Oreganic Vol 2/Oliana

My friend Greg made this. Watch it. It’ll get you psyched.

On a separate note, we’re down the road 10 kilometers past Oliana at a pretty decent hotel. The Campground with the campers for rent in Oliana was closed… we waited at the reception for an hour, we walked all around the campground and didn’t see a soul, so we bailed. But we’re pretty psyched on out little hotel. It has a nice view and it was only 45 euros, which is relatively inexpensive… for Europe. The town we’re in is called Coll De Nargo and it’s surrounded by huge cliffbands. There must be a ton of climbing around here, and if there isn’t, well, there are probably a lot of awesome cliffs that will remain unbolted beyond the ends of human existence, which is fine by me.

I might rest again tomorrow because my tendons are feeling extra tweaked from the last two days of cranking in Margalef but after that it’s a muerte at Oliana! I have to finish up Blanquita or I’ll never forgive myself. Blanquita is a route I tried in Oliana about seven times and fell from this puta slab crux five of those times. It’s rated 8c+ but if it had the 9a grade I wouldn’t argue. There are many involved and difficult sequences and while there is a good rest before the final boulder problem, it’s still damn hard for me even when I just pull on and do it after a rest.

Two weeks ago Adam Ondra onsighted this route. ONSIGHTED!!!

It’s hard to imagine onsighting a route like this that would be so easy fuck up, let alone climb on your first try without falling… anyway, it’s just mindboggling impressive. The new geneeration is here and they are pushing things forward. In the words of Boone Speed “well, I guess I can go get a job now”. I’m paraphrasing but you get the picture. I’ll just go trad climbing and start drinking lots more beer, grow a (n even bigger) gut and reminisce about the good ol’e days…

Other notable ticks that I’ve heard from the young’ins sector, and this may be old news but- Enzo Oddo doing the third ascent of The Beautiful and Damned in Bishop after a crucial hold broke and got way worse (a hold I remember standing on a milking for all it was worth) and also his ascent of Just Do It in Smith Rocks in two days with warm conditions. Oh Vey! This second accomplishment is almost more impressive becuase I remember trying this route when it was warm and I’d just slip right off the small crimps. It felt impossible in those conditions… Sasha Digiulian has been ripping the red river gorge a new one in the past month, redpointing Southern Smoke and Lucifer, Both 5.14c and onsighting Omaha Beach (14a). Holy hell! I tried to Onight Omaha Beach six years ago and failed. I also tried Southern Smoke THIS year, about five or six times, AND FAILED! Kids these days… no respect for their elders (‘s egos). Enzo is probably clipping the chains on the second ascent of Era Bella as I type this.

Ha! And I just remembered hearing that a young French girl who’s name I can’t remember did the very route I do in the above video, Scarface, except in four tries, NOT FOUR DAYS! And she probably didn’t have to use some cheater-ass drop knee sequence to avoid the mono…

I’m sure there are a whole lot of other ankle biters out there that I don’t know about who deserve a shout out, lining up to onight my projects and I say to you, in the words of J-Stew, good day Sirs (and Madames)! Keep doing what you’re doing! It’s truly inspiring! It’s awesome to see the groms (to borrow a colloquialism from surfing) coming up with a totally different and broader understanding of what’s possible in climbing. Take the understanding of what’s possible in climbing NOW, add some hero/icons who are still very young but raising the bar in the sport, pair it with the drive you have when you’re a teenager and wallah! Adam Ondra is going to flash Realization. Ashima Shirashi is going to climb Jade. Some other kid who’s all psyched on walls is probably gonna onsight El Cap. Then some other kid’s gonna free solo half dome! Ok that’s never gonna happen… I’ve had too much wine, I’m going to sleep