And cut the brake lines

The trail of blood up the crack seems to say that someone found it harder than a 5.4

back from climbing in El Chorro. Due to weather and time constraints, only got a couple of days in. place is fucking sweet. seriously - when I buy a place there, you're all invited - and it's an invite you need to accept. climbed damn well for 6 months off. really happy with with how it went.

now busy getting caught up with art stuff I couldn't touch while I was out. will organize photos the next few days (I hope).

went to malaga after el chorro with the lady for a few days. nice town on the Mediterranean. saw a lot, including being 50 feet from seeing a 6yo get killed by a float in a parade. really fucking sad. didn't actually see it, but saw all the police, the ambulances, and grieving doctor father with blood all over his hands and face from trying to save his kid's life. fuck - a real bummer end to that trip. they celebrate king's day here (jan 6), which is like christmas day for us. imagine being a forensic doctor watching your kid get run over by a float on christmas day. i hugged the lady a lot the rest of the trip. fuck - still sad.

back in sevilla. off to barca in a few days. tired from walking about 15-25 km per day every day since I landed in lisboa for a few hours. will walk even more once there.

tomorrow is a holiday and rest day.

hope you all had a great new year.

Sounds so great! How is the elbow, btw?

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Mine was fine and fabulous.

I'm off bacon for the month... gotta get to fighting weight for my trip south next month.

Alright - still waiting on pics from one of the partners for the blog's TR, but here's the SPCI version for now.

Full photo link

Started on in Sevilla checking out what is supposedly the world's largest artificial wall / gym area (in terms of volume size, not height. source: the internet, so you decide). Just me and the lady checking it out on day one, then my buddy arrived and we went climbing on one of the days that we stuck around in Sevilla.

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8473/8364332961_f0176211d9.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8324/8365394156_1219dc2db0.jpg[/image]

Then my buddy and I hit some limestone in a small town called Moron de la Frontera. Yeah, we joked about that, too. Climbing was uninspiring, but since there really aren't a lot of options close to Sevilla (day-trip options), we climbed what we could.

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8373/8361880367_0c6a74d554.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8363/8362951492_71a7da5b78.jpg[/image]

next day went to a sweet place called Cerro del Hierro, which is an old mine. Our guidebook sucked, so we hiked in sans gear to find the climbs. Turns out we were lucky because one needs permission to climb there first, and the fine is pretty stiff if you're caught. The photos of the steep spires were in an off-limits area that we said "fuck it" to and hiked in anyway. Wow. Pics don't do it justice.

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8226/8362929612_8cf59bb5df.jpg[/image]

The spires in the below photos are significantly taller than they appear. As in, we couldn't see the bottom from our vantage point on the top:
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378/8361860999_263a6c0e11.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8190/8361815349_ffdf94532f.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8094/8362872218_396cc2d6b9.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8097/8361802115_7a8c851392.jpg[/image]

Went back to the bridge after getting shut down by permissions:

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8467/8364316051_07d8f20751.jpg[/image]



My buddy got one clip from the end. I didn't get that far...by a long shot.
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8221/8364314665_db2e5c6632.jpg[/image]

And then came El Chorro:

You can see the famed El Camino del Rey in the midpoint leading to the bridge. It's closed now to hikers, but climbers can access it to get at the climbs in the Gorge. Was incredibly impressive. You need to access the bridge via a via ferrata that follows that ridge line below the pathway. The reason is that the pathway above the ridgeline doesn't continue to the scree field off to the right.
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8361687201_325193f909.jpg[/image]

The Frontales sector
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8362705456_6d6391e79c.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8501/8361630339_d5249f4832.jpg[/image]

[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/8362775892_50a1fb2578.jpg[/image]

Yes, the trees grow that way
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8212/8365483484_bb28478ea5.jpg[/image]

A photo you should vote for
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...Escalera_121429.html

The view of Ardales from the roof of our casa. Ardales is the small town we stayed in, about 15min from El Chorro by car.
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8075/8365483166_b06995414d.jpg[/image]

awww...
[image]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8491/8365482164_eca033e457.jpg[/image]

And yes, there's a large caipirinha on the table below, just out of the picture.

Yes we can.

Bouldering:
Throw on a big heavy jacket and a beanie. Stand around shoot the shit, step up to the rock and make slow motion kung fu hand motions at it, watch your buddy due the same, throww off jacket, flail at rock for 50 secs, step back and throw jacket back on. yea, thats prolly a V7+

You blew the PT!

I'll be in the park from Feb 6-10 and in the Vegas area for the 11th and 12th.

Like an spci meetup eh?

Creepy

Back on the wagon on all accounts.

Instincts never change.

It was doing well until I thought it was a good idea to show up my partners by onsighting a thugish .11 at the gym they were failing to RP. I both failed on onsight and tweeked it. : (

Oscar nominations are out. Got some catching up to do.

back from barcelona

Just looking at some of the easier routes in J-Tree and came across this ascent note:

Creepy is my speciality.