Six weeks bouldering time in the sandstone awesomeness that is Albarracin, Spain, gave us a seemingly endless amount of time to find, establish and send boulder projects. Naturally, it flew by and we left without having climbed everything that we wanted to, and without even having visited all of the areas. Many of the best days we had were those that we spent climbing any boulder that we saw, regardless of the grade, but working and climbing the routes that were harder for us was also pretty special. Some of these took a lot of work, and others breezed by, but nearly all of them felt like quality routes.
It took us a while (me, especially) to get going as it was just so bitterly cold at the beginning of our stay there. We weren't prepared for the cold, and I think we expected the grades to feel a little easier. Some of the lower grades felt more straight forward to climb than their equivalent in Fontainebleau, but often a bit physically stronger too. The harder grades felt pretty much on the money for the most part, especially when supplementing the NoRop.es guidebook, nicely done but now slightly out of date, with the more current grades on their website.
As the weather warmed up slightly, so did our climbing, and we fell into an easy routine of climbing whenever skin, weather and energy allowed. We would try to get in some stetching and crosstraining when it didn't - although living in a van during cold, wet windy weather can make it difficult to muster up enthusiasm for this, it also makes these extra efforts all the more important to avoid getting all scrunched up. Our existence during this time was pretty monotonous although fun, being slaves to good conditions and needing some routine to pass the time. Sleep, eat, climb, stretch, eat, shower (1 out of 7 days?), eat, sleep, eat, rest, eat, eat, eat, sleep, eat, rest, eat, eat, eat... etc. We definitely got some funny looks during hangboard sessions in the car park.
Because Albarracin isn't huge, and we weren't straying too far from the beaten track, we rarely climbed by ourselves and met and spent time with so many lovely, passionate people amongst the boulders, so many thanks to everyone for spotting, beta, Spanish lessons, and especially the company.
Sam mashed together this video of our time in Albarracin, which hopefully captures some of the fun we had climbing in this beautiful area, and shows a few of our favourite problems (or the ones we remembered to film)...
It took us a while (me, especially) to get going as it was just so bitterly cold at the beginning of our stay there. We weren't prepared for the cold, and I think we expected the grades to feel a little easier. Some of the lower grades felt more straight forward to climb than their equivalent in Fontainebleau, but often a bit physically stronger too. The harder grades felt pretty much on the money for the most part, especially when supplementing the NoRop.es guidebook, nicely done but now slightly out of date, with the more current grades on their website.
As the weather warmed up slightly, so did our climbing, and we fell into an easy routine of climbing whenever skin, weather and energy allowed. We would try to get in some stetching and crosstraining when it didn't - although living in a van during cold, wet windy weather can make it difficult to muster up enthusiasm for this, it also makes these extra efforts all the more important to avoid getting all scrunched up. Our existence during this time was pretty monotonous although fun, being slaves to good conditions and needing some routine to pass the time. Sleep, eat, climb, stretch, eat, shower (1 out of 7 days?), eat, sleep, eat, rest, eat, eat, eat, sleep, eat, rest, eat, eat, eat... etc. We definitely got some funny looks during hangboard sessions in the car park.
Because Albarracin isn't huge, and we weren't straying too far from the beaten track, we rarely climbed by ourselves and met and spent time with so many lovely, passionate people amongst the boulders, so many thanks to everyone for spotting, beta, Spanish lessons, and especially the company.
Sam mashed together this video of our time in Albarracin, which hopefully captures some of the fun we had climbing in this beautiful area, and shows a few of our favourite problems (or the ones we remembered to film)...
In going to Albarracin, we shared a goal in exploring a new climbing place and enjoying some warm weather and good climbing conditions for the January/February lull. In the former we were successful, and the latter, mostly successful. The snow load and chilly nights was a little surprising, but the warm days made up for it.
We also had some personal, climbing goals. Sam pretty much just wanted to climb Cosmos, which he did and very nicely too. I wanted to climb a solid 7b, and was blown away to climb two in one day, as well as a few other 'slash' 7b's. So, in all, success. Albarracin was ace, and we're already excited to go back. Just to round off, the list of what we got...
Disclaimer: We climbed loads of nice boulders across the grades, but as yuj, this elitist bull is just the hardest stuff we did...
We also had some personal, climbing goals. Sam pretty much just wanted to climb Cosmos, which he did and very nicely too. I wanted to climb a solid 7b, and was blown away to climb two in one day, as well as a few other 'slash' 7b's. So, in all, success. Albarracin was ace, and we're already excited to go back. Just to round off, the list of what we got...
Disclaimer: We climbed loads of nice boulders across the grades, but as yuj, this elitist bull is just the hardest stuff we did...
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| Sam Highway to Heaven (7c), Cabrerizo Aeroline (7b/+), Parking PAR-B19-L3 (7c+), Parking The Wire (7c), Parking Zarzamora (sit) (7c/+), Parking Rockman (7b), Parking El Phomega (7b+), Techos Supernafamacho (7b/+), Techos Cosmos (8a), Techos Orion (8a), Techos Dizdira (7c), Techos Trave de Techos (7b/+), Techos Eclipse flash (7b), Techos Rudeman (7b/+), Techos Rammstein (7b), Arrastradero El Orejas de las Regletas (8a/7c+), Arrastradero La Fuente (7c/7b+), La Fuente Cangriburguer (7b+), La Fuente El Plus del Autobús (sit) (7b), La Fuente Dr. Zoiberg (7b), La Fuente | Amber Techo don Pepo (7a/+), Cabriezo Travesia de Don Pepo (6c+/7a), Cabriezo PAR-B17-L9 (7a), Parking Zarzamora (6c+), Parking La Letrina (direct) (6c), Parking Empotration (7a), Parking Tiro al Bidedo (7a/+), Techos TEC-B12-L1 (7a), Techos Eclipse (7b), Techos Helicopters on Ankles (6c), Techos TEC-B17-L2 (7a), Techos Chilam Balam flash (6c), Techos Zig-Zag (7a), Arrastradero Spider Pig (6c), Arrastradero Megamantel (7a), Arrastradero ARR-B85-L2 (7a+/b), Arrastradero El Reloj de Arena (7a), Arrastradero El Plus del Autobús (sit) (7b), La Fuente Por la Boca Muere el Pez flash (7a), La Fuente Los Cachos no Suben (7a+), La Fuente |
¡Muchos gracias, España! Until next time.
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