Climb: Somewhere in Monterserat
Date of Climb: Sometime around 4/17/2006
I decided to embark on a grueling epic climb in the rough part of Spain. To gird my loins for this endeavour, I decided I would bivy in a two-hundred-year-old French vinyard.
Fortunately, the room was equipped with a huge soak tub and came with a bottle of wine made in the area. I felt ready.
The next day I took off for Monterserat. The drive ended up at this:
It was already afternoon, so it didn't make sense to start climbing. My partner and I decided to walk around a bit and just take a peek. This is what we saw:
and this:
We ran--yes, actually ran--back to the car and got the gear. I was so excited to climb that I actually ripped a piece of the climb right off.
Here it is:
Somewhere underneath it is the evidence of me shitting myself; I carried on, without the undercling I had removed, and topped out all too quickly.
I looked over and saw the most interesting formation
We decided maybe we might just want to get another climb in that day, so we walked a little ways and started up the next one we saw--it looked pretty short and easy to handle.
Here is the first pitch:
And the second pitch:
and the surprise third pitch:
After topping out, I looked up and saw a stone hut with a fire going. Other smelly climbers were there and a whole shitload of gear was stored inside. I wondered how most folks got up there (I hadn't seen one single solitary other climbing person actually climbing the whole time I was there), and looked down and saw this:
Gear Notes: A handful of draws, an old rope, the same clothes I'd been wearing all week.
Approach Notes: Take KLM to Amsterdam. Be sure to have a long enough layover to enjoy Amsterdam. Hang out in France long enough to gain 3 kilos and then head to Spain.