UKC

Back in September of 2009 the well known Spanish team of Iker and Eneko Pou completed what they consider to be their hardest big wall route yet.

Orbayu, on the Naranjo de Bulnes, is 500m long, has 13 pitches and the crux pitch weighs in at a mighty F8c+/9a.

Here is a video of the route from Mike Call:

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2421

In reply to UKC Articles:

Very nice short, and some lovely photography. Well put together.

In reply to Rampikino:

Yep, it was excellent wasn't it!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Nice. And interesting that they didn't choose to re-bolt it.

A 500 metre E10/11 crux pitch?

Wow!

In reply to El3ctroFuzz:

Yes - done in trad style which is good to see.

I did like the photography of the cloud in the valley.

In reply to UKC Articles: Did I just imagine it or was one of them placing a cam in the video?

Was the route done in a day, or did they do a pitch and ab off then jumar back up the next day and do the next pitch?


Looks awesome.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Really impressive route. Big wall f8c+ is mental!

Video makes me want to go and buy a crate of red bull though...

In reply to fishy1:

Well yes, this is trad climbing, they used their own pro. Also, I believe that they spent a lot of time rehearsing the pitches but then climbed it in one go.

In reply to nattfodd:

Did they place all the pitons they clipped themselves? On lead? I wouldn't call it trad if that's not the case.

Plus, there are bolts in it!

In reply to fishy1:

Thought that was the warm-up route...

In reply to fishy1:

My guess is that they shared pitches with other lines which had some in-situ gear. I would definitely still call it trad, though, especially since the bolt we see them clip looks like it's a decades old 1/4 inch...

In reply to UKC Articles:
Really liked that.

In reply to Rampikino:

I think its mostly on bolts actually. But with some worrying gaps.

In reply to jonny2vests:

looks like an aid route free to me. Bloody good effort though and ace ethics.

Well done!

In reply to UKC Articles:

That was awesome. I was wondering who was behind the film, because it's top notch, then I saw it's a BigUp. Probably not E10 or E11, but bloody scary to take falls on those wedged pegs

In reply to Rampikino:

Hahahahahaha. No.
If it was real trad they would have replaced all the pitons and bolts with trad gear: Skyhooks on the little flake handholds and tricams in the monos... all placed on lead

While I'm a complete girl about falling and facing runouts on hard ground, I have to point out that for it to be really dangerous, there has to be something for you to hit when you fall off. As far as the video shows, the hard sections are slightly overhanging and without any ledges or corner to fall onto or into.

And naturally to justify all these comments, this summer I will be travelling there to strip the bolts and pitons and climb it in ground up style with only leader placed protection.

In reply to jonny2vests:

The route partly follows an old aid route. On some pitches only one bit of gear was clipped or placed.

For those interested below is a list of what is on each pitch. Unfortunately in Spanish but you will get the gist if it.L1 = pitch 1 etc.

L.1: 8 a+. 38 m y 6 parabolts. Primera parte rota, después duro paso de bloque, y a aguantar hasta la cadena.
L.2: 8 a. 25 m y tres parabolts. Bloque duro de entrada, aguantar y bloque duro de salida.
L.3: 8 a. 25 m y cinco parabolts. Cinco chapas de resistencia dura sobre placa desplomada perfecta y un último paso muy duro sin proteger hasta la reunión.
L.4: 7 a. 25 m y tres parabolts. Paso duro de entrada, aguantar con seguro muy lejos, otro paso difícil y placa técnica hasta la cadena.
L.5: 8c+/9 a. 37 m y dos parabolts nuevos para la variante en libre. Una primera parte de 7c+/8 a de vía muy técnica, un bloque de 8 a+/b de graduación boulder sobre “dibujos”, y una ultima parte sobre bidedos y monodedos de alrededor de 8b de vía. La primera parte y la ultima asegurada sobre plomos, clavos falcados y pequeños fisureros empotrados con caídas potenciales de hasta 20-25 m.
L.6: 8 a+. 30 m y aseguramiento sobre buriles muy antiguos y deteriorados. Primera parte dura asegurada sobre plomos, después aguantar, otro bloque duro y fácil hasta la reunión.
L.7: 6b+. 55 m de placa técnica. Aseguramiento sobre friends y clavos falcados. L.8: 6 a+. 40 m de placa vertical técnica asegurada sobre puentes de roca, clavos falcados y friends.
L.9: 5. 45 m de travesía fina sin casi asegurar.
L.10: 5. 50 m de diedro chimenea asegurado por friends hasta Roca Solano.
L.11: 5+. 60 m ya del empalme de los dos largos de la Rabada-Navarro. Friends y clavos.
L.12: 5. 35 m del frontón de Rabada. Friends y clavos.
L.13: 5. 45 m del último largo del frontón de la Rabada- Navarro y cumbre. Friends y clavos.

Full story, in Spanish here;

http://www.barrabes.com/revista/articulo.asp?idArticulo=6306

JH

In reply to UKC Articles:

Really good.

Beautiful piece of rock and setting. Climbing also looks fantasric, with some great shots of it. Pretty inspiring stuff.

Would like to understand the ethics behind this one but that's not to knock it, just didn't quite get how they'd approached it.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Looks hard! Good work. The photo is very good.

I'm thirsty, anyone for redbull?