Chris Climbing

This weekend we paid homage to " the Holy Land " of Albarracin. The Bouldering mecca of Spain, situated near Teruel in Aragon, just 2hrs drive from Valencia. What a change this place has seen in such a short time, to be fair it was a holiday weekend so naturally more people than normal but even so all the car parks were rammed to capacity and every sector full of people. The sensitivity of this nature reserve is ever more prominent, the great works of http://escaladasosteniblealbarracin.blogspot.com/ and their recent clean up operations at the end of last season have helped ensure further closures are prevented. The current guidelines for anyone thinking of going are detailed here: http://www.boulderalbarracin.com/ALBARRACIN_BOULDERING_NEW_RULES_29_10_2010.pdf These guidelines are all fair and based on responsible behaviour, respect and agreements with the land owners. It was sad to see in the space of a few hours I'd witnessed nearly all these been broken by

The Summer is over, temperatures are great, skies are Blue & the rock is dry. Hardest part of the day is deciding where to climb! And which projects to get on.... Blasco starting up "Momo" Man Flu hit me today, so feeling weak and feeble I ventured a full 3 minute drive to L'ocaive and surprised myself by doing an old 7b there called "Momo" which had shut me down several times in the past. Blasco lowering off "Momo" 7b, L'Ocaive . Great to see Miguel climbing today - I'm truly inspired by his recent progression. Not so long ago he was projecting 6c, today I arrived to see him comfortably working on the 7c/7c+ variation of the popular 8a at L'Ocaive - just a matter of time till he sends it....   Miguel on the 7c/7c+ variation So next up, to hunt out a worthy Big Wall Project, something that's not been freed, but realistic for this year! Fitness is slowly coming back and with wiser training this season I'

Let's go cragging, oh it's raining.... Whilst the UK was enjoying the "Summer part 2", we had some end of summer thunderstorms... So where to go? Criteria: steep, dry in the rain, new and not too far. Result =  Gaz Parry 's Crag X - somewhere in the Costa Blanca ;) Gaz has done a fantastic job in opening this new & "futuristic" crag with over 20 routes mostly high 7's up to uber projects. Sergi approaching the crux sequence on "Luz del Sol" (hard) 7c. In Spanish a climbing area/sector is often referred to as an "escuela", literally a school of climbing. The phrase of the day that repeatedly echoed around the crag was "no es una escuela, es una universidad" This is no climbing school, it's an university!  Roy starting up another 7c (7a up to the hard bit) This place certainly fit the bill for the day, even if we all went home with an arse kickin... Topos are likely be released later this yea

With the season under way I've decided to start a blog to record my climbing adventures, travels, progression & philosophy. Last season was hampered with recovering from injury (torn ligament in my elbow) and a highly dangerous virus called "Weekly Overload Recreational Killer" (WORK) Today we were back in my local crag L'ocaive with Nacho (above) enjoying "cooler" temps and eyeing up some short term projects to get us back on form. Let the games begin ;)