Pushing boundaries in Transiowa 2014, a grueling test of endurance and resilience.
Two weeks playing on rock, warmed by the Spanish sunshine, was the reset button I needed to start getting motivated again for the rock season. In terms of climbing, not much happened. Pathetic finger strength, funky ankles and being out of touch with the medium, made for not many successes. But I was happy to get the mileage in a place that would force me to improve my finger strength, such as Siurana.
Ihave never really rated the place, but the opportunity arose to join a team of psyched climbers from the UK that I knew would help me to bring my own psyche up. The trip was also a good occasion to see family and friends in Abella de la conca, where i managed a couple of days bolting and doing new routes (a bit more of that in another post).
After quite a few days on climbing without a rest, I met up with Joan Cabau, the team manager of E-Climb, my sponsor. He took me climbing to one of his local crags, Corones, one of the many amazing crags that only Catalans know about. This little crag packs in 100 routes what Siurana can't in 2000. I was glad to send a 7b+ second go with no much trouble despite being absolutely knackered. I had a great day climbing with locals and fellow E-Climb climbers in a crag that is 1,30h from my folks place in Sallent.
Let me tell you a bit more about Joan Cabau. He's a bit of a legend. He was one of the only Spanish to be in the melting pot that was Verdon in the 80's, climbing with Le Menestrel, Moffatt, Edingler, Kammelander, and pretty much every rock god you know. Was also one of the first to climb 8a there. Old school 8a's there don't get repeated often, not even by Ondra or Sharma, that's the only thing I'll say. He went onto climb 8c which was a very big deal back then, competed and won a few comps around the world. So it's a pleasure to be managed by such a legend and to spend a great day out with him. That's what climbing is about for me, great people and great places.
For a bit more reading and plenty of sun drenched pics head over to my blog.
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