UKC

Help! Trip to Catalunia

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
jr8fish 20 Jan 2014
my wife and two friends and I are going to catalunia to climb from May 16 through may 24th. We are interested in climbing in the Tarragona area and the area north of Lleida. I have purchased both guide books for these areas by Pete and Dani. We will be climbing in the area for about 8 days and I wanted to ask your opinion on the best areas to go to? climbing onsight grades within our group range from 6c to 7c. What areas would you recommend for this time of year and for the best routes at these grades? We are think mostly single pitch sport routes, with a particular interest in pockets and tufas. What would be your best of the best 8 day itinerary for this area for this time of year?
Lastly, we are interested in staying in either bungalows or the many small cottages and bed and breakfast type places... Would you recommend that we make reservation for this time of year before hand or can we show up and go to places as we please and find rooms available. Thank you very much.
 1poundSOCKS 20 Jan 2014
In reply to jr8fish: Montsant is great for long routes on pockets, some great 40m ones, and plenty in that grade range. Could be hot in May, it was fairly hot when I was there last March. I camped in Siurana but there are places to rent in Cornidella (which is close to Montsant).

jr8fish 20 Jan 2014
In reply to 1poundSOCKS:

Did you like montsant more than margalef?
 Morgan Woods 21 Jan 2014
In reply to jr8fish:

I really liked Margalef but also want to check out Montsant some day. I think in late May Margalef might be the better option since it has more shade options. If you have a week there are plenty of places to potentially check out eg Siurana and El Falco.
 LeeWood 21 Jan 2014
In reply to jr8fish:

Yes, for May you will want some shade. In the Lleida zone there is good choice - N & E faces at Santa Ana, Os de Balaguer, & Camarasa. Further N Collegats & Abella de la Conca.

Camping Noguera has easy online booking for chalets.
 1poundSOCKS 21 Jan 2014
In reply to jr8fish: Sorry, didn't climb at Margalef, although I did have a look around on a wet day. Montsant is a bit of a steep walk in, but well worth a day trip, it's a great crag in a very impressive location.

 Pete O'Donovan 21 Jan 2014
In reply to jr8fish:

Given that the time of year you'll be visiting Catalunya should mean hot/very hot weather, together with your stated grade range (6c-7c) and preference for pockets and tufas, here are a few ideas.

Tarragona
Margalef (pockets) has great climbing and plenty of shaded stuff. Nearby Montsant (pockets) is magnificent, but most of the sectors have a generally southern orientation.

Lleida
Camarasa (pockets and edges) offers great climbing between 6c and 7c and is a really good destination for warm weather — virtually all its sectors are west or north-west facing.
Terradets: the world renowned Paret de les Bruixes sector is shaded until 1.30pm. The tufas here are legendary but the 'easier' routes (and that means 7a-7b+ here) are very polished. Worth a trip, even so. Sector Regina has some truly amazing tufa-lines but here the entry level is 7b+.

As other posters have pointed out, there are many more great zones in both Tarragona and Lleida, just in case the weather gets weird (i.e. you can actually climb in the sun) and/or you fancy extending your diet of tufas and pockets to include cracks, crimps, etc.

Pete.
jr8fish 23 Jan 2014
In reply to Pete O'Donovan:

Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate the advice and help. We are also considering climbing in Rodellar. Is it worth the extra drive from Lleida area to go and check it out? Is Rodellar a good area for climbing in Mid May and for the grade range 6c to 7c?

THanks
 Tyler 23 Jan 2014
In reply to Pete O'Donovan:

While you are here Pete, do you know anything about the route L'Escanyadets on the left hand side of Regina. The bolted line itself seems pretty hold less in the middle section, there are some glued up crimps on the right but would make the bolts almost impossible to clip and even without this problem the climbing seemed very very had for the grade.
 Morgan Woods 23 Jan 2014
In reply to jr8fish:

> Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate the advice and help. We are also considering climbing in Rodellar. Is it worth the extra drive from Lleida area to go and check it out? Is Rodellar a good area for climbing in Mid May and for the grade range 6c to 7c?

> THanks

Depends how much time you have. The drive is not that long.....maybe 2 hours tops depending where you leave from. There is plenty to go at in your grade range. Only been in Summer and Autumn but I imagine spring would be ok....maybe expect the odd storm and therefore dripping tufas. I think if you try and cram too many crags in then it limits your options to project hard routes.
 Pete O'Donovan 24 Jan 2014
In reply to Tyler:

Hi Tyler,

Sorry, but I haven't heard of any updates on this route. The last time I went up there (a couple of years ago) there was an old static rope still hanging down it.

In all likelihood it's just an abandoned project — the group of climbers who developed this crag are now engaged elsewhere.

Pete.
 LeeWood 24 Jan 2014
In reply to Pete O'Donovan:

I think we've forgotten Tres Ponts, NW Lleida zone. E facing. Closer than Rodellar. Is the climbing there as good as Terradets and is it less polished?
 Tyler 24 Jan 2014
In reply to LeeWood:

The climbing is as good, probably better at my grade as there are more low 7s. As for polish I never really noticed it being an issue at either venue. I'm not saying its not polished just that it doesnt detract as routes see to have pretty good holds compared to less steep equivalents in the UK
 Tyler 24 Jan 2014
In reply to Tyler:

Thanks Pete.
 LeeWood 24 Jan 2014
In reply to Tyler:

Thanks Tyler. Did you discover any climber's hostal/refugio in the vicinity - here did you stay?
 Tyler 24 Jan 2014
In reply to LeeWood:

Not around Tres Ponts but in Terradets there is the Hostal in the old railway station in Cellers, it used to have a bit of a 'reputation' but I believe is under new managementand much better. Last time we stayed at a place just on the outskirts of Tremp, it was self catering with shared kitchen but private rooms, they also have a two person apartment downstairs. Better than a hostal, convenient for Terradets and you don't have to book a whole week. I'll try to get details if you are interested. If you want more luxury you can negotiate with hotel Terradets and there is also 'Jane Newmans place' (everyone seems to know it as that, I'm sure I could get info if you want) but that means a 10-15 minutes drive up/down the hill each morning/evening but is very nice with amazing views.

Other times I've been I have just gone to a local bar and asked and got overnight accom. This worked in St Lorec, Cubells, Camarasa so would probably work near Tres Ponts as well
 LeeWood 24 Jan 2014
In reply to Tyler:

Thanks I've got the Tremp area sussed, but on the look-out for economic deals elsewhere. I think one of the reasons Rodellar works is that it has a 'scene' which centers around refuge & campsite - along with foot access to crags. Not many crags/zones can offer this.
nicolas durand 21 Feb 2014
In reply to Tyler:
There is now a refugio as well in abella de la conca opening 1st march 2014. Its self catering takes up to 15 people in rooms and dorm. Its 10 euro a night in dorm, rooms are 30euro a night. Its been ecologicaly renovated. There is about 200 routes now there a walk away from the refugio spread over lots of sector and climbs all year. Its 35min drive from terradets and villanova de meia, 45min from collegats, ager and cubells, 50 min from st linya, coll de nargo, 1h from oliana, tres ponts, camarassa.
Basically you can get easily to all lleida climbs from there and choice based on the weather condition where to go every morning.
Now if you want pockets then margalef is the place to be!!
Tufas in tres ponts are great in all grade range but nothing equates to rodellar which is good this time of year though some tufas can be wet.
But i would either do a margalef 8day pocket trip, or a 8 day tufa trip or a discovery of lleida region...i wouldnt mix it over such a short time!
For info on the refugio check www.facebook.com/abella.climb
Post edited at 22:15
 Rich2002 24 Feb 2014
In reply to jr8fish:

I went out last summer to that area and we mostly climbed at Camarassa and St Linya (Football pich crag recomend spanglish 7a+) we also did Cubells and Ager every crag we went to had great climbing the problem is there is so much choice you have to prioritse between climbing in lots of places or finding a good cragg and working a few routes, depends what you want out of the the trip. Camarassa is a great crag and if you walk upto the top areas there are some brand new climbs not in the guide book ask the locals and they will tell you the website for the Topo,s. You will have an epic time where ever you choose to climb.

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...