Window of Opportunity

Closed.  That’s how the window of opportunity is at the moment.

A wave of cold cold temps in sync with clear blue skies and 0% humidity blew through Sintra these past 3 days.  They were accompanied by fanatic bouldering sessions, the Mecca sector saw most of the action.

On the first day Mecca saw >20 climbers giving it their all on these excellent boulders, trad climbers, sport climbers, male and female climbers, old and young.  The action that concerned me revolved around two boulders: Stoneedge and Menir, two beautiful compression problems on prows that face each other.  The first session was on the stand to Menir, which despite many tries by Nico and I did not see a FA, a beautiful line that will someday see a full sitdown ascent, the provisional grade for the stand is 7b+ (V8), the sit adds 3 moves that haven’t been done yet but are themselves no lower than 7b+.

Myself on the first move of the stand to Menir, excellent photography by, of course, Macau:

We then moved to Stoneedge, a few days before I got the FA of the stand to Stoneedge and the sit was still a puzzle, but with the aid of some of the strongest boulderers (André, Nico, Pena and leading them, of course: Gonçalo) a short person sequence was figured out.  The problem didn’t go though, the stand is 7b+ and similarly to Menir the sit adds 3 hard compression moves which are by themselves about a hard 7b or soft 7b+.

Despite the many attempts on these problems the night was just warming up.  We then moved on to see two more gems: Solaris and Supa Hiro, one weighing in at 7c+ (V10) and the other at 8a (V11) and both having only seen one ascent… you guessed it, by Macau.  Both lines are very aesthetic and unique, Solaris having slopey holds and involving a large campus move, and Supa Hiro involving long moves on sharp crimps!!

Myself on Solaris, setting up for the campus move, photo by Macau:

The attempts were valiant and both Nico and Andre managed to solve the campus move, though the difficulty did not end there and only Andre managed to figure out the final deceptively tricky mantel.

By this time most of us could feel that our skin was nearing its final push, many of those 20+ climbers had had enough too and slowly trickled out of the boulder forest.  But for the most fanatic one more boulder needed to be visited: Supa Hiro!  Pena, Nico, Andre and I gave it good goes but the two-move crux sequence was beyond our abilities that day.  The crimps too small and sharp and the reach too long.

Below, myself on the beginning of the Supa Hiro crux, photo by Macau:

Two days later, yesterday, Mecca saw some more action but my a reduced number of climbers.  This was the last day of single-digit temperatures.  Nico and I gave strong burns on the sit start to Stoneedge and to Eduardo Maos de Strappal (7c) and Nico finally managed to piece together and top out Eduardo and I was tantalizingly close… Stoneedge is still up for grabs but not for long!

Today it’s raining and the temps are up… from my house I can see the mountain of Sintra and am anxiously waiting for an opening in the weather.  To facilitate my waiting I have received some help from my sponsors at Evolve:

The Pontas and Pontas Lace-up which I have already used and am a fan of (Pontas for bouldering and the lace-up for sport) and now the new generation, G2, of the Talons and the Predators, these are seriously downturned, aggressive, and the rubber looks sturdier.  I will be testing these and writing about these very soon, as soon as the weather clears up!!!

Just Photos

My last post was just text so this post will be (apart from this introduction) just photos.  Today there was a gathering/meeting of climbers at the new seaside trad climbing area: Casal Pianos, here are just a few photos (you can find many more at Macau’s webpage):

Macau:

Paparazzi!!:

Isabel running it out:

No Photos Please

Pity we didn’t get photos of this night session, it was fanatic.

I started off the night thinking that I would spend it trying a project in Peninha, but upon arrival I found the holds very wet, especially the top.  So I warmed up there and then drove in search of drier lands.  At the Mecca sector I met up with Mario, Rasta, Pena and Jorge (a newcomer to the outdoor bouldering… a gym rat).

Jorge did really well, sending some of the classics such as flashing Ninho de Cucoos, Incha-la on his second try and Cromeleque with a few goes; he gave Megalito some good goes but it got the better of him for now.  Pena did the stand to Eduardo Maos de Strappal (7b+) and redid the hard compression moves to try the straight up version and I got the FA of the direct line topping out straight up (though not the sit start) which adds a little difficulty but stays at 7b+, naming it “Stonehenge”.  Pena and I then both gave the sit some good burns and made progress but still a step beyond us.

I tried a line I had envisioned and which we have named Menir, directly opposite Stonehenge, but it’s moves are still too hard.  Then Pena and I give some fanatic tries on another line I envisioned starting on Megalito but exiting right using some nice underclings and slaps and crimps.  The moves are really cool and the topout is hard, in sync with the Mecca theme we baptize it “Sultão Qaboos”, the Sultan of Oman!  5 nice boulder problems in the space of 3 square meters, probably the highest density in Sintra.

Perfect temps, great motivation and excellent company!  Tomorrow another session starting at 17:30, location=Dinossaurus!!  See you there!

Jamming In Portugal

Today it is raining!  Yesterday a code yellow was announced for all of Portugal, yellow not because of some pending “terrorist” atack but yellow because of weather-related problems.  However, we decided to risk it and go to the coast, 10 minutes away from my place in Sintra.  Yesterday’s objective was to go play on cracks!

All pictures are enlargable by clicking on them, enjoy.

The approach to the crag, it’s always good to join rock climbing with oceanic environment:

Still the approach, the crag starts to be visible:

And here we are, the first sector, the warm-up area harboring some nice, short, easy lines:

And here is Nico Favresse showing us the crack climbing prowess that led him to the 3rd ascent of cobra crack… not exactly cobra crack is it Nico?!  Hey, where is your rope?:

That was the warm-up area, then on the backside of that basaltic outcropping lies the second sector, taller lines, some with a slight overhang, very nice splitters (I never made it to the other sectors which house more and even taller lines).

As seen from the ocean, amongst the caos of fallen rocks:

This caos of rock can only mean that some of the rock is unstable… this crag had to be cleaned by the hard work of Nuno Pinheiro and others so that big blocks would not take out the whole climbing community in Portugal.  One such bloc was removed the day I was there and I documented part of its relocation in the following video.  The bloc had already been removed by the guiding touch of Nuno’s hammer but was still unstable so Leo levers it to safety:

The crag as seen from the side:

The Portuguese conquerers again at the edge of the ocean, conquering the land instead of the ocean:More jamming, Nico on the left, Mario and Texas in the middle, Leo and Filipe on the end:

Nico on the FA of this aesthetic, slightly offwidth, dihedral crack:

One of the more seasoned Portuguese sport-climbers, Filipe Costa e Silva trying his hand at jamming:

Three shots of Nico onsighting the hardest line of this small sector, a 7a+ (5.12b) finger crack:

I too tried this line, my last climb of the day and I have to say it felt much harder than any of the hardest sport climbs I have ever tried… I tried it on top-rope and I think I did one move, all the others were with the assist of the rope.  In terms of crack climbing technique I am at about the V grade, I managed to get myself up some 6’s but with the ugliest, least-effective technique you could imagine… obviously I ended up using excessive strength and jamming parts of my body that didn’t need to be jammed.  Despite the caloric expenditure, however, this reminded me of why I enjoy crack climbing: because one ends up using so much more of the body than one a face-climb.  It is so much more a full-body experience (not to mention a mental experience as leading crack climbs requires much more awareness) than face-climbing.

Well, it isn’t exactly Indian Creek but we have cracks in Portugal!  Another reason to put Portugal on your list of climbing destinations.

To end this post here are some pictures of the coastline surrounding the climbing area:

The climbing crag is that outcropping at the end on the left:

On much of the water’s edge there has formed these hills of coral(?) which often house water pools:

Sometimes the edge of the pools are pink with new coral:

And you can see how deep this new layer is looking at it from the side:

More frequently the valleys formed by the coral hills are filled with rocks which have been trapped there and rounded by the tides:

I particularly liked the configuration of these rocks:

p.s. Portugal is in the World Cup 2010!!!  Yeah!!!  But wait, what does this have to do with climbing??  World Cup 2010 is in South Africa, world-renown bouldering mecca!!!!  hummmmm…………….

The Sculptures of Sintra

Yesterday morning I get an email from Macau tempting me to go bouldering in Sintra.  My plan was to have a solo night session on O Mito, listen to music and try the moves, but I succumbed and went bouldering IN THE DAYTIME!!!!!

Very strange to boulder in the day   The Sun illuminates the holds so differently than the headlamp

So, though it had rained hail a few hours before and was still intermittently raining, I went to Sintra.  I wanted to go to O Mito and see how I felt on what would be the 2nd day trying the sit start and so I did, and was forced to warm-up on overhanging crimps because the only jug was completely soaked.  Trying to be wise, warm-up carefully to not get injured, I eventually found myself trying the start moves again.  Macau arrived at the end of the warm-up, gave me his beta, and snapped photos as I tried to unlock the hard moves.  All photos by Ricardo “Macau” Alves, check out his website!

Trying my beta…

Trying Macau’s beta

I made some good progress, felt stronger on the heinous crimps.  The first move on my beta is slightly harder than Macau’s but may set me up better for the following moves, whereas Macau’s first move is easier but then…  both sequences feel hard!!  Can’t wait to get back on it, hopefully tomorrow!!

Then we went to another boulder which we had seen a few days ago.  I had refrained from trying it because it looked intimidating.  Beautiful and intimidating.  My good friend Max Z. over at Czarclimbing came up with a set of indicators to evaluate how “good” a problem is, how many stars does it earn.  I’d give this problem a high star grade.  Macau had cleaned the top a little, on toprope, and so we were going to see how it fared today.  Just as we were finishing drying the two-finger start hold and contemplating the moves Pena and Rasta arrived!  The more the merrier!

Pena and I gave it very good burns while Macau snapped away and Rasta cheered us on.  Photos below:

Macau and I were discussing: The rock in Sintra hasn’t been sculpted in the same way as most bouldering places I have visited.  Hueco or Hound Ears, Little Rock City, Horse Pens or Bishop generally have obvious lines: a line of crimps or huecos or slopers or dihedral.  The line tends to be there, staring you in the face.  Whereas in Sintra the rock oftentimes resembles a sculpture more than an obvious “line”, they are more artistic lines instead of gym-climbs.  This boulder we were on yesterday is like that.  It has two pockets to start and God knows how they got there because other than those two pockets the rock is smooth.  Instead of climbing a “line” on the boulder you’re climbing the shape of the whole boulder.

We saw one more line on a neighboring boulder, another beautifully sculpted piece or rock with no evident sequence but definitely calling for attention.  Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be good enough to go and try that new line!

Yet Another Sector – Pedra Amarela – and more updates

And if I thought that the bouldering scene in Sintra was expanding and that I had plenty of projects… well, yesterday evening that was pushed out to another level.  At 2pm I met up with Pena and Rasta, Goncalo and Teresa, Philippe and another climber whose name I forget now at the Pedra Amarela (Yellow Stone) sector.  I had been there before, 8 years ago actually, when the area was completely overgrown with bushes and trees and when I was still taking my baby steps in climbing.  It is amazing how one’s view of a location can change with time.

Similarly to the other sectors in Sintra, Pedra Amarela is completely different.  The rock is a distinctly different color, the typical formations are distinctly different and the setting is different; by setting I mean the landscape, the environment.  I found myself again amazed at the diversity of this “small” mountain called Sintra.

Tapada sector is covered in trees and bushes and rock.  The feeling is of things close together, not cramped but covered, surrounded.  The rock in Tapada generally feels soft on the fingers (actually: read softer if you are not accustomed to Sintra… soft is not applicable to any rock here).

Pedra Amarela is more in the opposite direction, the view extends forever, hills with scattered boulders, in the distance you can see the ocean, the beaches, the city of Cascais and Lisbon.  The rock has a beautiful clean look, a pale yellow color which changes intensely as the day progresses, often forming tall slabs and rounded aretes.  A beautiful place for watching the sunset and for watching the stars.

…and for climbing too!!

Rasta on a nice slab problem (so many nice slabs in Pedra Amarela), foto by Teresa:

Goncalo on Doo Bop, foto by Teresa:

Myself on Doo Bop, foto by Teresa:

Phillipe on a nice line, foto by Teresa:

Pena on Estrela Decadente, foto by Teresa:

With good effort I managed to send both Doo Bop (7b) and Estrela Decadente (7a+ which I consider as hard as Doo Bop 7b).  Best news was that my ankle was not 100% but it was good enough to not bother me throughout the day!  and I feelt the bouldering form/motivation coming back after such a great night session.  Climbing with a bunch of happy motivated friends is the best way to get my spirits up, and it is my experience that most of the climbers here in Portugal are more motivated for the problem than they are motivated for their ego so the sessions end up being fun and we all try hard.

 

Two days later I was back in Sintra for another night session, this time at the Mecca area where my main project lies: O Mito (The Myth).  The picture below was taken at the end of September, on the 21st, when I first tried this line.  This is an overhanging crimp problem with shouldery moves, the stand start goes at 7a+ and the sit has seen two ascents: one by Leo and one by Andre.  Macau has worked this line for several months and got painfully close to sending (and taking the FA) before Leo did it, they both said 8a (V11).  Then Andre Neres got the second ascent and lowered the grade to V10.  Andre has been the rising mutant in Portuguese climbing for a few years now.  He progressed very quickly but then dropped out for some time and returned with a girlfriend and a baby girl; his return to climbing has seen the same progress as before and he has been crushing the hardest routes in Portugal, up to 5.14b, fast.  He doesn’t show up much in the bouldering world but when he does he normally sends several projects in a day.  On the day he sent O Mito sit he also sent a 10-year project in Sintra (graded it 7b …….) and a project Nico Favresse and I had been trying for about 4 days (grading it 7b+).

Photo by Macau

I was feeling super light that night and I very quickly sent the stand start which got me very motivated to work the moves on the sit.  After some figuring out I settled on a sequence which differs from both methods used by Macau, Leo and Andre but which suits me better and I started giving it burns.  The moves are still beyond my ability but feel very reachable!  We then moved on and scoped out some other climbs but nothing good enough to make me stop thinking about O Mito…

So, yesterday night I returned.  This time on a solo session in Sintra.  I took my pads to O Mito and spent a good hour methodically working the moves and listening to music.  Made some good progress but the link-up did not occur yet.  But it will.  To end the night I went to another sector to try the hardest line there called Eduardo Maos de Strappal (Edward Strappal Hands) rated 7b+.  This is a really nice overhanging compression problem on slopers, completely the opposite of O Mito.  The holds felt huge after working on crimps for an hour and compression moves are my favorite so I sent it quickly.  I started working on the sit start too which goes at 7c (V9) but couldn’t figure out how to do one of the moves… and then it started drizzling.

Here are two links to nice videos of climbing in Sintra made by a spanish climber called Dani, Macau does the sit to Eduardo Maos de Strappal at the very end of the second movie, enjoy:

Inspirational Climbing Movie, step aside Progression

I loved the new Josh Lowell movie: Progression.  It was really well filmed and had awesome shots of really good climbers on hard routes… having said that, I much prefer this movie:

The Joy of Climbing!

Since I arrived back in Portugal I have been bouldering bouldering bouldering.  This was expected because that is what I have always felt most comfortable doing and because for the past 7.5 years (since leaving Portugal to study in the US) that is what I have been doing.  However, somewhere in those last years something shifted.

When I started climbing it was always rope climbing, sport climbing, not bouldering.  I only took to bouldering after several months of sport climbing.  Those first months were great, I went to the crags with my brother or with Jonas and messed around on easy climbs, rarely eyeing anything more difficult than 6b.  Then I began to become familiarized with the climbing community and started to go to a newly opened climbing wall; a miniature thing in a miniature spot.  That was when the addiction really started.  I got addicted to being capable of doing a harder move, a trickier move; of inventing problems that were fun and involved intricate sequences.  I got so addicted that I managed to convince the owners to give me a key and I would go there alone and try hard on this 2.5×2.5×2.5 meter room.  I didn’t apply it to outdoor bouldering, only on a couple of occassions but I found that that was too hard still, but applying that to the rope climbing I noticed that I quickly progressed through the grades… however, it was all about grades for me at the time.  Not to show off to others but it was the grade that I was trying for.  The grade, the hard moves, and the fear of falling were the three most present things on every trip.

Skip forward 8 years, 8 years of bouldering and growing up, and somewhere in the end of those 8 years of sobering I found myself enjoying rope climbing in a new way.

Yesterday I went back to the premier (though recently rivaled) climbing spot in central Portugal: Fenda.  My heart was overjoyed to be back there and it was so refreshing to see it full of new eager climbers.  At the moment rope climbing for me has become a bliss trip.  I tie in and start to feel so much happiness, then I begin the route and do the first 10 moves and notice that I still have 30 more to go, or 40, and it feels so good.  It has become like reading a good book, but so much better because the interaction is fully somatic, full-body, not cerebral.  It’s like my body got so saturated of doing 3-7 move boulder problems that now it is in bliss to go on a long trip.  Like a sprinter who has been told he can leave the indoor track and go for a long jog on the beach.

Other than that bliss there is the challenge.  The challenge in climbing has, for me, become less and less about the grade and more and more about my inner fears.  In bouldering I have enjoyed going alone more often because I am frequently self-conscious and can get in a rut if the people I’m climbing with are not easy-going, if they are too serious (of course, all judgements on my part).  In rope climbing it is the fear of falling, the fear of trying.  Yesterday I felt that as I eyed the hardest route I had sent 8 years ago.  It had been the next step in my progression and those steps were coming fast; it wasn’t like I was established on any grade, I just wanted to go further, growing higher not wider.  It was a 5.12b/c and I was feeling the little voice telling me not to get on it.  So I did.  I said fuck it, said it was time for a new pattern and put the shoes on and went on it.  I gave it what I had and got through the bouldery crux section, climbing well, and fell after hanging after the crux looking for the correct sequence.  Then made it to the top, and came down happy as ever (and pumped as ever).

For the final route I decided to try an new 5.12b/c, a long route, knowing that this was too early to go into a 40+ move route at the end of the day.  I gave it a go and had to hang about 5 times; it wasn’t even a question of fear of falling but just that the forearms got overpumped and lost and strength and I had to wait a few minutes between attempts in order to do 5 more moves.  I finally made it to the top, lowered, and belayed a friend on it who showed me all the moves.  I decided I’d give it another go before leaving so after a good 20-30 minute rest and as the sun went down I got back on the route.  Somewhere about the 7th move I sunk into myself, got out of my head, noticed where I was, what I was doing, and my body relaxed.  I stopped gripping as hard, started breathing easier, moving more openly and the thought crossed my mind that with good technique I might send the route.  So I climbed smart, took good rests, stayed relaxed and lo-and-behold I got to the very last 2 moves with fatigued forearms.  Giving it all I had I stabbed for the holds in the last moves and made it to the anchors!

Before flying to Portugal I made a long tick-list of the routes I wanted to do, yesterday the first one got scratched off.  So much more than a name and a number… I’m really really looking forward to experiencing the other climbs, getting to know their stories, and doing it in the company of good friends as was the case yesterday!!!

A short but important p.s.

The word Fenda, in Portuguese, means a crevice.  This climbing area is located very close to the beach but from the beach you can only see the rising mountain side, not the climbing wall because the wall is located in a crevice.  There are several sectors in this area and most of the routes are overhanging. The routes are made of limestone rock in tones of orange to black and the holds are very varied: tufas, crimps, pockets, slopers…  The Fenda has been a climbing spot for about 2 decades now and despite this long time it has few greasy/polished routes since the climbing community has not been very numerous … Climbing is possible year-round; summer time you belay the climber as he/she drips sweat into your eyes, winter time is perhaps the most recommended as the holds are less greasy and the overhanging rock allows for climbing even during rain.

I’m really grateful to those who bolted these routes a long time ago and to those who have kept them in good conditions by replacing bolts and anchors.  This is definitely an excellent spot for climbing!

Good days and Bad days

Went to the mountain of Sintra again, super psyched, riding high from the recent great sends!  I decided to start aiming my sights higher, as high as Sintra goes actually: Mito 8a (V11).  I looked at this problem with Macau about three weeks ago, soon after I had arrived; it looked awesome and felt very tough but I felt it to be within my reach.  That’s what a project is.

So I went over to the Mecca, feeling great, the wind in my face, the temps felt great.  I walked over to the warm-up area and set down my things.  Chalked up and did laps on an excellent V2 or something.  And it was about then that things started to feel a little off.  I tried some lines I had previously done and was greasing off them.  What was going on?  And then I noticed that I was sweating.  The temperature had shot up and the humidity was ridiculous for Sintra.  What was going on?  The rock felt like soap.  I kept trying the lines, super frustrated, feeling like a shitty climber.  Arghhh…  Each time I fell the morale got lower and lower.  This is one of the downsides of going climbing alone, when things are going bad there is no-one to joke with, to lighten up the mood.

I packed up my stuff after finally repeating a line I had flashed three weeks ago and doing a traverse line I hand’t tried.  Upon topping out I noticed the large raincoulds in the distance and realized that the humidity and temps were because of the front coming in.

I headed back to the car.  Sitting in the car I planned on leaving Sintra and going back home, or going to the beach… but it didn’t make sense to be here now and to leave…  Sure it was frustrating but that was climbing..  I can’t expect to have rad 7c days every single time.  It was a challenge.  I just felt off.  Thinking of Jonathan Livingston Seagull I drove the car to the Mito parking, removed the crash pads, packed the bags again and hiked the 10 minutes there.

The rock looked just as beautiful as I remembered, even more so.  My fingers were in pain when I touched the rock, the moves felt impossible and the rock felt greasy.  With a more understanding mentality/outlook I spent the next hour working some of the moves, failing relentlessly but persisting.

The sun went down and I headed back to the car feeling some satisfaction.  I’m glad I didn’t leave right away.

O Kalashnikov!

Four days spread out over 3 years; two days 3 years ago and 2 more since arriving at the beginning of September.  That is how long it has taken to do the last move of this problem.  3 years ago I tried it and quickly made it to the last move, a long dynamic move with the left hand from a crimp to a high sloper.  The second day on I met up with Filipe and we both worked on the climb, he sent and I fell a couple of times on the same last move before it got dark and people left… I was on a short visit to Portugal and the next day I flew back to the US.

Today I met up with Nico Favresse and with Rances Rodriguez and after a nice little warm-up we went to check out this climb.  Second try and I was back to falling from the last move.  But this time the mood was different.  No-one was eager to leave, sunset had come and the headlamps were out, and there was a lot of psych going around.  I fell two or three more times then I stuck the move only to fall matching the sloper.  Super amped I added one more element of motivation by putting La Roux’s “Going in for the kill” on the little sound system.  With little rest and much motivation I sent and let out an immense yell of satisfaction!!

Soooo Goood!!

What a climb!  5 stars!  The first 7c (V9) in Portugal and such a beautiful line!  Tall, unique (not an eliminate), excellent sequence of moves…  SO PSYCHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!