Robbie's Blog

Coming to an end…

Hey Guys

So the trip is coming to an end… We have little less than a week until we return to the UK, but its not so bad really, we will be getting back for the UK sport climbing season which means plenty of fun on the yorkshire limestone clipping bolts and sunny days on the county sandstone falling onto bouldering mats. When I get back, I am being sent a new bouldering mat from Edelrid, “The Crux” crashpad!!! So it will be good to get out and test this mega beast in action : )

The trip to Spain has certainly been successful in the way of hard ticks. Everyone on the trip has made some significant ascents so far and there is still time left for some more. I think this has been my most successful redpointing trip for no other reason than simply the number of hard routes I’ve managed to tick so far. I have completed my objectives for Spain and more which has certainly filled me full of confidence for the next years trips and objectives, I don’t think 8c is far off : ) The issue with me is that I don’t want to just tick an 8c, I want to get to a significant level for which I can tick one fairly quickly. This is a very big objective as there are very few climbers in Britain that operate at this level, in fact I can only think of two Scottish climbers who are there currently and thats Dave Macleod and Alan Cassidy. Two climbers who have certainly inspired me over the years to push myself, so it would be amazing to be able to reach a similar standard.

Heres a list of the top sends of all the climbers in our party:

Ross Kirkland

Celda De Castigo, 8a, Redpoint

El Segre, 8a, Flash

Outback, 7c+, Redpoint

Papagora, 7c, Flash

Mandragora, 7b+, Onsight

Neil Mcgeachy

Celda De Castigo, 8a, Flash

??Regina??, 8a, Flash

Pren Nota, 8a, Onsight

Blomu, 8b, Redpoint

Dogma, 8b+, Redpoint

Mark Mcowan

Esfinx, 7c, Flash

L’escamarla, 7c+, Redpoint

Calum Forsyth

Asaltin bankis, 7b+, Redpoint

Papagora, 7c, Redpoint

Natalie Berry

Papagora, 7b+, Onsight

Hot Knife, 7c, 2nd Go

Outback, 7c+, Redpoint

L’escamarla, 7c+, Redpoint

Robbie Phillips

Celda De Castigo, 8a, Onsight

El Segre, 8a, Flash

Preventiva, 8b, Redpoint

Paris Hilton, 8b, Redpoint

Zona 0, 8b, Redpoint

Ramadan, 8b, Redpoint

Migranya, 8b, Redpoint

A Flash D’enemigo, 8b, Redpoint

Pati Pa Mi, 8b, Redpoint

Dogma, 8b+, Redpoint

Rollito Sharma, 8b+, Redpoint

Kallea Borroka, 8b+, Redpoint

Lots of good ticks in there and potentially more to come : ) Mcgeek is close to ticking his current project “Dogma” (8b/+) and Calum is close to ticking his project “Papagora” (7b+). Natalie had an awesome 2nd go attempt at “Pren Nota” (8a) yesterday so she will try and work out the moves today and go for a quick redpoint of that. Mark also had a good burn on “Pren Nota” yesterday so I think he is planning on redpointing this as his first spanish 8a. Ross fell on the final crux of his project, “Zona 0″, we watched him throw his way up this mega classic yesterday so we are looking forward to the final attempt that will see him send it. And finally, I tried “Kallea Borroka” yesterday and thought it felt very do-able with a wee bit work, so i am going to try and tick this as well, which would round of the trip off very nicely indeed : )

Looking forward to getting home, but also for getting back out again… I think we are planning something in the Winter, possibly Siurana/Margalef for December-January when the conditions will be perfect… 8c time?

Keep Crushing

Robz

UPDATE

After writing this post, we went climbing and I did “Kallea Borroka” on my 4th go : ) I then went on to almost send another 8b called “Pati Pa Mi” which would have been amazing. Almost two 8b and harder in a day… but not quite : P Natalie managed to tick another 7c+ called “L’escamarla” and Calum finnaly nabbed his project, “Papagora” as well! Tomorrow is our last day in Siurana before we head back up to Santa Linya to see our friends, Tom and Lynne. Nat is going to try and tick an 8a tomorrow and I will use what little is left of my finger tips to climb a vertical filth 8b : P

PEACE

YET ANOTHER UPDATE!

After doing “Kallea Borroka” (8b+), I put in the clips on yet another 8b called “Pati Pa Mi” and managed to tick that off the day after on my 3rd try. One go to put the clips in, another to warm up on and one to send! Then we went to Can Piqui Pugui, a sector we hadn’t visited yet on our last day here (today) and Nat onsighted a 7b+ for a warm up and I ticked off the uber classic of the crag, “Anabolica” (8a) on my second try! And finally, Nat ticked her first 8a “L’escamarla-Ramadan Link” the other day as well, making her the second Scottish woman to tick the grade! What an end to possibly the best trip I’ve ever had!

ROBZ

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