Mr Cheki (8b+)

Hey Guys

Yesterday I did another 8b+ called "Mr Cheki". This route is in a sector called Can Pigui Pugui, a place I have visited only a few times out of the many weeks spent climbing in Siurana over the years. Although this is one of the more popular venues for those climbing in the f8's, it never struck a chord with me. Probably because of the relatively short nature of the routes there. I have always been one for big, impressive lines that cover lots of steep terrain in wild dramatic settings. El Pati for instance is somewhere that really strikes me as a beautiful crag... doing a route there is like a stairway to heaven.

In Can Pigui Pugui the wall is beautiful in its own way, it's shorter by nature but still contains pristine classic lines that have their own unique character. The wall isn't as steep as El Pati but  still has that dramatic setting. You face outwards into a valley with a huge Ceuse style crag spanning across the full length of the opposing side... stunning to say the least.

The climbing is more powerful in Can Pigui Pugui and strangely enough reminds me a bit of Malham. The routes tend to be more polished and a lot more tweaky with lots of weird twisted pockets and sharp jagged crimps - thats a big part of the package with Can Pigui Pugui.

The line I was on ("Mr Cheki") starts up left of one of Siurana's oldest 8a's, "Anabolica". "Anabolica" is the most popular 8a in Siurana according to 8a.nu with around 260 ascents on the database! Whilst I was trying "Mr Cheki", Andy was checking out "Anabolica". Needless to say, Andy being the boulderer, he cruised the first 10m to the crux bulge. The hard move here though is very particular and quite tweaky if your not good on pockets. He worked the sequence a bit, a hard lock move to an undercut pocket then a powerful pull through to a crimp then a bump again to a jug. After that its not completely over but not nearly as hard as the previous sequence. Although Andy is more than capable to doing the sequence, the pocket was feeling a little bit tweaky for him so he gave it a rest and decided to come back for it another day.

On "Mr Cheki" I was having a good day. On my first attempt I climbed through the whole bottom section, through the first hard crux and into more or less the final hard moves. Unfortunately my fingers slipped out of a good resting pocket (probably because they were so numb with cold) and I was left to work the remaining sequence in the upper part.

Needless to say I was back on it in short time, this time I fell a little higher again. I was struggling to gain a positive pocket (the last crux for me). I threw for it once (missed), again (missed), again (missed)... DAMN!!!! AGAIN (STUCK), I pulled through but my fingers were so numb (again) that I couldn't feel what I was holding and slipped out the pocket. This was quite frustrating as you can imagine. The physicality of the route wasn't a problem, it was more the fact that my fingers were constantly cold.

On my last try I decided to look for a better warm up. A small jug at the bottom of the cliff was all that was needed. After 15 minutes of moving my hands about on the flat jug, changing from full crimp to half crimp to open hand, one arm dead-hangs, pull ups and locks I was ready for it!

In the end, it felt really steady. I wasn't tired or pumped and my fingers maintained warmth throughout the whole climb. I really enjoyed sticking the hard launch to the pocket, feeling as though there was no way I was coming off. As I locked in my fingers, I pulled through another deep lock to grab the next jug - SOLID! Afterwards there was still one more move where there is potential to fall, but I was confident with my sequence. A german climber call Felix had tried before me and fallen here with his sequence, but I was sure that mine would prevail. After a minutes rest, I moved through the next few moves and was latching the glory jug with only 2 clips of 6a climbing to finish with.

I lowered to the ground victorious and 15 minutes later, Felix sent the route too! Photos on the blog are of him on his send :)

With only 30-40 minutes of light remaining, I forced Andy back into belay mode despite his moaning about it being too cold. I wanted to try "Renegoide" (8b+), just to check out the moves before I come back after today's rest day. Despite being tired after two days climbing and lack of skin, I did all the moves quite comfortably and am pleased with how the moves piece together. The route is very different to "Mr Cheki", its short but only slightly overhung, very crimpy and very sustained! None of the moves are physically hard, just very involved in your feet and fingertips (skin).

I'm really looking forward to coming back tomorrow, hopefully to do it quickly and to give Andy encouragement on "Anabolica"! He can certainly do it if he puts his mind into it :)

Hope your all climbing and training hard out there!

ROBZ