Gran Blau 8b+/c in Oliana!!

Employee of the day n#1

Employee of the day n#2 Photo: Rainer Eder :-)

Last days in Oliana!!
Yesterday was a really nice day in our favorite climbing place Oliana, after some hot days (totally unusual for this time of the year) the weather is getting cold and the climbing conditions are really good again... fresh, good routes, nice company and to be motivated is a perfect combination to have a great climbing day.. and one more time the girls of the team have been the employees of the day!! hihihi.. who is your dady??! eh? ;-) 
Colette sent really fast  her second 8a+ ¨Mon Dieu¨, a really beautifull route bolted by our friend Victor Fernandez.. muy bien rubia!! and finally I was able to get to the anchor of one of my favorite routes in Oliana, Gran Blau 8b+/c iiuuuujjuuuuu!!! This route was bolted by Carles Brascó some years ago and it´s  such an  aesthetic line.. thanks bicho! 
Well now keep going climbing, having fun and respect the enviroment please! :-)

Sterling rope and Whitney Boland!!

In this video Whitney Boland talks about her life in Chattanooga, her relationship with a chronic disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) as well as her relationship to climbing. For many people climbing is a form of therapy for Whitney that has taken on a whole new meaning. 

Whitney Boland has been on the Sterling Rope team for years, she originally joined in 2005. In addition to Climbing she loves to travel and is an accomplished writer. She has been published in Rock and Ice magazine and numerous other print and on-line publications such as Women’s Health, Aspen magazine, Climbing magazine and Rocky Mountain Sports just to name a few.

Follow along in this video series filmed and edited by Joey Kinder with help from his wonderful girlfriend Collette as they travel the globe connecting with some of the best climbers in the world who, like him, have all chosen Sterling Rope. 

For more on Whitney read her team bio - sterlingrope.com/team/67/710 
To follow her blog check out - whitneyboland.wordpress.com 

For more on the 9.2 Nano, the 9.4 Ion2, and the 9.8 Velocity ropes that Whitney talks about in this video check out sterlingrope.com 

facebook.com/sterlingrope

the motivation keeps going..!

The spring time is right here!!
I know that it´s early to say that but after one week with temperatures between 15º-18º what can we say?!  The weather is getting hot but we keep going motivated and the team is everyday psyched with new and old projects..hehe.. If somebody send we have the perfect excuse to celebrate a good day and it´s nice! Congrats to Colette because she redpointed her project ¨Mishi¨ 8a yesterday, a really nice route in Oliana and good job to Joe too for doing the same with ¨Paper Mullat¨ 8b+/c...hehe.. nice dudes!
Bueno vale venga vamos!!!

Mind Control!!!! :-)

Photos Keith Ladzinski

I´m sooo happy!!
Yesterday I was able to send my project ¨Mind Control¨ in Oliana!!! iiiuuuujuuuuuu
It was really nice to clip the chains and remember what it´s like to redpoint :-) it´s so good!! hehe..
Also my friend Joe K. did the route so it was a good day for the Era Vella Team!!! good job dude!
Thanks to everybody that was there because it was a really fanatic moment, and specially to my friend Cristian, our talisman hehe.. He also belayed Chris when he sent Firs Round First Minute! He has a lot of good energy and you can feel that when you climb :-) I like that! hehe.. And congrats to him too because he climbed his project ¨Anakista 8a+/b¨ in Bruixes, the last week!! nice man! Also thanks to the Lowell brothers (Big UP) that were filming the last tries and the give me a lot of motivation!!
and of course to Chris because he bolted this amazing line and many others in this area! :-)
Vamoooooossss!! So psyched!!!

winter time!!!

The real winter arrived!!
The weather is really cold right now in Cataluña... the temperatures have not risen 4 degrees even in the sun.. and it´s super windy too!! uff... it´s hard!... But the most important thing is that we´re really psyched with climbing and we are having fun days with our friends Josh and Brett Lowell (BigUp)
and with the fanatic couple Mcnerney - Kinder :-) We have to try hard our projects!! Vamos!!!

the brothers... East Coast represent..!!

just hanging out...

After some days in the canary paradise with the family and friends from there we come back home to try to finish what I started.. but no luck..
My endless story with "Gran Blau", my last project in Oliana, has been a little bit frustrating.. I had never been so close and so far of the chain in the same time!!.. but you know, this new experience is teaching me something good for sure ;-) 
I hope so!! hehe... and If I look at the positive side I keep having a really nice project almost in my pocket..! ;-) that sounds very good..
Putting aside Oliana and the projects (just for one week!) we have come to visit the winter Outdoor tradeshow in Salt lake City (Utah) with our good friend Finuco from Trangoworld and we have had the pleasure to see friends that we don't see very often.. the people from Evolv, Sanuk, Prana, Entreprises, Sterling ropes, Petzl, etc.. and many others :-) It was fun..

After the OR event in Salt Lake we have been in Santa Cruz to see family and friends and we met "the little" Emilio Puvhel Garcia!! and I say little because he was born just one month ago and he is really cute :-) Congrats Nancy and Marcus! 

And after this short visit in Santa Cruz we'll go to Los Angeles to work with the Evolv people.. they are making new amazing shoes!! 

what a beautiful family :-)

All the best for 2012!!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012 for everybody!!

We are going to Gran Canaria to enjoy the first day of the new year with my family!! :-) I´m psyched to see my friends from there, climb a little bit, go swimming in the ocean!
I love Canarias..!!  There are good people, beautiful landscapes, comfortable weather (now 25º hehe..), nice beaches and family!! So perfect :-) Let´s go to the island!!

Here some really nice photos from Gran Canaria of Maria Torres.