and it`s gone...

...the money
So what to do? No money? Working in spain? Hmmm... maybe another time. Time to go back. After 5 1/2 months of living in my yellow car, having breakfast under a mostly clear blue sky followed by more good weather, time to climb a lot and time to enjoy living in a way many people can`t, it is time to step into my car again and head back. First of all, before I`ll write a word about Siurana I want to thank everyone I meet on my trip no matter if in Rodellar, on Mallorca, Siurana, Margalef, Zaragoza, Albarracin for making this trip an experience I`ll never forget:

Sorry to everyone I forgot!

Katinka --> KISS! 
El Puente team --> for giving me the opportunity to earn some money in spain and giving me the feeling of   being welcome in a country with an unknown language for me 
Manu/Ainizante --> for being my spanish parents on the campground :) 
Esther/Alex --> for trying hard to teach me some spanish and not giving up on me 
Gemma/Nacho --> for trying to teach me the spanish culture... I need to man up! 
Marc --> for telling dirty jokes all day long! 
Luis/Juan Carlos --> for showing all the hot girls on the campground 
Camping Mascun --> for 200€ ;) 
Tim/Wouter --> for being the netherlands on the campground and climbing ;) 
Sydney-travelling-around-the-world-gang --> for Katinkasitting while I had to work

Caine --> for 2 weeks DWS climbing on any really touristic island 
Daniel --> showing me Mallorca, bouldering and giving me a homebase in Deia 
David --> for a lot climbing and teaching me NOT to accept spanish laws 
Rudolf/Adrian/Peter/Hanno --> the "cova del diablo"-crashcrew and hanging around in the evening Christian/Barby/little Chris --> giving David and me a home on Mallorca, lots of food and showing us the island 
Forty --> climbing and showing the island and climbing crags 

Micha/Nina --> for sharing food, cooking, giving me some space in their campervan even if I smelled like a pig :) 
Tom/Rachel --> england sounds awesome now... one day I`ll have real english breakfast! See you soon! Nick/Julia --> for Climbing and food 
Michelo/Marco --> Canarie boys! for climbing on Mallorca and in Margalef 

Moritz/Julia --> for bouldering fun with a person who is as tall as me but with longer arms and playing around on boulderprojects! 
Johannes --> for an endless appetite and bouldering and climbing in Spain 
Matthias --> for bouldering and climbing in Spain and driving over my shoppings :( 
Rudi/Doro --> for bouldering and hanging around in Albarracin 
Mike/Tim/Harry/Charlie --> for having a lot of fun while bouldering, in the pub and having more fun! 

"little" Manu --> for a place to stay if it is raining, snowing, cold and for having Titolino :) 
Koen --> for being the biggest optimist (which is good) I know and a nice week climbing even with bad      weather 
Alexander --> for climbing and having breakfast in the sun... good mornings! 
Thomas --> for climbing, taking pictures and bringing new motivation to Spain 
Maarten --> for entertaining restdays in Margalef and tons of Nutella! 

Moritz/Katrin/Babs/Chris --> for the best Advent calendar I ever had!

If I have a real home... You`re welcome anytime! Thanks for all!!!

Siurana
Siurana is a small village some kilometers away of Cornudella de Montsant located high on the top of the mountain, giving you the chance to watch over Sierra de Montsant.... blablabla and so on...

Koen came over for some days of climbing. The bad thing was, that the weather changed. Rain, cold and snow came which made it impossible for some days. Unfortunally the sun kept hiding for some more days which made it hard to climb here in windy conditions. Still we found some areas to climb and we could even send some routes. Koen flashed his first 7c here, onsighted his first 7b and maybe got some frozen feet. So the trip wasn`t that bad at all ;)
I could climb "bio lance" an 8b opend in 2013 by Dani Andrada. The route looks/is really dirty, kind of really ugly but somehow the moves were so good, that I kept working the route and after some days of trying and some days of rest I could climb it. 
Furthermore I could climb the great tufa line "La cara que no miente", which is also more a boulder with big tufapinchholds and a dyno to a good pocket.

 I can`t find all the words to describe my time in Siurana, because even now, about 3 weeks after driving back to Germany, the impression, are fresh in my head, but at the same time already gone for a longer time. Thinking back with closed eyes. Breathing in in Aachen. Meet good freinds, Christmas and new year past me. Starting to exhale. I`m in 2014. Strange! 
Now I`m back in Aachen, which also feels like I left it yesterday for a little party in another city. Have no real home, found work, found some motivation to train again and I`m hoping to save some money to travel again. 
For sure there will be a trip. The question is when...  

My advise for everybody who asked me:
"Are you rich to effort such a long trip? How much money do I need for a trip?": 
Hell no! I`m not rich, but depending on your needs (I think my basic needs are pretty low) you can spend a long time on the road.  
"Where can I sleep? Where did you sleep?": 
Mostly in my car on a parking.  Easy, cheap and still good.
"Were you alone?": 
To be honest, sometimes it felt good be be alone. You can meet many climbers, talk to many strangers, sit in a cafe or go to a bar to meet climbers... and if you`re a climber on a climbing trip in climbing areas where you can do climbing, you`ll find othere climbers there which share the same intrest with you: climbing! A good start for a conversation.
"Isn`t it boring?": 
Depends on what you`re doing and what keeps you motivating. Is working boring? Is your girlfriend/boyfriend boring? On one point everything will be boring, but seeing things from an new angle or little variations changes a lot. Sometimes I was thinking about leaving the climbing areas, because it felt like I`ve seen enough or all. But looking closer or on a differnet place I even felt tired from all the new informations around me. And that is clearly not boring!
A: "Will you ever work?" B: "How will you earn your money?":
A: Yes. No. Now. Later. Tomorrow. We`ll see.
B: Lottery. Work. Gambeling. Circus. Sleeping. No money. I`ll see.
"What did you learn?":
If you have the chance to do a thing you really want to do, don`t miss it. Maybe it`s the only chance and maybe you`ll regret it if you let it go. Do what you can with what you have, where you are. Enjoy life in the moment... plus don`t give a shit what others tell you about your future and what you`re eventually missing while you`re gone.
"I`m to afraid to start a travel.":
Like a friend in spain told me: Man up! 


Happy new year!

Albarracin

Ok. I`m in Albaracin. The spanish bouldermekka with tons of red sandstone ready to eat all your skin... no matter if it is your fingertips, handpalm or forearm.
Going back bouldering after some month ropeclimbing fells good. The start was a bit hard. The question after the first days was always: "Power where are you?".

dirty hippies

My plan was to get a bit stronger again. So I just went into the boulderareas located in the forest of Albarracin. I had no special lines in mind. Running around in the forest like a little child  with a friendly guy named Johannes, a guidebook, some crashpads, food and the ambition to try many boulders. It worked. Almost around every tree you can find a new line which can be climbed. Tons of boulders. We spent the first days bouldering in different areas to see a lot of the forest and to get used to bouldering again.

we both had no plan.

playing around

 Wake up early in the morning, breakfast, warm up, climb up a bloc, jump down a bloc, grap our stuff and move to the next one, on and on, headtorch on and walk back to the carpark. Really simple and good!
After 5 days of bouldering I could tick 40 problems from 7A to 7C.

I had no special line in mind before, but when I came to here I had one last wish for my trip. "Is it possible to boulder 8A on this trip?" So I always took a look at 8A boulders. Not really trying hard, but trying to understand the moves and hoping to get motivated to try hard.
One line in knew before was "el varano" an 8A from Toni Lamprecht. Big overhanging prow with big moves. Climb-it-like-you-carry-a-fridge-climbingstyle. Maybe it suits me! The problem is that you need some spotters and some pads to protect the rocks under the line. One day I went there with Moritz, Johannes and Julia. Moritz wanted to try it. I wasn`t really motivated to try it, because I was tired and I wasn`t really motivated to try it, because it would mean to spent many sessions there changing my mood between: crying, happy, angry, friendly, I-will-kill-everyone, laying on the crashpad, laying between the crashpads, laying under the crashpads, bowling with my spotters, hungry, no skin on the fingertips.... and so on.

autumn

 But it turned out that Moritz made me really motivated to try hard. We had no beta for the moves but worked the whole boulder pretty quick. All the moves done except one. Not bad, but we had our doubts if it was possible to do that move, because we had no idea how to hold the swing if your feet have to cut loose.

After a restday, we went there again. Not really motivated, to many delicious chocolate napolitanas for breakfast , falling of warming up on 5+ boulders and almost falling asleep if we took a rest.

best breakfast, best lunch, best dinner --> Napolitana

 Back on el varano we tried different solutions for the moves. which was funny, becaue we found 3 or 4 different ways to get to a certain hold, but it was impossible to move from there in a save way. Almost giving up Moritz did some last tries and suddenly he stuck the move... not really technical, but he did it. We both found new hope to climb the boulder. After a rest I worked the move again. For me the crucial point was to catch a crimp with my left hand perfect. Never did it before. In case of hitting it perfect I had to bring up my right foot on a good hold in the overhang, span out to the right, change my left foot from heel-hook to toe-hook and just swing out.Like I said, I never did the seqeunce before, always falling of because my left hand couldn`t hold the crimp.
One go I hit the crimp perfect and without any doubts in my mind I did the swing out move and after bringing my feet back to the rock I had so much positiv energy that it was impossible for me to fall down again. Topping out with out expecting it so quick feels great. Climbed my first 8A boulder.

"el varano" photo: Moritz Eisenlauer

 After climbing down I felt light. Everything turned out to be good. I felt fresh, not tired at all, a bit hungry (like always), happy and smiled. 
Moritz couldn`t climb it that day, but 2 days later he did it without any hestistation after warming up.

The fact that I wasn`t tired, happy and that I felt strong enough to go on to another project, that I worked out the last days, was for sure good.
Moritz wanted to climb "Zarzaparilla" 8B which is kind of an extension of "Zarzamora" 8A which I wanted to try again.
Guess what happend... One hour later, we put down the crashpads, brushed the holds and even before Moritz could put on his shoes I could stick the moves and top out my second 8A boulder... strange things happen.

"Zarzamora sit" photo: Moritz Eisenlauer

Furthermore I could climb "Zatochi" 8A (maybe more 7C+ for my size) after a restday. Strange things happen and finally all the work in the bouldergym in winter paid off!

Thanks to Johannes, Moritz, Julia and Matthias for the nice time bouldering in Albarracin.

they taste really good!

2 more climbing days and then it`s time to move to Siurana, but before I have to pick up Koen from the airport. Let`s see what happens.

Climbing is awesome

Good heading? I`m still living in my car. Somewhere close to Margalef or Siurana. First 2 weeks Margalef then 2 weeks Siurana. Both different, but good. Both not really my favorite style of climbing, but I think it is good for me to start some more fingery climbing, some more technical climbing after Rodellar and DWS on Mallorca. First days in both areas showed me that I lost a lot power and learnd how not to use my feet... no worries! I knew it before ;)

Margalef...

Two finger pockets, monos, pebbels, painful, heat!
I came to this crag knowing nothing about it, luckily Micha and Nina have been there too! I enjoyed it a lot climbing with them. Thanks for the meals, coffies, evenings in your campervan and of course for showing me the area and making me feel welcome! They`re on the road for a longer time. Check Michas homepage for more informations about their trip around spain.
I had also really good times with Tommy and Rachel who are on a trip in different countries for a longer time and from now on they stay in Margalef and Siurana or somewhere where you can find a bakery with sweet chocolate pastry. Definitely a good choice!

Almost everyday climbing is nice, but makes you really tired, but somehow it is not possible to hang around on the parking just watching the rock and the active climbers. In a way everyone is motivated to climb till the evening, till the sun is gone. With that motivation it is sure that everyone is somehow able to push their limitis a bit more further and climb a bit more harder. As a result of this and of course of many days climbing more this year a lot climbers achieve good efforts.
Nina climbed her first 7c.
Rachel climbed her first 7c.
Tommy climbed his first 7c, later his second, third and fourth.
Micha climbed is 300th route graded 8a or higher!

And I could finally tick one more thing from my wishlist.
1. Onsight 7c -->7c and 7c+ CHECK! (Rodellar)
2. Climb "Loskot and two smoking barrels" --> CHECK! (Mallorca)
and finally after trying it this year more then just one time, but always with a lack of motivation
3. Climb my first 8b (Margalef)

Big relief for me. I almost though it is impossible for me to achieve this on this trip. The step from 8a+ to 8b felt hard for me. In Margalef I found a line, which is not really the typical Margalef climbing with pockets and slightly overhanging. The route is called "402" at Tenebres, a 10 meter horizontal roof and after that a boulder over a bulge at the end. First 10 meters should be around 7c+ or 8a and after that a really nice and hard boulder :)

bad picture: the easy start

On the second or third day I found the route, worked it, watched how 2 climbers climbed the route pretty quick, got motivated to put some more work in a route. The next days I came back to work the roof to be sure that I`m not pumped for the boulder at the end. After some attempts it was possible and I always made it to the lip where you can find a rest hanging in the arms for a short time to get some power back for the boulder. After working this one for a solution that suits me I could finally starting making real attempts.  But feeling tired from working the route, climbing here and there, hanging around at the crag and not always sleeping well made it not possible to climb it.
Maybe a restday? YES! The idea! I took even took 2 days off.
After that it still felt hard to manoeuver my 90kgs to the chain at the end of the route. --> CHECK!

Thanks to the climbers I climbed with in Margalef: Micha, Nina, Tommy, Rachel, Michelo and Marco.


Siurana:

On of the oldest crags in Spain for sure and on of the really famous. On my first day I understood why. The surrounding, the area and of course the rock seems to be really good. The old village on the top. I enjoyed drinking my coffie in the morning or a thee at the top and looking down on the crag and the small cars that wind up or down the only street that leads to the village.

Rachel on "Hostia"

Fact is:
- Katinka came here for a week and crushed many routes up to 7b+.
- We ate a lot!
- I was really lazy here with taking pictures.
- I tried to climb a bit more. But I was tired from Margalef and the weeks before.
- Siurana is the land of the "betastick".
- Brushing holds or cleaning the route after sending seems to be unpopular.
- Screaming  through the crag seems to be fashion.
- I don`t like crimps, but in Siurana I kind of like them.
- Koen will come to Siurana in mid-november, then I`ll take some more pictures plus write a bit more

Show me your fingers and I`ll tell you where you climbed.

Now I`ll drive to Albarracin for 2 1/2 weeks bouldering. Getting stronger and climb a bit more dynamic again, loose all my skin. They say Albarracin is like Fontainebleau, but you can climb some boulders without falling off at the tops ;)
 
VAMOS!For the worlds most exciting sport...

Leaving the island

let`s go there

It is already a month ago since I came to the island. Now it is time to leave again. My plan was actually: Driving to the ferry in the evening, find a good place to sleep in the car, wake up late, check in and being shipped over with the car in 7 1/2 hours. Time to write (to be honest, I prepared the most before and maybe I even don`t change anything now)... but I had some problems with finding a good parking, slept 3 hours, walked around and wrote this post in the morning.

The last 2 weeks were in contrast to the first 2 weeks not so wet. No more DWS. After Caine left I went to Daniel, a friend form Aachen, who lives together with a friend Philip close to Palma in a little village called Deia for one year and who works for the university of Palma. Not so wrong I guess (except the pay).

Deia

 In Deia the flora and fauna is way more green, different plants and trees, even the tourist are different in way that is hard to describe, so I won`t try it. (maybe they`ve got more money, because everywhere are fincas, more expensive restaurants and more expensive cars.)

So I lived there for a time. My mattress on the floor... new home... so easy... so good. 
Overday I went on some hiking trips with Jana, a friend of Daniel, close to Deia to see the island not only from a car or from a cliff down at the water. There are plenty of posibilities to hike on the island. Long hikes, flat hikes, straight hikes, up and down hikes... At night I sat on the couch watching movies with Philip. Thanks to both.... and thanks to Jana for not killing me with her driving skills ;)

sa calobra

Michael Douglas donkey

 When Daniel finished working we went bouldering till it was dark. Everyday a new area, that could be possible for long time, because there is a lot rock on the island. Many small areas, long hikes to get there..
Finding the boulders is even more hard, because you don`t have a map. The only guidebook we had sucks and we never met other climbers. What is kind of good. Thanks to Daniel and Philip

topout

Next thing to do was picking up David from the airport to go climbing with him somewhere in the mountains for 10 days. I met David in Rodellar and he decided to come to Mallorca because the rock should be really good and he is anyway climbing the whole year, so it is good to go somewhere else. In my first 2 weeks here I went to some cracks and took a quick look. Really.... didn`t look that good. Old bolts, slippery holds, polished and not really nice.

But David had some local contacts. We went with them to areas that are not written down in the guidebooks. So much rock and the quality of the rock, surrounding and climbing was really good. So much routes that I decided just to try every route onsight and then walk to the next. On some days David did the same on another level and if not he climbed the routes pretty quick and it is really impressive how easy an 8b+ seems to be.

80 meter rope is to short

gorg blau

view for the belayer

 We felt really welcome. We could sleep in at Christians (really strong local climber here and some years ago in "el chorro") house, they cooked for us (I automaticaly like poeple who cook for me!), David and me could take showers and I slept in a bed again since 1 of July (strange feeling)
Thanks to Christian, Barbie, little Cris, Forti, Palanka and of course the other climbers who show us around, gave us informations and made us feel welcome!

STOP... coffee time!

I can`t write so much right now, because I just climb, eat and sleep. Not so much to tell. So here are some more pictures from the trip.

my house

my kitchen

with great power comes great responsibility

?

When I leave the ferry I might have a plan where I`ll drive to, but right now I don`t know it. Maybe Margalef (to lose some skin on two finger pockets), maybe Siurana ( to learn how to use my feet and crimp) or maybe Montserrat (for pebbels and muiltpitch) Let`s see where it`s nice and where it`s easy to stay. End of october I`ll stay in Oliana with David again. Can`t wait for it.

Germany + Netherlands + UK + Phantasialand = Mallorca

Mallorca... where to start?

I`m on Mallorca right now (around Porto Cristo, Porto Collom San Millor, Santanyi). The island that is know for beach, party and holiday. Climbers know it more for deepwatersoloing. (climbing over water and if you fail/fall you fall into the refreshing sea)

I always wanted to try that kind of climbing. Pretty easy! Only shoes, chalk, pants and a partner. No rope, no crashpad, no harness, no quickdraws, nothing that stops your flow... but kind of fear and for sure new experience in dealing with height if you`re not at the save end of a rope! Now I`m here with my car, camping close to the cliffs if possible, sleeping with the sound of waves in the background, drinking coffie in the moring at the cliffs, waking up in the sun.

wake up

first view

every morning!

Starting easy to get used to the DWS is possible in Cala Barques. Low cliffs, good landings, many people to watch how not to fall and a lot sun to dry after a try. The blue and well tempered water here is mostly calm even if there`s strong wind on the open sea. Compared to the water in the swiming pool it is really soft and even a fall on the head from 7 meters (yes, I landed on my head from 7 meters, fortunately my head isn`t an important part of my body) isn`t painful!

There are some climber who have problems with the height and the water, that they can`t move without shaking like Elvis just 2 or 3 meters over the water. Luckily I`m not that kind of climber. (I had the felling that I can deal with that.)

Feels great. Just climbing, really pure, relaxing and if you fall you have to enjoy it, get into the entry position for the splashdown. No splits! No belly flops! Don`t fall on your back! Don`t look don`t! SPLASH!

Swim to the surface, breathe, floating a bit on the back carried by the waves, while looking up to the point where it went wrong, already thinking over a new solution for finally topping out at the wall.

After that you swim back to a water exit, sitting in the sun, drying your chalkbag and shoes, talking to other climbers and after some rest you try it again.

That`s deepwatersoling in Cala Barques!

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

smash it in (crux)

 Other cliffs we`ve been to till now:

Cova del Diablo... nice name! It is different at this cliff. Exposed to the open sea and higher. 18 meters almost everywhere and not so much easy routes. Climbing is steep and powerful. Falling can be bad and getting out of the water is also a bit more demanding than in Cala Barques.

We went here on our 3 day of DWS. Standing at the top: "I won`t jump don`t here!" Caine did it on his first day, but I didn`t dare.... why should I? pretty shure I`ll fall down somewhere from the top, so I don`t have to test it :-)

For almost every line you have to down climb first to get to the start of some routes, a traverse to left or right brings you to other routes. Swmming with a dry-bag is also an option to get to the start, climb up one of 3 ropeladders to reach a rest point to dry again. It`s more work to start climbing. After getting used to the heights here I wanted to try a route which is kind of a dreamroute for me: Loskot and two smoking barrels.

The route starts in the middle of the slightly overhanging wall (Lobster area). First part is easy (around 6b+/6c), followed by a rest and after that 2 harder moves to bring you into the position for a dyno. The dyno isn`t that hard, but the fact that you have to jump 11 or 12 meters over the water and all 4 points cut loose is pretty demanding for your mind. After that you can rest in the dynoholds to get some powerback for the last hard moves at the top.

shortfacts: The first 6 goes I always hit the dynohold but my mind always screamd: "what the fuck? are you crazy? don`t stick that holds!" The hold is good!

my mind hates me!

After some falls from there you get used to the landing and getting wet is quit annoying. So on one moment I stuck it could try the upper part. After 2 falls from the top I could finally top out. Really happy not to fall anymore from there. Perfect line!

here is a little video over the route (I`m not climbing):

Ryan smashing in "Loskot and Two Smoking barrels" 8a+, at Cova del Diablo, Mallorca from Gus Hudgins on Vimeo.

There are plenty of other cliffs for DWS I want to go to (Porto Cristo Novo, Cala Sa Nau, Santanyi, Cala Lombards... ), but the weather isn`t that good.

So the thats why I traveld around a bit visiting nice, little villages at the quite sea... NOT! No romance here! Only party, beach and holiday. It`s like in a big shopping mall, with music in a phantasialand!  Every village or city is the same. No spanish flair!

Even the shops are mainly custom-made for... visitiors from germany, netherlands and the UK.

I`m felling really save here, because even the hospitals, doctors and dentists are specialized on germans... we're different!

german

deutsch

duits

alemàn

allemand

Finding a quiet place is really hard, every street here is used for touristic purpose or is private land that leads to a big luxury villa close to the beach.

Furthermore it is really obvious that they have a problem with the rubbish. Cans, plastic, sodabottles, couches, televisions and so on can be found along the streets that are not part of the tourist route. Trash everywhere and it seems like no one cares. Since the time I arrived it`s just getting more. Only in the cities they take care. In the morning, midday and evening they`re busy with cleaning. I`m wondering if the tourist or the inhabitants produce more, because even on the majority of private land (without a villa) it is hardly to miss that they don`t take care of it.

So we hope for better weather to stay away from there ;)

We`ll check out some more rope climbing on the northern part of the island. Many climbers say it is excellent climbing... and many tourists (yes, there`re also tourists) told me (I`m a tourist too) that the landscape and the surrounding should be fantastic.

Some things to write down:

- If someone falls on his back from 16meters. It hurts, but if he isn`t hurt it is really funny. Still dangerous! Never climb alone on a cliff (a boat to get the person out or to help him not to drown is really helpfull!)

- If you`re to weak to climb up again! Don`t go down! Otherwise some people have to save you!

- Jellyfishes hurt!

- Climbers who swim in the water where jellyfishes swim, can swim pretty fast if they touch the jellyfish!

- While climbing with pants on your butt stays white the whole trip

VAMOS!