Why Madrid is the best climbing city ever

I've just moved back to Madrid, so naturally I'm a little bit biased on the subject, but the city really does have a lot to offer climbers. So never mind Innsbruck or Sheffield, Madrid is the new black: here's why.

Yeah, it's a dolphin...

Climbing Walls. Don't know why, don't know how, but Madrid has an impressive array of free climbing walls in parks all over the city. Bits of rock concreted to walls or holds bolted onto the underside of bridges to the more traditional bendcrete walls. Some have en-situ crashpads, some don't, the variety keeps things fresh and there are always a bunch of locals making up problems. I used to be a snob about climbing walls and still think that in terms of pure fun, nothing can beat a big expensive London climbing wall. However, purely for training purposes, I'd rather have an overhang with glued on bits of rock. Most of the footholds are small and slippery in a way that forces good technique and body tension. (honestly when was the last time your foot honestly slipped off a resin blob?)  Also, the range of  glued on rocks as hand holds makes for interesting climbing rather than the same plastic holds as always. Having watched the prices for indoor climbing walls double in the last six years, it's nice to see something that opens up the sport to everybody. I often see complete beginners scrambling around in trainers. Check out  http://www.escalamadrid.com/rocodromos/ for more walls in Madrid.

Far West 8A in La Pedriza.
 pretty much perfect boulder problem

As far as real rock is concerned, there's plenty too. El Escorial and Zarzalejo have plenty of granite boulders but La Pedriza is ridiculous. The bouldering guide has 1864 boulder problems and if you see the area, that's only the tip of the iceberg. The bouldering is a relatively recent addition: there's also lots of trad and sport including some pretty impressive multipitches. Further to the east the granite gives way to the limestone sport crags of Patones and el Vellon, even further is Tamajon, a relatively new hard bouldering spot. And those are just the ones I know about! There are definitely more crags out there.

Connections. Look at any road map of Spain and you'll notice that it looks like a giant spider's web. Madrid is right at the centre. This is incredibly frustrating if you want to go across the country because you have to zig-zag, But if you live in Madrid you can go directly to Albarracín (three and a half hours), Hoya Moros (two and a half), Santa Gadea (sub four hours) or Cuenca (under two hours). So not only do you have plenty within day tripping distance, your weekends will be looking pretty full as well.

Madrid's airport is a hub airport, which mean that you can get anywhere in the world, from a direct flight to Rocklands to a cheeky weekend in Fontainebleau. Also, domestic flights are dirt cheap so you could go deep water soloing in Mallorca for the weekend if you keep an eye on last minute discounts.

All this climbing but with the advantages of being in a big city. There are plenty of huge climbing shops which stock pretty much every imaginable product. There's also a climbing book shop which has everything from autobiographies to (surprisingly) every single gritstone guidebook out there! I also recently resoled my solutions in Madrid. It took less than a week, cost a mere thirty euros and was the best resole that I've ever seen.

Projects, so many projects! Madrid is the biggest city in Spain so it figures that they've been developing here for the longest. In other regions you'd get to the boulders by downloading a scanned pdf of a shaky drawing on the back of a napkin. In Madrid most areas have comprehensive guidebooks. So there's loads of climbing and it's relatively easy to find. On top of this, it only rains sixty-three days a year. I have a few projects on the go at the moment, all of them are five stars and I'm slowly hammering them into submission. Watch this space!

Tamajon- angry limestone cave bouldering at its best.

If at first you don't succeed...

Going for the pogo on Orejas

I've been wanting to start some kind of blog forever, but have just been too busy/lazy to actually set one up. Now it's thirty plus degrees outside and climbing is effectively impossible, I have some time to summarise the last four months of trips. This is the condensed version!

After Christmas in England I spent a week in Albarracin in January trying to climb Orejas de las Regletas, a short crimpy 8A. The crux is a huge deadpoint from an undercut to a sloper. As it was a short boulder I figured that endurance wouldn't be a factor, and quickly did all of the moves. I linked from two moves in to the end, but could never stick the crux from the start. After a short session I realised I'd developed blood blisters on three fingers of the hand that held the undercut crimp, it's not even sharp! Blood blisters take at least a week to grow out so it was game over as far as that boulder was concerned. I'd also managed to get pretty sick from sleeping in my car in below freezing conditions.

Madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. In February I  got an unexpected week off and was back to Albarracin doing the same thing, with pretty much the same results. The links felt easier but i still couldn't link in a session, and one session is all you get when your skin deteriorates this fast.

Origami

During Easter I headed north, with one goal. Origami 8A+ is a 24 move sandstone boulder on tiny crimps in the largely unknown (outside of Spain) bouldering area of Santa Gadea. If Albarracin is the Spanish Fontainebleau, then Santa Gadea is Southern Sandstone. The rock is less compact and more crumbly, but it has the advantage of a cooler climate later in the spring than Albarracin. I had a whole week to work on the climb, and i really thought it was in the bag this time, but despite making my best link on it ever (all three cruxes and a sketchy top out over ankle breaking boulders) I couldn't add the four moves necessary to do the only link I haven't made so far-and the only one that counts. Some stats: I've spent about fifty-one days trying Origami. I have 7.9GB of footage of Origami on my laptop and I've fallen off the third and final crux at least fifty times, and that's a conservative estimate. I'm painfully aware that I'm approaching my 'one year anniversary' on the boulder, I started trying it in early June last year.  

We've just had a four day weekend in Spain so i headed to  El Escorial, a granite bouldering zone near Madrid to try Massive Attack 8A+ (there's apparently another Massive Attack in Magic Wood: climbers like trip hop, who knew...) But anyway, this one is a six move crimp problem. I'd had a session on it earlier in the year and managed to do all but one move and even make some links. As I pulled into the car park, I felt a sense of foreboding. People having picnics, t-shirts, sun cream, barbecues? We slogged up the hill in the blazing heat anyway to give it a try but it was clear: the bouldering season was officially over. 

Plan B was to head to to another area near Madrid and get some sport climbing in. Patones, where I used to go climbing as a student in Madrid in 2011 carries mixed memories for me. On one hand, it's the first place I sport climbed outdoors, I remember wobbling up my first ever 7a+ redpoint there. On the other, it's the place where I had all my climbing/camping gear stolen on a trip two summers ago. Needless to say, I already had my eye on a few things. The project in question was a short overhanging 7b. Jugs to start, jugs to finish, and a blank section in the middle. Way back in the mists of 2011 I had lowered, defeated from the crux bolt. This time, I put the draws in, dialled the sequence and executed. After four months of failure, it just felt good to close the book on something. I remembered how impossible that crux had felt in 2011 and realised that I had got what I wanted: proof of progression. It's not the constant failure as such that bothers me, but the niggling feeling that you're not moving forward, that the hours of training are time wasted. Here was proof positive that I am a (slightly) better climber now than in 2011. A mere 7b redpoint you say? It's not the same as an ascent of a big project like Origami, but it's better than nothing at least for now.

In two weeks I'm heading to Fontainebleau and I couldn't be more excited. As usual there are plenty of things that shut me down last time I went, also in 2011, and like the proverbial climbing elephant, I never forget!

Patones: Madrid's local limestone crag