Gorge du Tarn - Ben West

I'm a little behind with the whole blogging thing. So trying to play catch now. 

Summer (if that's what you'd call it). Come the end of August, Heath and I got so fed up of the lousy weather we headed to France in search of some sun, vitamin D and dry rock. After hearing that the Gorge du Tarn had undergone a major re-equipping project and a new guide-book that had just been released, we thought this would be an ideal venue. Situated in the South of France the Tarn host metres and metres of immaculate rock and a beautiful river that cuts its way down through the gorge; we arrived late Saturday evening only to see the dark towering shadows of the gorge. After a good nights sleep we checked into the campsite, picked up a guide and headed out to see what those giant shadows had to offer.

The first few days were spent gaining a bit of mileage and seeking out shade. This took us to a couple of shorter north/east facing crags of the gorge; even in the shade, you would come down from a route dripping with sweat. The 2nd was a good onsight day, I managed  a F7a+,7b,7b+,7c+. T'a Pas Un Nom was the F7a+ and was a great route, good gymnastic moves on pockets. We had a slightly easier day on Tuesday, well in terms of number of routes anyway. After warming up on this really short 7a+ (Microcome consanguin) I managed to tick this sweet little F8a Maree Basse 2nd go.

I woke the next day with the psyche. We got up early and headed to Tennessee, as it faces south we didn't have long before the sun came around. I grabbed the guidebook, scanned the page, 50m F6c, perfect warm up. Before Heath had chance to put her harness on, I was all ready racked up and clipping the first bolt. The first part of the route was a F6a slab; I reached the ledge of which that route finished and eyed up the next section. It looked pretty thin, well I guess this will be the F6c bit I thought to myself. I started up the thin wall clipping two bolts as i went, before i knew it it had started to get a bit steeper and the holds got worse. I down climbed back to the ledge to have a bit of a talking to myself, after that I tried again but went for it this time. This time i got quite far above the bolt, popped for what I thought was a hold, "obviously mistaken" and I was off; falling through a large bush and hitting the ledge. Kinda unexpected for both Heath and I. Fortunately I was fine. I dusted myself down in a some what confused state and shouted down to Heath if she could check the guide-book; apparently I was on the right route. I felt pretty warmed up and I definitely was going back up there, so i cut my losses and lowered of the F6a L/O. When I got down I checked the guide again. In my rush to get started I only saw 50m F6c, when it actually said 50m F6c / Ao, which means "with points of aid". Note to self, "to avoid hitting ledges, read guide-book properly". After Heath had done the F6a I was ready to get on, what I had come here to do. A route called "Les ailes du désir". A 50m F8a, it was the front cover shot of the new guide and looked amazing.

Go Big or Go Home!

As you can imagine, due to my first route not going to plan, I started this route a little apprehensive. The line goes up the wall just right of the corner to the hole, from there it breaks right through the dark orange rock and up to around the middle of the crack and the first lower off. Up to here it gets F7b+. By this point i was feeling good, slightly pumped but had relaxed after the initial shaky start. From there you head right and boot it straight up the head wall to the top. After some sustained climbing and a tricky undercut move I arrived at a rest just below the top slab. At this point I was quite pumped. I spent a while here trying to get something back, from here I could see the chalk disappearing up the leftwards slab but I couldn't see any bolts. I got my shit together and went for it. It wasn't until I had pulled 5 or 6 moves from the rest that I realised I was going all the way with no more gear. A couple of deep breaths and I pushed on to the top. What a route! And the 25-30ft run out at the top made it!

The Gorge Isn't just known for it's climbing, It's very popular for its kayaking as well. On a rest day Heath and I decided to hire a kayak for the day. We were told the upper part of the river is quite slow but really beautiful and the lower part of the river was fast and had lots of rapids. Obviously I was all game for the fast section and Heath wanted the slower, prettier paddle. We compromised on a 20k day trip that did half the slow section and half the fast section.  As you can imagine two people, two dogs and a barrel with all our stuff in was quite a squeeze and probably hilarious to watch. That a side we set off and were on our way. The top section was very slow and very pretty, we stopped off on a little beach for a sandwich and a mooch around. After a couple of hours we reached the end of the slow bit. We had to get out here as there was a section of water you couldn't pass by boat ahead. Once we were back in the boat things started to speed up quite rapidly. With a slightly hesitant Heath we negotiated the first shoot/ rapids  without capsizing. The couple behind us weren't so successful. Once we had gone through a couple of sets  of rapids we started getting the hang of it and Heath started to relax. Until an hour or so later when it had been going so well, we became stuck. A big set of rapids caught us out, they had a tight left hander straight into a sharp right hand. We made the left but I couldn't get it round in time to make the right. Instead we went head on with a large boulder and then sure enough capsized. Baxter disappeared underwater while I had Archie trying to climb on top of me. It was a funny state of affairs. This was obviously the trickiest part of the river as there was a photographer capturing the whole seen.  I bet she wet her self with laughter. We made it to a bank where we emptied the water out of the boat and waited for Baxter to swim back across. That was the last set of big rapids, the last half hour was quite pleasant, which was lucky as I think Heather had had enough by that point. Once we were out we got picked up and headed in to the village where we could buy one of the photo's that the photographer took of us.

All in all The Tarn was a great venue, not just for it's climbing it was an awesome place just to hang out. Whilst we were out there I got an email inviting me back on the British Bouldering Team for 2012/2013. After a 5/6 year break I felt it was time to get back on it. So I accepted, bring on the start of a new adventure I say.

Thanks to Rick and all the guys at Beyond Hope for the continuing support over the last 2 years.

2012 - Round up, so far

Il be honest, I've been pretty slack on the blog case recently. So this one is going to be a bit of a general round up of the last few months. As per usual Jan and Feb were pretty quiet on the "cragging" front. Apart from a couple of excursions to probably one of the best quarried limestone walls I've been to in the UK.

March saw a bit more activity starting with a good quality day down on the Gower. I met up with Simon Rawlinson and Rob Lamy who gave me the tour of Minchen Hole and Bowen's Parlour. Minchen Hole doesn't sound or even look very nice, but has two quality F7a's. One called The Raven and the other Jump the Sun. After ticking off a few routes there, we moved on to Bowen's Parlour where Simon had put a a F7c called Pegasus, which I managed to onsight.

March also marked my return on to the competition scene, The CWIF (Climbing Works international Festival) is one of the biggest competitions we have now in the UK. With the UK's best route setters coming together at one of the best bouldering walls in the country, it's no wonder The CWIF has built up such a reputation. To top it off the french super star Jacky Godoffe was part of the route setting team. The CWIF is talked about as being a really tough comp, with 330 competitors battling it out over 30 qualifying problems all trying to make the cut. The top 20 male and female go through to the semi's and the strongest 6 out of that go through to the final. As I haven't competed for a number of years I went in to it with an open mind and with no real pressure. As there are so many competitors, qualifying was split into two sessions - we had gone for the morning session. You have 3 hours for qualifying, at first this seems like loads of time but come the end of it I was running around like a headless chicken.

Team name

I felt pretty strong and by the end of the morning session I was sitting in 7th place. I was happy with the way I had climbed and even more psyched that I had a chance of going through to the semi's. It was now time to play the waiting game and hope there wasn't too many strong people in the afternoon session. Fortunately for me there wasn't and I scraped through in 17th place. Woop, Woooop! The semi's and finals were the following day so an early night was on the cards. The next morning I woke up feeling pretty sore, it's been a long time since I had felt like that. We were staying in The Works car park in the van so we didn't have to go far for coffee in the morning. The semi's didn't start until 12pm so we had a chilled morning hanging out in the sun getting to know a Font climbing legend (Jacky Godoffe). The closer it got to noon the more nerves started to build up. The comp format was 4 problems, 5 minutes on each and 5 minutes off, with the competitors in isolation. It was a strange feeling being back in isolation, I was super psyched but at the same time slightly nervous as I hadn't been in isolation for quite some time. As I qualified in 17th it wasn't long before I was out. As soon as my name was called everything changed, I remembered how it felt to compete again. It was like auto-pilot took over. The first problem was on a slab, you had to step on with no hand holds and jump to a volume which you then had to mantle. I got the jump 1st time but the mantle was a total different ball game. I got really close on my 3rd go but my foot popped as I was trying to stand up.

Problem 1

After having one more go and not making the mantle I decided to save my energy for the other 3 problems. The next two problems were pretty spicy, I only managed to get the bonus point after a couple of tries on each of them. It was all down to the 4th which was a crazy bat hang to start. Unfortunately I made it to the penultimate hold but didn't have the beans to finish it. It turned out you only had to do one problem to make the final, so close! My 4 bonus point finished me up in 8th place overall. I was still really happy with that, a good weekend was had by all.

Problem 4

A few more weeks of work then lead to a weekend down at Swanage. The first day was spent at Hedbury quarry which tuned out to climb a lot better than it looked. The two routes that stood out for me were, Cinderella's Big Score F7c, which I managed to onsight and Sexy Beast F7a which was the last route of the day and a full on battle. The following day was spent at Winspit quarry, which was a great mileage day, climbing a total of 15 routes over the weekend.
The next few weeks were spent gearing up towards our two week trip to Kalymnos, but unfortunately things don't always go to plan. The week before we were due to fly out we got a call to say that Heath's mum had been taken in to hospital so we headed up to Scotland. Sadly she passed away a couple of days later. We spent the next week up in Scotland. After the funeral Heath obviously wasn't so keen on going back to work and as we still had a weeks worth of accommodation we headed out to Kalymnos for the 2nd week of our trip.
All the training, preparation and psyche had just gone out the window with the sad news of the last couple of weeks. So we started the trip with no expectations or goals, I guess the only goal we had was to have a good time. The first few days were spent in true Kalymnos style, early starts, swinging about on tufa's until just after lunch and then down to the bar for a Mythos and a swim in the sea. Kalymnos is great for building up fitness with it's super long, steep routes. We had bought an 80m rope before we had come out so I wanted to put it use searching out a few classic 40m F7's. On the Friday we headed to a new crag called Secret Garden. This is a newly developed north facing crag, something the island doesn't have much of. The wall isn't quite as steep as the Grande Grotta but it's still dripping with tufa's. After warming up on a couple of low F7's, Dave had put the draws in an F8a called Syrtaki Lesson. It was a bit of a different style to most of the routes I had done on the island as it was a bit shorter and had quite a bouldery crux. Gav stepped up and managed to flash it in style and I closely followed also getting the flash.

Heath enjoying the water of Rina Beach

After an easy day on Saturday we headed to Sikati Cave the following day. When they talk about it being a giant hole in the ground they weren't lying, it literally is a GIANT HOLE in the ground. As we had climbed pretty much every day I was starting to feel pretty fit again. It's amazing how fast endurance comes and goes. There was one route I had my eye on for the day, Super Lolita a 45m F8a. Ater warming up on Mort Aux Chevres an awesome F7b and a bit of a rest it was time. Super Lolita is the extension to Lolita F7a, If F7a was you limit then Lolita would definitely be a challenge. It had a stiff bouldery start and was pretty run out in places. After the 1st Lower off the extension could be broken into 3 sections with good rests in between. After making it through the first two sections ok I found myself sitting in this little cave feeling pretty pumped. The next section pulled out of the cave and onto a slab, I heard that this is where everyone drops it. I rested in the cave for a while and really didn't want to leave it. When I did I pulled the lip and rocked onto the slab. Actually it wasn't that bad, but I did find myself fighting up to the chains, not because the climbing was hard, but because the rope drag was immense.

Overall it was a good trip, due to unforeseen circumstances it didn't quite go to plan but what can you do. Life is a bit of a rollercoaster you never know what it's going to throw at you.
My hat goes to off to my beautiful wife Heath, and her family for being so strong in these difficult times.

By Ben West

It Never Rains...It Pours By Jen Wilby

It Never Rains...It Pours

Firstly I'd like to apologise for my poor spelling on the previous blogs. I'd like to blame it on the fact that after 3 months in Spain, my brain has forgotten Englosh and is now 100% Spanish. However that would be a lie. Also - there are a lack of photos due to poor internet connections! Photos will be uploaded once I get some speed.

So far the road trip has taken us to the following places:

Rodellar

El Cogul

Barcelona

Santa Linya

Terradets

Siurana

Margalef

Tarterau

Tres Ponts

Andorra

St Llorenc de Montgai

Also De Balaguer

Fotbulin

After leaving Margalef with screaming tendons, it was time to do some mileage at Tarterau near Lleida. It is a great little crag, with blind climbing. Which suits me as I don't know whats comming next so I can't get freaked out :)

The 2 stand out routes for me were Anima Negra and Anima Blanca. I had tried Anima Negra last year, however the crux move is my nightmare! Its off a huge rounded ball, with your feet beneath you. My poor little hands don't seem to get any contact strength on rounded holds, no matter how large they are! With brut force and ignorance it went - very enjoyable route.

We decided to check out Tres Ponts which is near Oliana. We very nearly didnt make it due to a fantastic food market being held in nearby Organya. Within minutes I had lost my climbing partner in the sea of stalls and people. I figured I had better join in the free tasting bonanza! A few euros lighter and a few pounds heavier we arrived at Tres Ponts - AMAZING!!! The rock is nothing like what we have enountered so far. Its a steep wall of grey limestone with minimal tufas and a lot of undercuts and side pulls - very much reminding me of Malham. The most striking line is Els Inconformistes, which cruves along the middle of the crag.

The only issue we had with Tres Ponts was how cold it got post mid day. It got cold - very cold. We set up camp pretty much next to the motorway (thank goodness for the investment I made in ear plugs!) and managed to stick the cold out for a few days.

With the cold - Tres Ponts gave me a new personal low - falling off a 6a+ due to freezing cold hands! (I probably shouldn't advertise this fact but I thought I'd mix the personal highs up with the personal lows!).

The highlight of the last few days was putting my clips in a 7b. A route with big holds and big moves. I physically couldnt do the crux move which involved getting my heel pretty much in my face and rocking up to a huge undercut. Following a period of anger and cursing, I clipped to clipped it and retreated as quickly as possible off the rock. ANGRY was the term :) I planned to try it the next day - but by then we were ready to leave the cold weather and my psyche was low. However - I had to get my clips back - oops. Wierdly the route went, first go, with no warm up. That was the best way to get my clips back!

As we were parked so close to the motorway, we couldnt help but notice the number of very expensive cars driving through from Andorra. It was only 20km away - so we thought "why not?". Believing we would not need our passports, we had an amusing time trying to dig them out of the van at the border. They were not amused! We entered Andorra and was greeted with cheap fuel and duty free shops. A world away from our usual spanish retreats.

Andorra is beautifully located in the mountains, with nothing else to see. We filled outselves with pancakes and beer, the van with cheap petrol and headed to Oliana. Not before border control asked for our passports again - realised it was us and promptly said "its OK keep going!".

RAIN RAIN RAIN when we woke up at Oliana so we retreated back to Terradets in the hope the weather would improve - it didnt just rain, it poured. We had one of the biggest rain storms I have ever seen for 3 long days! Thankfully we found refuge under the shelter at the abandoned train station in Cellars, which soon turned into a car park:

Train Station at Terradets during the rain storm

3 long days it rained for and for 3 long days after the rock was wet. We had a small light of hope that the Cova Gran would be dry - how bad can it be?! Its steep and we are in Spain. Error! Clear blue sky and the cave was raining inside. The seepage was unreal. My heart sank. I had to close the chapter on my projects there.

We searched for dry rock and heard Ager might be dry - it was!!! HURRAH! However, for us it was not an inspiring crag. The setting is phenominal and you often get to see paragliders making their way down the hillside - but the climbing was not for us. We decided to continue the search. On the drive out of the field we had 2 options 1) drive on the dry part of the field 2) drive through the muddy part of the field. For reasons still unknown to me, the driver chose option 2!!! We got stuck! Thank you to the nice Spainish man who towed us out using an inventive tow rope (quick draws!).

We retreated to the St Llorenc caves which are 2 impressive caves which were dry. After the steep walk up, we saw everyone leaving...turns out after mid day it gets phenominally hot. What a confusing day this was turning out to be!

We had friends due to arrive for a weeks holiday - most of which were injured, including one member injuring himself at Barcelona airport! Names and blame shall not be made public! So we eased into a week of eating menu of the days - amazing 3 courses with vino and bread for around 10 euros!

We spent a few days at Terradets as it was finally starting to dry out and I finally finished Jam Sessions which I tried last year in heat which I am sure was hotter than the sun! Its an amazing route starting up a tufa and then finishing on the orange head wall.

Getting pumped on Jam Sessions F7b

Jam Sessions 27m F7b

We made a brief visit to Fotbulin to try a bouldery 7b called Colera, which is a cool route.

Start of the boulder moves on Colera

Knee bar Spanish Style

Van life at Fotbulin

The O'leary clan left and holiday mode was over. With more rain forecast we drove north to Rodellar - its rained since we got here! Oddly the rock stayed dry for the first day so we headed to Las Ventanas to be greeted by the biggest birds I have ever seen, which I believe are Vultures. They were nesting right above El Delfin and perched on the walkway. I'll be the first to admit - I'm not a fan of birds with their beaks and claws so I was a little nervous. To avoid the pecking we avoided the actual nice path and bush wacked up the scree slope - delightful. We arrived alive - only to then watch the Americans walk straight up and the Vultures to fly away. (I'm still convinced they wanted to eat me).

Rain is forecast for the next few days - so we'll investigate the crags and see if anything stays dry. If not - well - I believe there are Dinasour fossils close by!

Happy climbing, updates to follow once the heavens have closed.

Jen

PS: Since writing this, we investigated the crag - Las Ventanas was mostly dry = excited. Only to be met by the risen river which was unpassable without getting wet! Plan for tomorrow - cross it bear foot and take a towel...watch this space!

PPS: UPDATE: After a night of rain we headed to Ventanas - hmmm small section of rock dry...very high river which I refused to cross. So we headed to another section which was dry just below Ventanas which still involved a river crossing...sketchy but I survived. Thunder storm followed, with a quick retreat back across the swelling river to be met with snow. RESULT: We're heading to Albarracin in the morning :)