[kelvin]

Glad you had a good trip... and bang on with regards to the pink chalk. Fuck, it just looks a mess over the white and often like a freshly broken hold at first glance.
Just been back up there for a few days and the parking overnight situation has changed in the last two weeks. New signs are up in Spanish and English forbidding overnight parking and the police have been coming daily. Usual stuff, searching for dope and checking documents before telling you to park at the windswept lower parking nearer the village or the font 10k further on. Wardens have been checking the banned areas for climbers also.
Only one German guy prosecuted so far (2g of weed) but not the friendliest policing.

[a dense loner]

You sure the hotel was called Gallo fiend? They fucking love cats there in an almost Japanese reverence, charities all over the place for the homeless gatto's!

[Fiend]

Definitely Gallo .

I did see a Spanish dude try to take his cat bouldering with him. He was trying to get it to sit on top of his large mat on his back which was a comfy enough perch except for the fact the rest of his group included a pair of large giddy Alsations, which naturally resulted in the cat leaping from the pad, trying to climb up their campervan, falling back down and hurtling 10m up a nearby pine tree leaving 5 confused boulderers and 2 still giddy Alsations wondering what to do with it.

Partly hilarious and partly a bit sorry for the cat although I did see him on his own later in the week at La Fuente striding between blocs with the cat merrily trotting after him....

[old cheese]

We saw a dog with dreadlocks!

[a dense loner]

You sure that wasn't Haydn after he'd fallen onto pad?

[cha1n]

Couldn't have been, Haydn chopped the dreads before his trip didn't he?!

[kelvin]

We saw a dog with dreadlocks!

There's one here in Chulilla - had them since it was a puppy. Better than a mohecan I guess.

[kelvin]

I'd echo what Fiend thought about Tierra Media - well worth the walk. Rest day today, so walked in to meet up with friends from Barcelona and Chulilla. The 6s and 7s looked great. Some burly overhanging 7s scattered about and I thought the forest here had a real Font feel to it. After a good scout about, managed to find some proper crimpy ones. One day left to tick a project elsewhere but Tierra Media will have to wait till next winter.

[Fiend]

Anyone know the current state of the access restrictions?? Just did a quick Google and couldn't see anything. Are the seasonal restrictions still, well, seasonal, i.e. 10th January onwards??

Ta.

[haydn jones]

Couldn't have been, Haydn chopped the dreads before his trip didn't he?!

i chopped them while out there and glued them to a stray dog

[kelvin]

Anyone know the current state of the access restrictions?? Just did a quick Google and couldn't see anything. Are the seasonal restrictions still, well, seasonal, i.e. 10th January onwards??

Ta.

I'll check - might take a day or two tho

[kelvin]

Anyone know the current state of the access restrictions?? Just did a quick Google and couldn't see anything. Are the seasonal restrictions still, well, seasonal, i.e. 10th January onwards??

Ta.

I'll check - might take a day or two tho

Seems everyone is up early - the restrictions are staying the same it would seem next year, whatever they are. I'll be kicking around myself from mid Jan to mid Feb if things go to plan.

[Fiend]

Cheers man. Might do a trip there before restrictions to get to the areas I missed before.

[kelvin]

Cheers man. Might do a trip there before restrictions to get to the areas I missed before.

Enjoy. Just been making plans myself to be there for the 4th of Jan. The latest guidebook writer messaged this morning to say nothing has changed and this is a link to the current state of play but everyone seems optimistic that everything will be relaxed soon.

https://m.facebook.com/321640717989839/photos/a.324206911066553.1073741828.321640717989839/529419327211976/?type=3

[Fiend]

I;m working on a plan over near year which could well involve getting to Albarracin on, errrr, the 4th. Would be cool to hook up if so....

[ben]

Having been inspired by Fiend's '6c-7a' video, have just booked a long weekend in Albarracin for early March.

Fiend - what's the best guide, latest info on banned areas, cheap hotel recommendation, etc.   ?  Guess I'll get told to read this thread in more detail but life's a bit short for 3+ pages of talk about crusties dumping..

[Fiend]

Really, 3+ pages of talk about toilet functions is a great use of rest periods and rainy evenings.... But in the meantime:

Fiend - what's the best guide,

They're both shite. The grades are terrible and inconsistent, the new one is fucking landscape and has the tiniest topo photos known to mankind, although the maps might be okay, the old one has a lot of space dedicated to banned areas and the worst maps imaginable that don't show major features like the forest firebreak that is visible by fucking satellite. I got the old one because while you will be stumbling aimlessly due to the maps, once you do find a chalked boulder, the topos are at least visible without an electron microscope so you can work out where you are.

latest info on banned areas,

The front of the Sofa Boulder shop which is a cool shop, has a cute owner with an even cuter fluffy little dog. There's a notice on there, somewhat swamped by the masses of trendy posters and stickers. Also the thing Kelvin posted which I only briefly glimpsed at because I mistakenly assumed "same as before" meant "same as the old guide". In short, Acantallidosthingy, Psicokiller, upper Valle De Medira (sp!). Not sure about Peninsula though.

cheap hotel recommendation, etc.

Booking.com worked for me. Meson El Gallo was the cheapest I got in, and is above the reliable namesake restaurant. Hotel Albarracin was a bit pricier and not as nice a single room and you have to trot up the hill each day, but the breakfast buffet is ace. Casa Del Oria again was a bit more than MEG but was really nice and quaint, easy parking and great coffee. There might be cheaper hostel options but I'm pretty sure I couldn't find any last time.

Mini-supermarket and good bread / booze shop are on the main road out to the bloques.

Glad the video provided some inspiration, that really makes it worthwhile, well that and the fact I was enjoying building precarious tripods out of fallen pine branches just as much as the bouldering. In case you missed it, part 1 is here:



Including encouragement to get down to Tierra Media, and also La Fuente is really good too.

Fuck it I'll put the other one in too just so it's in one place for reference:

[slackline]

the old one has a lot of space dedicated to banned areas

Could that perhaps be because its old and they were banned after it was published? 



The UKB wiki has an entry for Spain which includes links to some onl-line topos for Albarracin on what is the Spanish equivalent of peakbouldering.info.  I cant' read Spanish so have no idea if its up to date though.

[ben]

fantastic thanks Fiend (and slackline).  Will investigate MEG for accomodation as a first call

Fiend - I think I might have met you briefly at ByG last autumn, you were perhaps climbing with Pylon King ?

[Fiend]

the old one has a lot of space dedicated to banned areas

Could that perhaps be because its old and they were banned after it was published? 

Yes, obviously. They are listed as bird-banned areas but are recently perma-banned. Despite not being the guide's fault, it is an aspect of what is the "best guide" for the current user, hence me mentioning it.

Ben - yup, one of the many occasions that Pylon Kunt dragged me to B-y-G, the first time at least I enjoyed it, the times after......ugh.

[slackline]

Despite not being the guide's fault, it is an aspect of what is the "best guide" for the current user, hence me mentioning it.

Agree.

The way you wrote about it and the phrases you used suggested to me you were incensed by this, despite it not being the guide author/publishers fault (other than not publishing a newer guide to reflect the change in situation, but then perhaps its not financially viable for them to do so).

[ben]

Glad the video provided some inspiration, that really makes it worthwhile, well that and the fact I was enjoying building precarious tripods out of fallen pine branches just as much as the bouldering. In case you missed it, part 1 is here:

had a great long weekend out there, Fiend you were like the 5th member of the team on perma-rewind for beta checking..  did a fair few of the problems from your flicks

Really liked it as a venue, although the 4" of snow on Sunday night wasn't ideal   

[Fiend]

Wow, that's really nice to hear, glad you had a good time