Monday 2 May 2011

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Well, we're back in the UK. The time has come to sell the van. If you're interested in buying it then send me an email or a facebook.

Small enough to park, big enough to live in!

Santa Gadea was really fun. The temperatures stayed hot which meant climbing hard was limited to the early morning or late evening. In the end I didn't do anything worth noting. I kept trying Yogano over and over but despite continually having my hand on the jug I just couldn't keep hold of it. Perhaps I should have left it and tried other things? It's incredibly hard to leave something you could do on any go though, and I think it is the best line in the area. I did do a lot of other cool problems but nothing that hard. I came close to Killer Eyes - the 8a at Resconorio but fitness, skin and heat were all against me and I couldn't close the deal on that one either. I did brush a project but didn't do that either. No doubt that scoundrel Richie Patterson will get it done while I'm away!

Lots left to go on this wall. Richie eyes up his next target...

The tone of this blog might sound a bit depressing but it's not meant to. I genuinely enjoyed ticking a lot of slightly easier blocs in a stunning location with no crowds or polished holds with nice people -oh my god I'm turning into a climbing hippie- Or perhaps I might have had I not returned to font

We got to Font in the middle of the Easter holidays in sweltering heat. Awful conditions for climbing. Though Adam Watson did manage a repeat of Elephunk, top effort young lad! Anyway we met up with my parents and decided to just embrace it and do some circuits. Circuits were fun for a while and then I decided to try some harder things and ticked some 7a's which I'd never done before but didn't really have the motivation or the means to try harder stuff once the sun had set. More than anything the general atmosphere of the place was more like a Eurocamp holiday club and I didn't like it. Quite a culture shock from the past couple of weeks.

Quite the family affair, we exchanged my parents for Rosie's sister Katie, who wasn't really interested in spending the whole time climbing so we adjusted our usual regime to show her the sights and sounds of Fontainebleau. At the same time Disco Dave Yarwood arrived ready for a slightly different tour of the forest (involving more boulders). Together we climbed a fair bit but on the whole it was just too hot. Dave did supply us with some lovely Mammut treats for which we are very grateful, thank you Dave!



Dave under and on Egoiste, Apremont.

To summarise, I'm a cold weather climber. I'm a sweaty bastard at the best of times. No hard problems were sent towards the end of my trip which is a bit of a waste of a golden opportunity, however, I did have fun watching my skin disappear in the heat falling off 6b's.

I should have gone to Magic Woods but the tale Spanish weasels scared me off.

Time to train. Time to work. Roll on an early cold Autumn.


See ya'round yeh!