The complete guide to climbing in Spain, Catalonia, Basque Country and Andorra
To Savassona from Sweden with love from Christer Holmlund on Vimeo.
A tale of two little boulderers in beautiful Catalunya
The Swedes visiting Savassona a some weeks ago now have compiled a video from their stay. Looks like they had great fun! Thanks for sharing guys!
Posted in Bouldering, Video.
– 2011-02-03
Strong man Urban Dufva hiking my project, Discordia. Photo: Pär Lindholm
Plenty of work, training and climbing has kept me from writing about how my little climbing-training-experiment is going. To sum it up – just great! My finger injury seem to finally have sorted itself out (knock on wood!) and I can now go almost at 100% indoors as well as outdoors. I took an extra week off from training and focused on climbing outdoors and I think it was a really good idea. Now back indoors twice a week and yesterday I think I felt stronger than ever before. I love my new diet of non-refined carbohydrates and more fat and protein, great energy levels all day. The other day I bought a new pair of running shoes and took them for a 17 km run, no problem at all. Weight-wise I’m still fairly stable around 85 kg but I think I might have added a little muscle lately as well. Should get one of those scales that measure body fat…
I did a little thinking about what variables that I had to play with and came up with the following:
* Climbing-specific training
* Complementary training (running, push-ups etcetera)
* Sleep
* Stretching
* Food
So, I figured I was doing fairly well/something about everything but stretching. Training in McPlaf with all these incredibly strong climbers and climbing with my friend Fredrik (who has very good climbing technique) have made me realize that I miss a lot of foot work for steeper walls. I’m really bad at getting my feet high, using my heel, high-stepping and pulling with my toes in pockets. So these lasts weeks I’ve spent a little time every day doing a few basic stretches as well as forcing myself to do new moves outside and inside. The result is of course bigger than I could have imagined! I’m still stiff as a refrigerator, as we say in Sweden, but I’m at least as flexible as most people. And stretching stays on my schedule.
To get something nice to train for I’ve found my first real climbing project! This is a project that I know I need to work on everything to be able to send. I need power, endurance, better foot technique, lower weight and a good day before being able to send Discordia in Agulla de Senglar. The route is fantastic! It starts really hard so you build a good pump. Then an easier section that you need to climb good before heading into some harder moves to reach a “rest” on the steepest part of the route. After that a couple of hard moves more before you do the final sprint to the anchor. At 25-30 meters this is one beast of a 7b.
The best thing? I can see the route from my house.
Since I’m trying to learn the redpoint-game I followed Fredriks advice and wrote down the moves of the route. So far I’ve only tried it 5-6 times on top-rope (yes, I know…) but next time I’ll get the quick draws up and start leading it. Want to see my sequence? Check out my Discordia – Tall Mans beta!
More to follow, probably in a month or so… Unless I happen to send my project that is.
Number of 7a or harder this year: 5 (out of 50)
Posted in Training.
– 2011-01-28
All photos Christer and John.
Some Swedish climbers took a cheap RyanAir-flight to Girona, rented a car and took the short drive up to Savassona. There they checked in to the super nice house of Can Janot and spent a week climbing and enjoying the great winter weather of Spain. I had left them 3 crashpads that they rented for the week. Here is their report (read it in Swedish here):
Back from Catalonia I can’t do much else than recommend a visit. The climbing was great, the food was cheap and good, the people where increadibly friendly and the house was fantastic!
Great to hear! I also saw that James Pearson visited Savassona. Read about it in his blog or if you know Spanish, the blog of Els Bous de la Salle. The 9a slab-aréte that James writes about is truly amazing. Anyone know if there exists a video of the ascent?
Posted in Bouldering, News.
– 2011-01-19
CRIMPER!!! from javipec on Vimeo.
Check out this cool bouldering video from the granite area of Castillo de Bayuela!
Carles de Diego Boguñá, a local boulderer, sent us the following information:
The place is Castillo de Bayuela in Toledo, close to Toledo city (60 Km) or 100 km west of Madrid. People from Madrid and Toledo are developing the area and there are more than 10 boulder problems of 8A and upper. With two already famous 8B+ sent by Nacho Sánchez past year 2010 (easy to find videos in internet)
In this video, from my friend Javi Pec you can see 14-15 boulder problems (I don’t remember exactly) from 7A ( a couple) to 8A (a couple too).
About topos, everything is hand made, we are trying, with the most active workers in the area, to perform some kind of guide. Maybe next week I will get topos of all the areas and I will try to scan.
With regard to lodging, there are many Casas Rurales in the village and the neighbour village in La Sierra de San Vicente, 3 villages: Castillo de Bayuela, el Real de San Vicente and Hinojosa de San Vicente, more than 8 areas (smalls and bigs).
My friends area planing to throw a guide but they don’t know yet how and when.
Interested in climbing there? Don’t hesitate contacting Carles (who speaks great English) through his blog Climbing with Dr. Sputnik.
– 2011-01-14
In preperation for the spring season we visited Margalef two days and talked to the lodging-owners that we work with down there. I’m really impressed with our lodging options there, now we truly can offer something for everyone!
If you’re a couple or a small group, we recommend you to stay either in the Margalef Hotel for only 30 € including breakfast and dinner. If you want a little better accommodation and ecological/locally produced food, Cal Trucafort is your option. At still only 40 €/person and night including breakfast and dinner this is a great option we truly can recommend.
If you’re travelling as a group and want the cheapest possible option, Casa Vieja is for you. This house is very basic so if you’re looking for something more comfortable with a big kitchen to cook in, comfortable beds and many rooms you should go for Cal Mateu. I stayed in this house last night and I must say I really like it!
All of these lodgings have space over easter but hurry up and request your bookings now, we get inquires every day!
Posted in News.
– 2011-01-13
Today is a big day for Climb in Spain! Together with mountain guide Lisi Roig and the owners of Cal Sant Miquel we have prepared two week long courses in the heart of Catalonia, Spain. The courses all include transfer, lodging and a guide that takes you to some of the best climbing areas of the world. Rest day activities will include vineyard visits, Barcelona-tours and if the weather is good and the sun strong can spend an afternoon the beach. The house is perfectly located right by Montserrat and its 5000 pitches of climbing. We can also easily do daytrips to the Lleida-area with all its climbing or the world famous areas in Prades (Margalef, Siurana, Montsant etcetera). Each group will only consist of a maximum of 7 people.
The week long course includes lodging, guide, all transport, great rest day activities and of course learning to climb in the best place to climb in the world!
Do you want more information? Please contact us.
– 2011-01-10
Pete O’Donovan, the author of the guidebook Lleida Climbs, has just started a blog for the Lleida-area. There he and Albert Cortés will update us on new sectors, hard sends and and general information about climbing around Lleida. It is great to see a new blog in English for this great climbing area!
So, check out the blog Lleida Climbs and make sure you start planning your visit to northern Spain!
Posted in News.
– 2011-01-10
Me on a 7a in Malpas de Trevil. Photo: Fredrik Nyberg
So, after a quick paus the training posts are back! Visiting Sweden was great, coming back home to Catalonia was great, and climbing has been really good over Christmas. Plenty of work to finish for our little company but now I will really try to relax a little and climb and hopefully ski as well. I’ve been down to the gym a few times but finger pain has truly limited the quality training. Luckily David and his brother now has finished the lead wall and we can now all get truly pumped on some really steep routes. 6a+ of 30 degrees overhang? Phu.
Well, for the next couple of weeks and until the finger is really good I will climb a little inside but really be careful. Instead I’ll try to enjoy the higher energy/lower weight my new LCHF-food has provided me with and the super high climbing psyche I have now and clean up some of the projects I’ve gathered the last year. It has started great, 7a from last year in Malpas de Trevil done, 7a+ tried and sent in two sessions (first real 7a+!), and today a great 7a here in Montserrat, on the left wall of Agulla de Senglar. Both the 7a+ of yesterday and the 7a of today where just amazing stamina routes where it was all about keeping the pump under control and keeping on climbing. There is no way I would have done any of these three routes without the training and the change of diet.
During the spring my friends Elin and Fredrik will stay here in Catalonia. It will be great with another couple of really psyched climbers, ready to go climbing most of the days! They had their first day here in Montserrat today and Fredrik went straight for the very good looking I Somni Diabólic on the great sector of Agulla del Senglar. I really hope he gets to send it during the spring, hopefully I’ll get him to write about this and the other routes he tries around northern Spain. And post photos as well. What do you say Fredrik?
OK, here are, ta-da, my
Goals of 2011
What are YOUR goals for 2011?
Posted in Training.
– 2011-01-02
Sunset in Montgrony
Yepp, these last couple of weeks have been more focused on finishing up work, receiving the last groups of clients for the year and a lot of meetings for everything we want to do with Active Spain next year. Kept on training and kept on climbing but without a lot to tell about. The finger still hurts quite a lot on and off but it is defenetly going in the right direction. Writing this from my native Sweden where I just landed, waiting for the connecting flight that will bring me even further north, I assume that next week will be limited to maybe one or maximum two sessions. Otherwise I’ll be looking for frosen ice instead, frosen ice on the sea that is! And family and friends of course.
Two things related to this training experiment might be worth mentioning. The lead wall at McPlaf is now opened! Really fun to lead on a 30 degree overhanging wall but oh so freakin’ hard. When I clipped the anchors of a “6b+” it really felt like a proud send, in my world it was quite the same as Bis-a-bis (7a) in Rodellar. Well, I guess it’s good to start learning leading on steep as well as bouldering
The other thing is that since 2½ week I’m eating way differently than I’ve done previously in my life. One of my goals the winter was to establish a new “base” weight for me, for injury and health and of course climbing performance. After some reasearch and reading up I decided to eat way less carbs and a lot more fat of all kinds. Butter, cream and cheese is now ever present in my meels. I also eat a little more protein but the most important is that I’m not eating ANY kind of processed carbs. No pasta, no bread, no beer and of course no sugar. Result? Wow, increadible, I had in my wildest dreams never thought the difference would be this big. No blood sugar dips, no crazy sugar cravings, steady energy all day. And weight? 2 kg less in 2 weeks and actually 4 kg les than what I weighed in at the highest in September. So all of a sudden I think I really will reach my goal weight and after that be able to go lighter when I need to. Thank you Micke for pointing me in the right direction! For you that can read Swedish, you can check out Kostdoktorn.se for more information. I’ll be happy to answer questions about what I’m eating if you’re interested, just post a comment or send me a mail.
***
Now back in beautiful Cataluia. The sun is shining and yesterday we could go climbing up in Montgrony. Shorts and t-shirt all day, fantastic! Especially given the amount of snow in the mountains right now. Besides this, finger is a little better and psyche is high to get back to training.
Do you want to climb in Montgrony? Staying at the hotel is a great experience! And remember that Carhire 3000 normally finds you the best rental deals.
Posted in Training.
– 2010-12-12
Strange week of hurting finger and finally really good days of rock. Feeling stronger and more energetic, good stuff! Again the amount of quality sleep I get and stress level really have clear effect. A lot of work this week but managed to keep stress under control. Actually miss the feeling of being destroyed by training, will be fun to have some harder days in the gym again. (Remind me of this when I complain next time…)
Tuesday – Was supposed to do 5 boulders but my finger hurt too much so I could only do (almost) 3 boulders. Then went home. Angry and worried.
Thursday – Taped my hurting finger so I couldn’t bend it. Then did 2x3x6B1/2/4 followed by 4x40RL. Felt really well! According to plan we are now having a low volume period to be in shape until mid December. Sounds good, just hope my finger gets good until then!
Saturday – Margalef for the day. Headed to a new sector and got the draws up on a cool 7a. Finger felt good and I hiked the route first go. Such a difference psychologically to KNOW that with a jug I will be able to spend 5 minutes shaking and then be fresh. On this route it was exactly like this. Hard vertical start, then up to the steeper, juggy upper part. Stood 5 minutes shaking and then just hiked to the top. Great feeling! And even better: could belay my friends Aleix sending the same route for his first 7a! CONGRATULATIONS! Many more to come for sure. Then tried another 7a in the same sector. Wow, those where long runouts… Very good climbing but unfortunatly also with some parts of bad rock. Might go back for the route next year after it has seen some more traffic.
Saturday – Roc de Lluna up by Berga. Amazing sector, increadibly cool rock and routes. And I’ve never heard about it before! Oh, I love living here in Catalunya. Did 5 routes on kind of a endurance day. Basically only pockets, something I’ve never been able to climb before. On-sighted a 6c that I think was about the same dificulty of the 7a yesterday. Well well, you climb the route and not the grade, no? Finger felt really good but still did every move with my right hand very carefull. A little more training and it’s time for Montsant!
Posted in Training.
– 2010-11-16
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