Or, our home for the next week.  After some slight confusion getting here (google maps for Europe isn't that great), we got checked in at the Hotel Rocador Playa.  We got situated, shopped for groceries, and headed out on the town for my birthday dinner (lucky 37!).  

Cala D'Or is touristy, but not in a bad way.  From our hotel a casual stroll takes us to lots of small streets full of bars, pubs, restaurants, and gift shops.  For dinner we had a hamburger and some calamari and a crepe for dessert.  The crepe people here have a lot to learn from the Parisians but it was still good.  The hamburger and calamari, well, let's just say America seems to hold the lead on preparing bar food.  After dinner we enjoyed a nice walk around the town, ending at a bar specializing in fruity island drinks.  I'm quite the sucker for these so there was no doubt what I'd be getting.  Theresa split one with me while we people watched, enjoying the warm temperatures compared with Paris. 

The next  day we headed to Fraguel, a bolted limestone crag in the western mountains north of Palma.  The normal approach involves driving 5km of steep switchbacks and then hiking for 15 minutes into a secluded gorge.  Unfortunately for us, a gate across the road was locked so we had to hoof it up a steep road for 3km.  This adds about 25 minutes and a lot of aggravation to the approach so if you go, hope the gate is open.   The upside to the hike is it allows some very nice views of Palma (capital city of Mallorca) and the surrounding bay.

Once we got to the crag I was underwhelmed.  Rockfax (guidebook publishers) describe Fraguel as "an amazing crag with some of the most important hard sport climbing in Europe".  I was expecting something stunning along the lines of the Gran Boveda or Las Ventanas at Rodellar or Las Bruixes at Terradets .  In reality the crag really isn't that big, maybe 100m long, on par with one of the sectors at Ceuse such as La Cascade or Berlin.  The rock quality was impressive with lots of nice, linear tufa systems but for me it didn't live up to the hype.  The climbing was great though, steep and juggy with nicely spaced bolts and fun moves.  I started on the first bit of Ramadan, an amazing 5.10 warmup on awesome tufas.  After that it was the first part of Bobo Dodo (11+) and then Fes Lo Que Puguis which felt quite hard for 12a.  I then tried the upper part of Bobo Dodo (12+) but the first holds above the chains were wet.  I moved on to Le Gorille a un bonne mine (12d), an amazing tufa route with a funky crux crossing through to an undercling pocket.  Very weird and very good.  I finished the day with the first half of Shabada (12a), another great tufa route with a cool scissor rest just below the chains.

We headed back to Cala D'Or and tried our luck with the European version of fajitas.  For our split order we were served 1 tortilla (we asked for more and got 1) but the flavor was quite decent.

Tomorrow the plan is psychobloc at Cala Barques.

Brrr in Paris

After a quick flight to Paris and a minor epic in Charles de Gaulle Airport (can you fly through there without some issue?), Theresa and I are back together!  We headed into Paris and checked in to the Hotel Saint Christophe in the Latin Quarter of Paris.  We were very pleased with this hotel, friendly, clean and great location.

Jet lag be damned, we headed out into the city, first stop the Eiffel Tower.  The only other time I was in Paris was 21 years ago almost to the day and the tower was closed for the 100th anniversary celebration.  This time everything was open but apparently we weren't the only ones who thought today was a good day to visit.  The line to take the elevator to the top was ridiculously long so we opted to take the stairs to the first two levels, much cheaper and the lines were short.  It was cool to be able to head up into the tower this time, seeing the construction details up close and seeing the nice panorama of the city from the 2nd level.  The 2nd level is somewhere around 450 feet high so walking up there is akin to taking the stairs up to the 50th floor of a building. 

We then headed to the Arc de Triomphe  and wandered down the Champs-Élysées.  We did the tourist thing and had a drink, people watching the tourists and Parisians wander down this famous street.  From the Obelisk at the end of the street we headed into the theater district and had a drink and a hot dog (!?) at Harry's New York Bar, a famous old bar that Hemmingway among others used to frequent.  They clearly took their name to heart, charging prices worthy of both Paris and New York!

The next day we had a Louvre tour scheduled.  I'm not a big fan of guided tours but we had used one to skip the lines when we visited the Vatican and been very happy.  We  were again pleased to use a tour as we got to skip the lines to get in and learn a great deal more than we would have just wandering the museum.  We saw many of the highlights including my favorite statue, the Winged Victory, and the underwhelming Mona Lisa.  There's still a lot I'd like to see there, especially the Egyptian exhibits, but that will be for another trip.

 After the Louvre tour we headed down the Seine and had a nice but chilly picnic of bread, cheese, salami and some wine in a nice park on the Île de la Cité .  Paris was experiencing record low temperatures which weren't that cold, just colder than we wanted or had planned for (highs in the low 60s and windy I think).  After the picnic and a nice warm crepe we headed to Notre Dame.  If you visit, I recommend skipping the relics exhibit.  It's not worth the few Euros that it cost.  Better just to wander around, checking out the amazing gothic architecture.  From Notre Dame we headed back to the room for a quick nap.  We ended the night with a great dinner at a restaurant right around the corner from our hotel.

The next morning we headed to the Palace at Versailles under grey and threatening skies and chilly temperatures.  The Palace is very much worth the slight hassle to get there, stunning in its size and opulence.  We wandered the inside apartments and the grand salons before venturing into the gardens.  A little rain has us moving quickly toward the exits but it stopped quickly, not really hampering our visit.  Right by the train station was a restaurant advertising tex-mex.  We got lured in and tried it....suckers!  It was pretty bad and the service was worse, our one bad meal in Paris.  From Versailles we moved back to Paris and visited Montmartre and the iconic Sacre Couer.  While touristy, wandering around this neighborhood is pretty cool.  We also took the winding staircase to the top of Sacre Couer, and took in what must be the best view in Paris.  Tres Bien! 

We had a great time in Paris and both liked the city more than we had planned.  The Parisians were almost all extremely gracious and helpful, very much unlike the stereotypes. 

Off to Mallorca tomorrow.

Movin' On Up

A quick update.  I'm in Barcelona now, flying to meet Theresa tomorrow in Paris.  Very psyched!  The only way I could be more psyched is if she had the furries with her and maybe a 32oz drink from QT.

In a weird way it was nice to wrap up one stage of the trip by leaving Rodellar.  That part of the trip seemed a bit snakebit with lost bags, injuries, bad weather, seepage, and oh yeah, I got some sort of intestinal funk for a few days that was highly unpleasant.  Sick and living in a tent = not such good times.  On the plus side the weather has slowly been stabilizing with less rain each day and routes starting to dry.   Hopefully when I get back the area will all be dry but the summer heat won't have arrived yet.   As far as climbing goes, I managed a very nice 35m 12d second try and did a 13a after a handful of tries.  The route has an extension at 13c that I dogged my way up that's doable but one section is wet and nasty.  I may spend some time on this if it's dry when I get back.

My friend Mark from Kennesaw was in Rodellar for a little bit and left yesterday.  He climbed well on the new stone and new style, adapting to tufa climbing in fine fashion.  He finished up his trip in style with a last day, last go send of a 13a at Las Ventanas that was impressive to watch.  Under pressure he was totally solid and left on a high note, George Costanza style.

Sorry but no pics for this post.  I've been avoiding taking the camera due to the unpredictable weather.

Have fun out there!

For any climbers reading this, you might want to watch this video about the dangers of taping open slings.  Be careful!


Safety Video - The Danger Of Open Slings from UKClimbing.com TV on Vimeo.

Let it rain, Let it rain! Part Dos

Remember, it never rains in northern Spain in June.  This is what we keep hearing yet it keeps raining  everyday.  The last few days have been decent with only a few hours of light rain but the heavy rains have returned today.  My tent continues to do yeoman's work so at least I've got that to be happy about. 

My hand has healed enough to climb on using a fair amount of tape which is nice.  We've managed to dodge the rain the last few days and find some dry rock.  Rodellar is in general very steep which is a good thing during periods of heavy rain but the tufas are now all completely soaked from seepage.  For those who aren't familiar, think of a tufa as an attached stalactite that forms in the same way as those in caves, via slow mineral deposition of groundwater drips. 

 These big pipes are tufas.

They are incredibly fun to climb on and Rodellar is one of the best tufa crags in the world.  When heavy rainfall raises the water table and increases hydrostatic pressure, the outlet valves are the tufas.  So while a lot of Rodellar has remained dry, the features that most of the routes climb on are soaked.  At this point I'm just hoping that the area dries out before I get back in late June.

Because of the wet tufas, we've been confined to the few areas that are somewhat dry.  I've managed to do a fair amount of easy 5.12s and yesterday somehow managed to do one of the few 13As that is dry on my second try.  It's easy for the grade but it was a nice suprise!  Today is a rest day with hopes of drier conditions tomorrow.

Some random pics:

Compare this pic with the last post.  Taken from the same place, some of the boulders have disappeared with the latest rain.

A little positive vibes...blue sky!