Albarracin Xmas 2016 part 2 : The Meat of the Trip

One of the great pleasures of this Albarra trip was being reunited in the forest with Eoin McNulty, Eoin was with me and J on our first trip there together many moons ago, he was buzzin' to back after all those years and his mind was dead set on revenge. Holy shit that lad can hold a grudge, he never forgot falling and failing on the classic roof Techo Don Pepo 7A or the whopper corkscrew dyno Gorillas 7A+.  Full of determination, grit and equipped with new assured flashy moves and stronger fingers, he went to town on these problems and sent them both impressively in his week long stay.  He scorched through Techo Don Pepo without a single error, tension all the way and didn't put a foot wrong as they say, Gorillas took him a while longer as he continually threw himself at the pinchy ledge, greasing off and bouncing onto the mat, he was considering giving up with time running out on his trip and with snow and frost about stifling the conditions.  Eventually he summoned the minerals and latched that ledge, he fought his way through his nemesis top out and found himself on a highball slab finish that should have been easy, however it was coated with slippy frosting, I nearly had a heart attack watching him sketch up that slab but he got the job done ... never cross this lad he will find you and he will take his revenge !! :)

Heading to the blocks in a dreamscape of snow

After Eoin went home The Ladz arrived !! :) Daragh, Adam and Jake on his first ever climbing trip. The trip was in full flow, every morning we would have lazy bacon and egg breakfasts with, funk choons playing on Spotify and unlimited coffees from the coffee machine in the hostel. Psyche and shitetalk were at a premium and everybody was giving their all to the sandstone. There was cold damp, frosty weather and snow, spirits remained bone dry and there was lots of sends. The forest was a dreamscape of snow, it was a sight to behold.  Jake was climbing out of his socks to smash his first 6Bs including the classic Obra de Arte roof and a gem of a roof he found with no name which we dubbed Shickading 6B.  Daragh was sooo close to sending everything he tried but he kept coming up just short or falling at the last hurdle, frustration crept in but he kept battling away like a resilient boss and on the last day of the trip, in the dark with thrashed skin, a broken body and a super slimey wet topout he managed to pull Zarzamora sit 7C+ out of the bag, what an Epic last minute desperation send, I never seen the likes of it and it showed strong character !! Adam was on the form of his life, this little lean as fuck warlord crushed all before him, a lovely ticklist was amassed including La Fuente 7C and his first ever 8A Zombie Nation, as he literally flew through the air to latch the final jug on Zombie Nation it was a moment of pure savagery and of dedication paying off, I was well proud of him !!

Snow all about the forest

The ladz ... what a legendary crew !! :)

J-Mo was inspired and had a super start his campaign, he annihilated Rammstein 7B in his first session on it, then he flew through the air like some sort of a blurry co-ordinated musclebeard to do the magic second generation dyno, O'Dynamismo 7C, next he turned his attentions to a diamond of a line called Rude Man 7B+, this is a great line of crimps on a leaning wall with great power moves between them.  He tried an failed on this line last trip so was out for the revenge send and it didn't take too long as he did it on his first sesh using the Adam Ondra's tried and trusted technique of screaming like a teradactyl.

Eoin eating his favourite Albarra snack ... chorizo and raw onion !!

Evolution 7C in a snow cover La Fuente area

We were having such a good trip and there was plenty more action to come and if you don't believe any of these tall tales take a look at this epic VIDEO that Adam edited, good vibes and sick lines all the way ...

Albarracin Xmas 2016, part 1, Rammstein

Meself and J had been threatening to do a big trip to Albarracin for a long time, finally we quit procrastinating, the incubation period for this idea was was well and truly over, so plans were hatched and finalised for a send filled Spanish bouldering campaign. The psyche generated for the coming battles was high as can be, we trained like beasts for 3 or 4 days a week on the plastic in The Gravity Center, I felt pretty fit and ready to try to siege my first 7C, ready for great big sandstone roofs, ready for glorious mileage, ready for beautifully sculpted holds of all shapes and sizes, ready for delish tapas and vino, ready for the mad craic ... VENGAAA !!

Our snow covered hostel 

The view from breakfast balcony in our hostel

We stayed in Alberque Rosa Brios Hostel, perched high and built into the hillside of the magnificent medieval village of Albarracin. The staff there were a really friendly family and they went above and beyond to look after us during our stay. Albarracin bouldering is the best I have found to date, the forest is so tranquil and peaceful, in contrast the blocks are pure steep savagery, physical and athletic, power bouldering at its finest. To accompany the magic climbing is the village of Albarracin itself, a sort of open air museum of medieval days gone by, stunning architecture and rustic charm around every corner, teeming with coffee shops and delish tapas bars ... its the perfect rest day remedy.

Albarracin medeival village

Albarracin and its fortress walls, a beautiful snowsacape

Delish tapas feed at our favourite place to eat, La Taba

My mission for the trip was simple, climb a quality steep gem called Rammstein 7B, which I failed on last trip, then put all my energy and efforts into attempting my first 7C, I had my eye on a few gems but finally settled on a classic crimpy line called La Fuente and finally to make sure I enjoyed lots of great mileage and sends below my limit. When we first got to the forest it was a great feeling to be back again, the smell of the pines filled our noses and there was a sense that many wars would soon be waged !! 

Me setting up for the dyno to the glory jug on Rammstein 7B

We excitedly made a bee line for Rammstein. A crimpy test piece with some tricky footwork involved whilst you are under pressure trying to hang a half pad crimper, its a short power sequence with only 3 short crimpy moves until you reach a jug via an enormous glory dyno, you set up on two opposing sidepulls and launch hopefully to the skies ready to latch and tame the swing before an easy top out. It took me 3 sessions to crack this one, J-Mo sent it impressively on his first session, I was struggling with flu but the reason I couldnt get it to go was that the beta in most videos wouldn't work for me as I was too stretched out to release the heel, when I cut loose I would just wildly swing and grease off the crimps, after two sessions I was losing hope but still keen, frustratingly it was beginning to feel like a morpho stopper move, but at last Adam and good aul video beta came to the rescue, Adam found video beta of a shorter climber using a closer heel, this was the break I was searching for !! On my third day on the problem I tried the new heel beta, I fell off screaming Yessssss !!! I didn't complete the move but I could feel it was gonna work, a few power screams later I was swinging out of the glory jug with a huge smile on me face ''What a fuckin' problem !!'' I said as I topped out :) I had my eye on doing this climb for years and when I got to the top I was so elated, it was one of those magic bouldering moments that makes all the training and frustrations along the way worth while ...

Sicily Memories :)

Murcia, Spain, 2016

The valley where our little rustic cottage resided ...

Lucy and Kev...

Lucy and Martina chillin' in the sun ...

Joaquin pulling on some nice pocketed rock ...

The Gaff ...

Bringing the bolt gun home with Ryanair ...

Just about to start pitch 5 in Leiva ...

Me and Kev :) ...

Lucy and Kev havin' the craic ...

Joaqers sparkin' up the BBQ ...

Swishin' the vino :) ...

Leiva ...

Martina scoping out Leiva valley ...

Lucy :) ...

Rocky coastline ...

The gang after a great multi pitch adventure in Leiva

HUGE artillery gun

A Stormy Patch

Is there no end to the madness

The season was off to a flyer, the weather was crazy mild for October / November and we were all waiting for the cold temps to arrive and the mid Winter sendfest to kick off, but the cool dry air never came ... in early November it started raining and it didn't stop for months, storm after storm lashed our little island out of it, Abagail, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude, Henry and Imogen, a never ending moist grey dull descended, there was floods, high winds and everybody was limited to one day out on real rock a month if you were lucky, being rained off was a regular occurrence. We kept the spirits high with beastin' and bants in the Gravity center training room, a little too much beastin' which led to me getting an overuse finger injury :( It took me about 2 months of rehab and not climbing very hard before I was able to pull hard again, eventually I came out the other side pretty fit after using the gymnastic rings and getting into a bit of trail running.

Craftsmanship 7A

After 3 months of almost non-stop rain things have begun to dry up a bit and I have been getting a few great days out in Glendo, full of mileage and craic with the lads :)  I had a sweet battle on Craftsmanship 7A, a lovely mini board problem, the powerful opening move is the crux, its a big throw out right to a nice small crimp, you bear down on the crimp and do a class heel hook move before bumping up to good holds and glory, glad to have gotten this one done, it used to feel sooo hard back in day when I first tried it !!

Happy days with Harri, Adam and J, few scoops at the Reel Rock Tour

The Fuckin' Original

Currently I am working on The Fuckin' Original 7A, she's a toughy, a very powerful move off a wee undercut, you pull with all your might to get your arse off the ground, then you slap an intermediate sloper and heave upwards for the top, I can't keep the tension on the move as its so spanned out so I am trying dyno beta, it will be a hard latch because the slopey juggy hold is at an awkward angle, I think I nearly latched it once so I hope to send soon that way or figure out some other sneaky beta for it. A break from the training routine arrives in the morning as I am heading off to sunny Spain for a sports climbing trip with a crew from the Naas climbing wall, psyched for chillin' out, eating chorizo, knockin' back cafe con leche and scurrying up 5's and 6's all week in Murcia on the east coast, will report back about that trip soon :)

Good times and birthday celebratons at Naas wall !! :)

A Day In The Bog

Blessington Lakes

No doubt about it lads, no matter what they say, there isn't a better day out than a day in the bog !! Ther's lads jettin' off to places, jettin' off boulderin' to the likes of Fontainebleau and Albarracin ... they'd be better off boulderin' in the bog lads !!

Seductive Shadow

Meself and J had ourselves a day in the bog, it was November 1st and extremely oddly it was a summers day, blue skies all about and the temps were up to 20 degrees celcius, I never seen the likes of it !! We spotted a boulder in the distance that looked like it might be the new Rebel Wall, a dark shadow formed by an overhanging block in the middle of a jumble of boulders seduced me into a 35min uphill hike ... upon arrival the stone was too small :(

Glendasan

''What will we do now ?'' says I, ''Go to Glendo I suppose'' ... nah, it was too hot and we felt like a new adventure and some more exploration so we decided to trudge bogward to an isolated boulder rumoured to have a classic techy dyno on it. The boulder looked too small and insignificant to have a decent problem on it, until we got closer ...

Astral Glide 6C+ ??

When we squelched our way up close enough to the lonely boulder we were pleasantly surprised and found a neglected classic of a problem, Astral Glide, the top holds were covered in lichen, we set about dusting off the old gem so we could get stuck in ...

J-Mo dusting off an aul forgotten classic

Beautiful Wicklow Bog Landscape

We tried the problem for well over 2 hours, it was tough and definitely not 6B as it was originally recorded, its a class technical dyno, you take a decent crimp in your right hand, step on small footholds and reach up to a slopey pinch high on the arete, its hard to hang this hold so ya try to squeeze the juice out of it, then you paste your feet up on nothings and leap for the top, which is a slopey dome and its a far ways away !! A beautiful line in a stunning Wicklow bog location, we reckon its about 6C or 6C+ and we can't wait to get back to it ...

Bros / Beasts

We got some other mileage done at Glendasan, J quickly repeated So It Goes 6C the classic dyno and So It Goes Right 6C+ and I did Cold Feet 6B+ for the first time, a lovely squeeze, compression fridge, a classic at the grade and well worth seeking out. I had a lovely mileage day with Joaquin too, we warmed up on the starting block, did the lovley unamed crimpy 6A+ on it, then we strolled over to the King's boulder to do Christ's Crux of Friction 5+ and The King's Arete 6A+ and we finished off on the mega-classic St. Kevin's Slab 6A+. The problems in Glendasan are all spread out but they are all beautiful unique things, it's a class area !! :) We are still waiting for the cold weather to arrive and its mid-November ... madness !! 

Cold Feet 6B+