Loving life at Verdon Gorges!

We loved a lot traveling in Verdon last spring.

La Palud is the place to be when it´s not too hot. The equivalent french of Yosemite, an emblematic place where the climbing stories are a resume of the french history of rock climbing. 

We have learned a lot about the climbing legends from there. And also we have heard some fun stories from them like when Francois Guillot and Joel Coqueugnot opened in 1968 "la Demande" the first route at Verdon Gorges and It was the opportunity that Francois had to ask the hand of Joel's daughter in marriage.. and it's because the called the route ¨la demande¨. They had no fear. Those guys climbed this wide crack with only a few slings to catch the Cades (an old kind of Guniper hocked in the walls) and a pair of pitons. I have to mention also names like Stephane Troussier or Jacques Perrier who were involved of this amazing time for the climbing history in Verdon.

The 80th were made by Patrick Edlinger, this charismatic blond climber choose la Palud to live and train, he made rock climbing a modern and popular sport, and even more a way to live!! Paul Janssen made two really nice films with him in Verdon gorges ("La vie au bout des doigts" and "Opéra Vertical" in 82 and 83).

In the 90 the l'UCPA (a kind of french YMCA) established a camp in la palud. This holidays place is organizing sport camp, and allowed lots of modest climbers to discover the gorges, so far only the elite could climb there! The director Michel Suhubiette a mountain guides bolted lots of routes in level 5+, 6 and 7. They are doing a really good job over there.

We climbed "Les marche du temps" a very aery and technical vertical slab graded 7a.

Actually there are a lot of new sport climbing areas thanks to Graou (Bruno Clément). He is a tireless climber/bolter. He opened an endless list of sublime lines like Tom et Jerry, 8b+ (5.14a) wich I had the chance to climb last year. This 60 meter tuffa is probably the most beautiful line I'd ever climbed. 

Beautiful photo by my friend Jan Novak 

This year I discovered "Hulkosaure" one unique line bolted also by Graou. It's one simple and spectacular 5.14a/25 mtrs tuffa where it's impossible to remember any secuences, you just have to climb one big hold to the top! what a fight! I was really happy to be able to climb this amazing line situated in the Hulk Cave. 

We also climbed some multipitch like Alix punk du Verdon in Paroi du Duc. This 300 meters steep route offers 10 stunning pitches of athletic climbing, comfortable belay always and good holdes up to 7b+. It was very nice experience to climb this beautiful and sustained route also recommended by Arnaud Petit's guide book. 

It's great to see how this place is respected  by thousands of visitors and it keeps clean after so many years. Good example to follow! 

Beside climbing we enjoyed also the first bath after the winter in the beautiful Lac de Sainte Croix, promenades, ice cream, and of course some shopping in Moustier.  We love this magical place!! 

Thanks to my perfect climber partner Pierre Muller for this amazing trip. And to my good friends Phil Bence and Jan Novak for the beautiful photos!!

Reconnecting...

I started climbing when I was 18 years old.

I climbed a lot in the beautiful but limited volcanic rock of the Canary Islands, where I am from, until I decided to move to Catalunya, one of the best places of the world for sport climbing. This place is really special for me. It´s where I realized I wanted to climb and to live close to the rock. I am very thankful to my good friends who introduced me to this unique activity and taught me about enjoy being in the nature. I feel really lucky. 

After 10 years living my dream in this climbing paradise I injured a finger very bad and I couldn´t climb for almost eight months. What a bummer!! I had to reset something on my mind and I started to learn how to enjoy climbing in a different way. 

My passion for climbing was the same but it was more about doing beautiful lines not matter what difficult they were and traveling to new beautiful places where I´ve never been. It wasn´t easy in the beginning beacuse I was use to be the typical fanatic climber who want to try projects always but I think sometime ¨bad things¨ happens for a good reason and It was an amazing discovery for me. The balance between going climbing to enjoy nature and beauty of the places and trying hard to explore my limits.

It feel very good when you can climb in different spots, meeting new people, climbing new lines always and learning different styles of rock. Going through the process of learning about the people, the culture and the community is an interesting experience. 

I love that but I love to try my limits too, so this winter I wanted to reconnect with an special place already known and I choose to go back to Catalunya, the place that never disappoints me, where I can get inspiring in the same way that 10 years ago. 

People there love climbing and you can feel this vibe. They work a lot for the climbing community, bolting new lines that we can enjoy later, keeping clean the climbing places, making really good guidebooks to help us to know the routes that we can climb and the good ways to get to the walls,etc And sometime this people are also professional climbers, like my good friend Dani Andrada. He is a very good known climber who has contributed greatly to the climbing community investing his time and his money to develop new areas and to keep safe the lines 

This job and the beauty Catalunya has to be respect because thousands of people enjoy this place every year and we all must preserve it. We have to respect the nature in the same way we respect the things we love. Because we are an active part of this climbing group, I feel so lucky thinking about that, so as Dani and many others friends do, we also can work to contribute to keep these places beautiful and safe. It´s our responsability and it´s so much easy!! 

Climb hard and take care of the nature, that´s it!

Photos by my friend Paolo Sartori :) 

Live Climb Repeat..

https://instagram.com/dailaojeda/

Mallorca Yoga/Climbing Retreat!!

Yoga, Climbing and DWS in the paradise next September! We are waiting for you! :)
With Olivia Hsu, Miguel Riera and SomeWhere Club!

Gripped Cover

Thanks so much to my friends from Gripped (Canadian Climbing Magazine) for this nice cover!
What a beautiful photo by Carolina Treadway! Gracias guapa!

Sending everyone a lot of motivation! ;)