Albert Cortes
Paco Rey repeating his own route, Radical Lliure, in Montrebei. Montrebei is the mecca for hard traditional climbing in Spain. The grade of Radical Lliure is 7b R. An interview with Paco is coming soon.
really, the hardest?? I wasn´t sure, so i asked a friend, here is some of his comments, i hope he doesn´t mind my posting it…:
“RADICAL I LLIURE is a hard route…but it is “only” 7b…it follows a line that was prebolted and after destroyed by local talibans due to it parasiting some older lines.
Piju and Pastes made a FA of a new line, without so much bolts and more “ethical”…
There is SPARTANS (7a+/a3 no bolts) or CoR SALVATGE ( 7b/+ no bolts). The KIKE route free ascent has the crux pitch at 7b+…
There is MIEDO A VOLAR, with the crux pitch of 7c/c+ along 40 mts with only 4 bolts and no possibilities of autoprotection…I think this is actually the hardest one free ascended…but there is also lots of routes without free ascent… they are there…”
Thanks! Yes, I didn’t do much background checking before posting this, I just based it on what Paco said. I think he has done them all. Piju and Paco did the FA, then Paco went back to repeat it with Pastes. There route has been repeated by others too, among them a very good French climber. Well, we can ask Paco one day, he is a very nice guy!
Hi Julia! Radical Lliure was famous because it “reopened” Escanyapobres, according to the local unwritten law, from the bottom using the less expansions the better. I red in Piju’s blog they used one progression bolt in pitch 4, and one bolt in the anchors 4th and 5th. All the other bolts where removed.
As far as I know (talking to friends, reading forums, etc…), because I’ve never climbed in Montrebei, routes Spartans, Cor Salvatge, Miedo a Volar, where opened mixing aid and free climbing (the 7c+ pitch of Miedo a Volar, according to the topo, is 7b/A1). So I think is at least one of the hardest and deserves to have this consideration because it was opened all in free.
Anyway, I’m sure I will not go climbing this hard routes, I’ll be satisfied if someday I feel brave enough to go and climb Diedre Gris, Delfos, CADE, etc… and not shit in my pants. Montrebei scares me!
See you!
Of course, it’s not
For example MIEDO A VOLAR is much harder, anyway many hidden and unfamous routes are harder than this one! Whatever…
Viva la mecca
Julien, thanks for your comment! I have no experience myself from climbing in Montrebei. If you want to write a post about one of your favourite routes, please do!