El Chorro - Day 3 -Frontales - Solarium and Sector Austria

Well again after a heavy night - including the arrival of the third person(Kitch), representing the Spanish and New Zealand members of the team, we went to a new area Frontales - Solarium and Sector Austria to climb was fun.

First night helping Gary take down the concrete beams for the pool decking :-


The decking the next day :-


Me enjoying the pool yesterday:-


We got up early about 7am and then left for about 8.30 after managing to awake Kitch !!!!

We walked to Sector Austria first about 30 minutes on nice paths from the Olive Branch and Chris led 'Frinkastinker (4)' which was ok but I was tired from the night before and felt the climbing poor, next on the list was originally the two pitch 'Nitti(5+,5+)' that turned into a 6 pitch 5+,5+,6a,5+,5+,6a route which was nice, Chris and Kitty took it in alternating leads, and as usual I ended up seconding which was cool.

Me belaying :-


I failed to do the last pitch but we all ab'd off and had some lunch, the plan next was to go to The Solarium to do 2 more 5+'s, Our route finding was not so good and Chris ended up attempting a 6a+ instead and ended up retreating, we then decided to do a route called 'Edelweiss (4)' which Kitty lead and Chris Seconded, at this point Martin turned up from the Olive Branch - the local climber - and led the 6a which Chris then seconded easily (The route was bolted badly - and I reckon we will go back so Chris can lead clean)

Martin then went on to lead a few more 6b's and then we called it a day and came back to the Branch to chill.

A good day climbing but I lost my head - looking back nice harder climbing that yesterday for me but did not enjoy it at the time - the others did and the weather was ace so all in all a good day.

Martin Climbing :-


Who knows what tomorrow will bring our fourth member Mirela turns up tomorrow from Granada representing Poland and Spain so more climbing fun to be had so stay tuned.

Time for a beer and some serious chilling
Love & light
Namaste
Stefano :)

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