Wednesday 5 May 2010

El Chorro - Day 2 - Escalera Arabe

Well after a fairly heavy first night - Playing pool , Drinking fine wine, Meeting new people and chilling with Gary at the Olive Branch (Canadian James your a star man - Never seen someone that wrecked after only a bit of wine - You better get in practice before you come to Wales and hit the Slate) then it was bed time - sorting gear for the next day and sleep(which was great very quiet not a hostel full of noisy people).

Chilling playing pool


Up at a decent time (8am) , some coffee and breakfast then we decided to hit the crags. Todays destination was Escalera Arabe - a forty minute walk to the crag not far from the Olive Branch. The walk in was very nice fantastic views of the surrounding crags and not to steep - it was a road basically !!! - We had some difficulty finding the path of the road but that was soon overcome.

Picture of Frontales - Poema de Roca from walk in


Well we started climbing in Arabe - Sector Sergio with Chris leading in his Wild Country Elite Ultralite Ziplock and using DMM Shadow Q/D and Wild Country Wild Wire QD, and I was wearing a DMM Renegade ZipLock Harness (Medium - I did by a large a month ago but now its too big so they boys at DMM lent me a medium) very comfy.

The first three routes were :-
1)The Left Way (4+)
2)The Middle Way (4+)
3)La raya a la izquierda (4)

Chris enjoyed using the Shadows and prefers using solid gates to wire gates for Sports Climbing.

I found these 3 routes ok but not particularly good climbing. Chris then went on to lead 'Yo y mi resaca' (5+) which was a 30m Steep pumpy route - classic limestone - I found the second really hard but for me it was definitely the best route of the day even though it knackered me.

After that we chilled had a bit of lunch and then went on to Sector Suiza where Chris lead two further routes these being :-
1)Cafe (5+)
2)Con Leche (5+)

I was knackered by this time and had a bit od disco leg on 'Cafe' but got up it and failed to top out on 'Con Leche' but got to the last draw so not bad for the first day. The last two routes were no way as hard as the third and that was the best. So we packed up and returned to the Olive Branch for some chilling and pool action. Not bad 6 routes today all lead by the man Chris so an earlier start tomorrow and more clipping action - GET IN.

Stay tuned and lets see what happens tomorrow.

Picture for the Sponsers (DMM) hehehe

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