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Montserrat Easy Multi Pitch

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removed user 13 Sep 2018

Montserrat near Barcelona that is. Has anyone ever done multi pitch routes on the needles there? Any info you can share would be appreciated. I would normally buy a guide book but its €30 and we're only there for a day. My top question is how do we get down off them?

I found this page for a route up the needle called Momia but my Catalan is...rusty, and Google translate isn't really having it https://escalatroncs.com/2013/10/10/normal-momia-montserrat/

J1234 13 Sep 2018
In reply to removed user:

There are all grades of routes on the Gorros. Gorros   We abbed off. 60m Half  Ropes. All simple stuff. We used the funicular. Good day out. Enjoy.

Post edited at 21:48
 HeMa 14 Sep 2018
In reply to removed user:

You rap down... mostly.

And when I did the very route you linked on Momia, there was a steel cable bolted to the top and and some 10-20m lower down (a'la via ferrata). You rapped from the bottom of the cable (bolted anchor or somethings) and I recall 50m half roped got you down to the start in one go.


So climb with half ropes. And expect to rapple.

 Alun 14 Sep 2018
In reply to HeMa:

There is enough easy multipitch in Montserrat to last a lifetime, especially in the gorros sector, but also in the zona sur. Whether you would want to spend a lifetime padding up featureless and, IMO, rather boring slabs, is another matter. But certainly ticking off a pinnacle is a good experience for a day.

Make sure you read the online topos carefully - the one you linked to (which is one of the classic routes of the massif) informs us that the route is ‘desequipada’ i.e. no bolts apart from at the belays. Big deal, you might think, but protection is hard to come by and you will be running it out for literally dozens of meters. (The classic ‘Montserrat’ protection is cord tied off a round one of the bigger protruding stones of the conglomerate -the first time I saw it used, I laughed).

There are plenty of fully bolted easier multipitch, though. Descent is via abseil, as others have mentioned. So two ropes are useful, although I have done several routes on a 80m single, you just need to check that the belays are less than 40m apart.

Have fun!

removed user 14 Sep 2018
In reply to HeMa:

You've climbed that route, great. Is it fully bolted or does it need gear? 

When you say 50 half-roped, do you mean half of a 50m strand (in other words 25m)? Or do you mean you used 2 x 50m half ropes, tied at one end (so the distance is 50m)? Thanks.

removed user 14 Sep 2018
In reply to Alun:

Thanks a lot. Could you recommend a bolted multi pitch route? I saw a photo of a sling round a pebble and I laughed too - don't fancy that. 

 Simon Caldwell 14 Sep 2018
In reply to removed user:

We spent a week there in 2015. Loads of climbing available, but the two best routes we did were 

Normal (5a) and Gomez-Xalmet (6a)

Both are graded 5a (if you aid the crux pitch on Gomez-Xalmet) but both felt like HVS or at least sustained VS. Both can be done without trad gear as there's a lot of fixed gear, but only if you've go a grade or two in hand, we took a trad rack and were very glad of it.

 

Edit: for some easier bolted routes there are several at Gorros not as memorable as those pinnacle routes, but very pleasant (and less traumatic if you're pushing your grade)

Post edited at 10:16
removed user 14 Sep 2018
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Nice, sounds like Normal on Cavall Bernat could be a winner. How did you get down, ab down to each anchor? 

 Simon Caldwell 14 Sep 2018
In reply to removed user:

Double 60m ropes would get you to the ground in one ab, we had a 70m single so did it in 2 - one to the top of the corner, one to the tree, then a scramble down the approach pitch (in situ tat would allow this to be abbed if needed)

 HeMa 14 Sep 2018
In reply to removed user:

No bolts, bar the anchors.

2* 50m

removed user 15 Sep 2018
In reply to removed user:

Thanks all. We ended up doing Sargantanes (4a) which was a good introduction to multi pitch and hanging belays for my girlfriend. Bit of a humdrum route but fantastic views. Marathon walk in and out if you don't take the funicular. 

 humptydumpty 20 Sep 2018
In reply to HeMa:

> You rap down... mostly.

> And when I did the very route you linked on Momia, there was a steel cable bolted to the top and and some 10-20m lower down (a'la via ferrata). You rapped from the bottom of the cable (bolted anchor or somethings) and I recall 50m half roped got you down to the start in one go.

> So climb with half ropes. And expect to rapple.

Just a warning for future readers: fixed gear tends to change frequently in Montserrat, and I've yet to find a reliable source of information.  Don't expect anything VF-like to be in-situ, even if mentioned in guidebooks.

That said, I've never had a problem descending with a 70m single.

 HeMa 20 Sep 2018
In reply to humptydumpty:

> Just a warning for future readers: fixed gear tends to change frequently in Montserrat, and I've yet to find a reliable source of information.  Don't expect anything VF-like to be in-situ, even if mentioned in guidebooks.

 

Might be the case...

Albeit when I climbed Momia, the guide was already 10-15 years old. And when I climbed the nearby Boy-Roca some 10 years after, I still saw the cable.

That ain't to say things don't change...


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