Pfalz Climbing 2018

Summer Holiday in September?

Yes, the whole period from begin June to mid summer half September was build around the recovery of San. She underwent a serious neck hernia operation that would definitely take a couple of months recovery to have her strength back again and I had an injured shoulder from just pushing heavy garbage into the dump. For San it was a real struggle as she had a lot of nerve pain in her arm and hand. The hand was painful even by slightest amount of water running over her skin. So instead of climbing we did a lot of hiking and sightseeing in "our favourite area" the volcano Eifel. Very pleasant but no or low climbing though.


Our first days of the vacation.
On Friday evening before our planned holiday we both left our work and were so tired that a long trip to the south was just too much for us. Therefor we changed our plan and drove just 5 hours to the Pfalz in Germany to enjoy the good weather over there and do some easy trad climbing for just a couple of days.

Wow, again we felt at home when we found our first crag called "Rotzollwand" away from the popular crags with only some nice singing birds to welcome us in their forest. Such a nice environment and from a distance quit nice sandstone crag too.

Climbing the first 4  called "Schönes Wändel" on gear was great but already quit demanding. The rest of the bolted routes seem to have worn out a little so that it became dangerous to the first bolt.
Nevertheless a nice day with a very nice expedition type or adventurer's hike back and forward.














Next day we went to a crag called "Westliche Kesselwand" with quit a long walk thru the forest with falling trees??? Here we did some very nice easy trad routes  but also some quite demanding. We collected chestnuts as they fell down from the trees without noticing so wearing a helmet was almost a necessity.

Last day we went to a crag called "Pferchfeldfelsen". Great crag. Nice easy route called "Dritte Rampe" looks easy going but already quit an adventure.




















A short summary: Yes, again a great short vacation period in the Pfalz, great weather, great crags, nice walks or hiking, delicious food and off coarse excellent wine! Life is great!
Even the trees love and kiss each other!!

Annot, Crack Paradise, Trad Climbing and Bouldering on Sandstone

Yes we went back to Annot again, last year we were left with good memories from this beautiful place and the fun that we had with traditional climbing, sport climbing and bouldering. This vacation was concentrated around trad climbing and doing a little bit of Bouldering.

We explained last time where Annot is and what you can do to enjoy.

http://jan-san-climbing.blogspot.com/2017/05/annot-has-it-all-sandstone-crack.html

See the main crag.

Although it was chilly in April, the weather became quickly warm, specially when you walked up the path from the train station to La Chambre du Roi. We did this multiple times, so you will get well trained legs and will loose some weight with 15kG gear on your back. Hi Hi.
We started at La Cave again but this time no crowds of people. Super. Very nice easy crack starters like Adam and Eve to get ready for harder stuff. La Voie du Sage 6a+ but has a quit physical offwidth part. Look at the picture with the rope against the wall with 250-300 meters below you.

The other day we went to La Vire Inter and did some harder stuff. For Example Spitalgie 6C, it has big holes and grips but knotting the threads in it as protection is exhausting, puwh.

Mettrez Ca Sur M'ANNOT 6B

One day we went to Le Point de Vue. A very scary view into the deep. Even the trad 4+ seems to be harder because of this. Bouldering at Secteur Requim du Block, not that easy to find if you don't know the area.But nice weather and great boulders make it easily to forget the effort that it took.

Again we went to Offwidth Paradise but some of the routes were still wet, so I did Fastoche Diedre 6b+? I think it is harder. So I left some skin behind. In the afternoon we went even more up to Les Portettes where we both did the popular trad route called Les Portettes Face, nice hand jam, but slightly becoming to wear out.

The best we saved for last day in Annot, at La Vire Inter we started early in the morning since it would become warm that day, I spotted some days earlier a nice trad route  that appealed me a lot called Vingt 2, 7a. Starting with a small crack than passing some blocks going to bombe roof part with just some holes, Puwh that last part was hard.

San also proofed herself by doing 6a trad route called X-Files, super proud on her achievement even with a neck hernia.

Hope to come back soon again.

Valencia Climbing

Just a short update from us.
In April we did a small climbing vacation in the area of Valencia again.
The weather forecast was not super and it was definitely colder than expected.
Every day we tried to find a warm climbing spot in the sun so we travelled to different area's and crags. Still the wind was cold in some of the gorges.


Climbing crags that we visited:
Bunol
Altura
Jerica
Borriol
Cucalla
El Castellet.


In the late afternoon or evening we drove back to our apartment and made ourselves a nice dinner wit some wine, the topper this week: Lemon Chicken slow cooked in the oven for 2 hours, jummy.

Ruhrtal Katla Cave

Last weekend in cold and wet Germany we went for some bouldering.
As every year we enjoy the surroundings of the Ruhrtal and in particular the Avalonia area.
San was going for a hiking tour and I tried some boulders in the Katla Cave where I found some dry spots. Around noon even the sun appeared which made it more enjoyable.

Next day we went to one of our favourite Climbing Gyms called Bergwerk in Dortmund.

http://www.kletterhalle-bergwerk.de/bergwerk/deutsch/klettern-und-bouldern-in-dortmund.html

In comparison to many Dutch climbing gyms you can do lead climbing on all the routes if you want, and for crack addicted climbers like us there are even a couple of crack routes that are very enjoyable to do.

After finishing your climbing session you can have a very luxury massage shower. Never saw that before in other gyms. Something other gyms can learn from Hi Hi.

INTO THE WILD 2

Is there Wild In the Netherlands? No!! Yes!!

Like last year, we headed again into the forest to live some adventure.

After the heavy storms in the Netherlands a lot trees had been falling down and there were serious warnings of falling branches called widow makers. So the Dutch authority advised not to go into the woods. Ok? So we were prepared to be cautious and be careful with our route and picking our camping place.

Again the circumstances were harsh, a winter snow on some areas and drawling foggy rain making the whole area wet.

First thing: Making shelter to prevent becoming too wet and making fire to get some heath

During the day and evening we had a foggy rain but later the evening we had even some sunshine
Next: Chopping Wood to get thru the day and evening it took me 3 hours.























New thing we learned; cooking on open wood fire. San sat down and became the "fire master" and she cooked water for our thee and coffee and started to bake our bread in our special prepared "Dutch Oven" (not realy but an old pan from our home kitchen) After that she made  with chicken legs and a bunch of vegetables a great diner. Whauw!!

Late evening the sky broke open and the stars were visible, directly the temperature dropped to -3 deg C.

Early morning we lit up the fire and made thee and coffee and some bacon and eggs. Jummy!

Carefully breaking down our frozen tent and tarp we headed home again. Our clothes smelling of burned wood. Hi Hi.

See you next time San and Jan!

Costa Blanca 17' 18'

Hi,

Yes indeed we went to Spain again this year. The rainy, cold days in the Netherlands did us again decide to head off to get some lovely sunshiny warm weather in Spain. I was struck with a terrible cold cough and San was still facing her neck injuries.

This did not kept us from travelling to our winter location to do some sport and trad climbing.

The first week we pushed ourselves hard in new routes.

The second week of our holiday it was planned that the family of San's sister was joining us so this year we decided to rent a bigger and more luxury house with an open fireplace and an outside kitchen. Great!

Trad in Sierra de Toix Este

Trad in Vall de Guadar

We visited some new area's and learned again that it takes some time to get used to the new styles of climbing. We enjoyed the first week with climbing adventurous trad routes and the second week climbing some easier routes with the youngsters. Every evening we had to collect wood for the woodstove and fireplace.

New Crag's visited:
Tallat Roig: Near the Alzira city, great crag with multipitch and single pitch routes Trad and Sport.
Bolulla: Raco Roig left side: always spectacular views of the Barranco of Bolulla area.

Tallat Roig



Barranco de Bolulla



San in Guadalest

Delicious Food; Fish and Paella from the Woodstove!!!

Life is good!!!!!!!

Climbing with the youngsters!







Scarpa Mago Climbing Shoe Review

Hi,

We just wanted to give our review on the Scarpa Mago's that we bought somewhere back in 2009. We both bought them during a sale in a climbing gym in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The size might have been slightly on the small side but they became quickly more comfortable when using them. As soon as the noose became a little less edgy and round, immediately the nice down turn nose became very accurate as well as indoors and outdoor routes. The nice stiff sole gave good support to stand on the smallest foot holds and giving us a kind feeling of being more in control on the rock. More and more they became our best shoes ever for indoor and outdoor climbs regardless the type of routes and rock. The upper layer of leather and the tow nose of rubber gave excellent protection when climbing traditional cracks. Great feet jamming! It might sound strange but we became very attached to them and have resoled them a couple of times which did not give any disadvantages.

Now after 8 years of service and the nose showing big holes and although the upper leather part is still looking fine we regretfully think we have to say goodbye to them.

San bought already here new pair of Mago’s and continues to use them.

Thanks Scarpa for making these magnificent shoes. 1. Scarpa Mago, 2. Scarpa Mago, 3. Scarpa Mago

San on the Scarpa Mago in 2013

8 years of Great Service