El Chorro 2013-the return

I couldn't believe my luck with a second trip to El Chorro in a year! After a hectic time starting my masters it felt like a relief to make it on the plane to escape the workload and the cold weather. Once we hit the Spanish crags soaked in sun everything else was forgotten. The first day we managed to tick some routes at nearby sector Castrojo, and we soon realised that we were going to need to be walking to the crag for sunrise to maximise the time climbing before the heat became too unbearable.

The alarm was set for 7am every day which felt tough given it was pitch black. I don't think I could get anyone else to get up before 8am on a trip! However I wouldn't be me if I didn't try to push my luck and Paul was not impressed with my proposal to set the alarm for 6.30am!

On our first full day we headed back up to escalera Arabe as we had lots of routes we wanted to try from January, and top of that list was the bladerunner and amar sandringero a tricky 6c. This was also a good strategy to get the hardest and longest approach out of the way.

Bladerunner 6a

Amar Sandrego, 6c

The second day we headed back to poem de roca, warming up at nearby sector momia first. It was all about talibania for me, a 7c I'd tried twice before. Still didn't manage to get the route clean but as always I enjoyed the climb and working through the last couple of moves which always causes me the biggest problems. We did some other routes to the right of the crag including fahrenheit, an arête which appeared like a soft 6c but I felt pretty relieved to reach the top.

Talibania, 7c

I had promised Paul we'd visit el polvorin this trip. For some reason el polvorin had never took my fancy. We climbed some slabs at Los cotos on the way which is always good for me as I rarely climb slabs. My prior feelings for el polvorin were justified given that the crag felt exposed with the foot of the crag a bit dodgy and very spaced bolts. We climbed sueno de venus, a top 50 6a which had some good moves and rock on the second half of the climb.

Paul on Sueno de Venus, 6a+

I wanted to visit a new crag (other than el polvorin) and I had spotted a couple of 7bs at the solarium. These turned out to be great lines, although solarium required care around a wasp nest.

Lobo Popez, 7b

Paul on Solarium, 7b getting close to the wasp nest

We returned to my favourite crag, sector suizo. I wanted to get on the few routes left I'd not tried. This included 'new 7b' which is the longest single pitch there which climbs out over the route. It was a great route and possible my favourite route there now. I then managed to clean on top rope bienvenidos 7b for the first time and 1 stop Alicia 7b+.

Paul on Que leche que tango, 6b

With the best intentions for the last day for some hard routes it ended up being too enjoyable climbing up quality 6s in the sun at sector Castrojo before heading home...