A classic of the genre

Cima en La Mesa Originally uploaded by ·GeorG·.

I got a text from Jorge, asking if I wanted to come along on a classic 250m route. So I said yes. The route’s on a crag called La Mesa, one of three rocky outcrops (outcrops which are 300m high) topping out at 1922m. Xuacu and Jorge picked me up at 3:30pm and we drove south, turning off the main road into deep deep valleys and winding our way up narrow roads to where the snow was still thick in sheltered dips. We went through a gate and Xuacu said welcome to Spain, now we can eat paella… We were deep in the cordillera Cantabrica which separates Asturias from the rest of Spain (the Asturians seem to like it that way).

The climb itself was called Gran Diedro and to give climbers an idea of the style, the first ascent was 1969. It’s old school. Climbs here are graded III IV and V plus and minus, then 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a and so on. But there’s a biiiiig difference between a bolted sports V and a 1969 pitons and beards V. There is a sense of safety in sports climbing that is conspicuous by its absence on big routes like this. Jorge offered me the lead and I said no, not this time, I haven’t climbed with trad gear for a while, not on a multipitch. So he led off and there was grunting as he wedged into an off width chimney, a task somewhat complicated by his backpack.

Xuacu went second and had a bit of an epic trying to get out of the chimney, he had trouble with his rucsack and it looked bloomin’ awkward. He eventually decided it wasn’t for him and came down. I thrutched, squeezed and scraped up the first pitch and, as I tied in to the belay, congratulated Jorge on a good lead, it felt a little harder than the sports routes we did a few weeks ago. He carried on and there was more grunting, a little slipping and the noise of the odd carabiner being clicked open and closed. There was not a great deal of postitive stuff for the feet on this climb, and in a few places, precious little for the hands either. I was rather glad it was Jorge on the lead and not me, then at another belay he said this was only his second time leading a classic like this. I was gobsmacked. He was doing a fine job, quick into the belays and very safe so I was enjoying this return to heights (I think only Gubia normal in Mallorca is longer in my climbing history). The other thing with multipitches and, in my limited experience, limestone, is that you often find yourself faced with a choice of grass filled hole for you foot or blank wall with a little nubbin of something that you’ll have to smear on, and the choice is often dictated by the quality of the handholds. It makes for interesting climbing (Jorge’s blog entry is here and it has more photos).

We topped out at 9pm, clouds had obcsured all but the highest peaks (that’s Jorge in the photo, with peña Ubiña in the background). My throat was dry as dust, I blame the altitude. We found the route down as dusk fell, and walked down the steep zig zag path into thick fog. A fine day, and hopefully we can come back and make sure Xuacu gets to do it next time. I am so stiff today it’s not funny. Okay, it’s a bit funny…