Spain 2013 - El Chorro

[bojo]

Ladies and gentlement, boys and girls, this thread is to document the climbing, drinking and terrible singing of the Spain 2013 trip to El Chorro. Write down all your banter and general life thoughts before the Monkey king of babylon converts it into his latest novel/trip report

[joh]

Well to get the stone rolling or (much more likely) grind it to a halt, I'll tell you about my route of the trip, might be a big 'un, so watch out, BELOW!

Little Brown Baby | 7a+ | 30m of steep juggy chalk and limestone

I am not sure if Little Brown Baby was named as a true prophecy, a self-fufilling one, or simply a good bet, but someone had taken a shit on the path to it and made a commendably valiant but ultimately futile attempt to cover it for all eternity under one square sheet of tissue paper. The route itself has been similarly half-covered in white stuff, plastered with chalk out of all resemblance to a natural limestone feature, but so much so that to onsight (with a good sequence I mean, plenty of beasts, or even half-beasts, could power through...) would require an excellent route reading ability and a wise ignorance of those holds that some gremlin has drowned in chalk way over there or beside the much more useful ones for some reason. Anyway, I was not interested in onsighting this lovely climb as it was too hard and overhanging for that carry-on. Just like almost everything else in this country then..."I'm not in good form today" or "it's not my style" if I want to not feel too bad about it. So I tied in on the "tough-guy" end and thus found out it was also far too hard to toprope cleanly. Should 7a+ be this hard? Several days later I was on it again and spent almost twenty minutes (some say forty) looking for a kneebar at the place just before the crux were I always got catastrophically pumped, and therefore I reasoned where there must be a hands-off. Having propitiated the necessary climbing gods with various sacrifices I found almost exactly what I needed and lowered off, but a week later I still hadn't tested it and was all packed up and heading home. Should have tested that kneebar. Ah but it's been a good trip. Hmm...but it was a damn good kneebar, maybe I'll just head to The Van and see if Kev and Emma are about.

...

Kev puts in the draws for the umpteenth time (n~20), too familiar to be troubled by it at all, and in fact climbs it with running commentary if you press RED now. That's actually true. I toprope it in three different sections and then, following orders, gave it a not-all-guns-blazing lead and come off at the crux, lower and rest, and then watch as Kev argues with a hated 6c nearby to settle an old score. Half 4 now, train at 6, and I'll give myself about an hour to get there, so here we go, must remember to pull down hard on that crimp...

Clipping post-crux is the actual crux, and using a high two finger gaston with my position a bit rushed, I think I have gotten the rope in but on second glance it had fallen outside. Get. In. The. F'kin. Thing! Just fast enough to avoid complete fafftastrophe I sort it out, and sinker mono jug leads me to the ledge. Climbed that much better today I think. I'm happy with that. Whoever bolted the route accidentally put the anchor a good ten or fifteen metres above the ledge so as a bonus I have the upper section to try which I've never lead cleanly either. Let's give it a go then, "Climbing Kev!"...

I stumble into kneebar number 4 which I have just found for the first time, well, this is not really a good or useful kneebar at all, but my hands in the jug, I'm past the roof, why am I not even pumped like! Hey, this is Type 1 fun! I rock into the hand jams via a crap arete-thumb-hold, a bit confused because I mistakenly told Tom I didn't need it, and unknowingly leave some blood there. A little foot shuffling and the chains are within grabbing distance..."BASTANTE!!!" Beer time! Bueno pa' gozar.

...

_{Now to bolt Hen, the East Face, the Prow, the lot !!!}


EDIT:
Aha! I know what it was now! It was that Belgian dude. He was at the base of the route when I arrived on the last day, broken English, says, "Iz easy", gives thumbs up, and walks off. I thought he was just talking about soft Chorro grades, but he meant he'd chipped the crux out ;D

[Browne-Bear]

El Chorro - the land of limestone, cheap wine, pasta by the bucket load and very dubious singing. Whilst not a full trip report of what I got done over the course of 6 days, I have expanded a bit on particular highpoints.

Day One:
It was wet - very wet. Nothing more we could do except drink wine, play chess and talk a load of sh*te.

Day Two:
Sunny day! Conor, Prebble, Monkey king of babylon and myself headed to Poema de Roca Cave to sample the delights of some overhanging juggy climbing. Met Kevin at his van, who joined us later on.

Escorpion - 5+
Nice intro route for both me and Conor. Given that neither of us had climbed much all year for different reasons, we required a bit of a soft introduction.

Stonker - 6b
With Conor's enthusiasm we jumped on this - SPANKED! Slightly overhanging fingor locks and jamming is not smart if you have done very little climbing prior to it. Nice route though, but hard!

After that we decided to head to Escalon Arabe to "put in the mileage."

Sergio y Antonio - 6a
Yo y mi Resaca - 5+

Blade Runner - 6a+
Route of the day! Steep flake climbing very similar to Aoife at Fairhead. One route to come back and do again and again and again!

Day Three
Headed to Los Albercones with Tom and Kevin. Nice chilled day under the trees with some fantastic climbing.

Stanage Girls - 6a
La Chica Pelirroja - 6a+

Malditos Roedores - 6c+
First 6c+. Downclimbed four times from the crux because I had the sequence wrong. Manned up, got the sequence, slipped after the clip. Annoyed about not getting the onsight, but as Kilroy, Monkey king of babylon and Prebble kept saying all week - forget the onsight! Great fun after the crux though, pretty pumped after it.

Day Four:
Rain was at 100% chance (but only a chance!!), so we opted to stay at Las Enchantatas, which was just behind the hostel. Conor and myself decided to tick off as many of the routes there are possible!

Bolondro - 6a+
Nombro Prapio - 6a
Bohem Destrell - 6a+
Poum Poum Ram Ram - 6a

All great fun! Rain came in just after I decided to try a 6b Conor had just done. Took refuge in a nearby cave for 40 minutes. Had to retrieve Conors draws in the rain - was pretty impressed that I could climb a 6b as it pissed down! Went back to hostel and had tea - it dried up, so we went back up!

Program Genocida - 6b
Conor described this as "f*ckin' class" when he came down off it, so I jumped on it. He was wrong - it was "f*ckin unbelievable." Delicate but safe climbing all the way up to the crux at the top. Messed up my footing and took a fall. Got the crux on the second go. A great route!

Day Five:
Psyche was strangely low. Went to Poema de Roca Cave again and spent a fair bit of time belaying. Was a cold day. Did get one route done.

La Princesa Carol - 5+

Decided to head round the corner out of the wind to a nearby crag. Couldn't find anything I wanted to climb. Queue the following discussion with Michael;

Niall: "Michael, yes or no. Do you want to climb something?"
Michael: "Yes."
Niall: "Do you want to climb with me?"
Michael: "Yes."
Niall: "Fancy doing Valentines Day?"
Michael: "Isn't that a multipitch?"
Niall: "Aye, what's the worst that could happen?"
Michael: "Ok."

Valentines Day - 4+ 5+ 6a
Michael started the first pitch, but backed off stating he was going far to slow and that I should do the whole thing. Grand! Never climbed so quickly in all my life. Was a bit windy on the first two pitches, which was a bit nervy! Tom and Siobhan where just above us so we didn't do the 4th pitch. Whole thing was great craic! Abseiling by moonlight is fun, though requires a lot of concentration!

Day Six:
Last day of climbing - up at 7 and headed up to Escalon Arabe with Tom and Siobhan. Got seven routes done that day which was great fun.

Las Cosas de Lucas - 5+
Blanca - 6a
El Beso de la flaca - 5+
Blobby Right - 6a
Chocolate Orange - 6a+
Smooth - 6a+
Chilona 4 6a+ 6a

Overall - great trip!