Mike Owen's blog: Orpierre and Figols

There hasn't been much to write about this year, due to the Covid-19 restrictions on travelling. However, we did get away to Orpierre, in May for ten days or so, to climb at Paroi Jaune. Thanks to Simon King for the recommendation. The routes there are long (up to 40 metres) and gently overhanging on edges, pockets and lots of slopey kind of holds. You have to go and do Misere (7a), Caroline (7b), Trop Pure (7c+) and Lost (8a). There are some more recent routes further right, most of them 7a to 7b, which are worthwhile to extend your stay. However, to the left, there is a great slabby wall covered in 5's and 6's, which are all very good. The must do route being Vive les femmes (6a), which looks more like 7b when you see someone on it from Paroi Jaune!

We've recently returned from the Spanish Pyrenees where we revisited Las Devotas and Rincon de Sin (the walk up and down hadn't got any easier!). Whilst in the Bielsa area, we visited a crag at Liguerre del Cinca. We were recommended by Jean Claude (from Team BTR) to do his route called Marysa, a really good 7c with a bouldery start and then tufa heaven for 25 metres. The crag takes some effort to find and was rather hot, so it would be a great place in autumn. Marysa is the easiest route, so it's hard to warm up properly, most of the other routes are 8a+ (Chorrera Marron looks rather like Dinosaur at Seynes and equally good).

The weather was really weird, with lots of rain. In fact, the whole time we were there, Foz de la Canal was soaked. So we moved on quickly to Figols, in the Alt Urgell valley. We'd seen some amazing photos of our friends Marco and Marta, from Andorra, attempting their projects in a big cave (called Cova de les Gralles) and just had to go and check it out for ourselves. It proved a great place to climb in summer, with coolish temps and mostly good holds. However, the walk is a steep 20 to 30 minute slog uphill. In summer the sun doesn't shine into the back of the cave but your belayer would be suffering from about 17H, whilst the less steep walls on either side are fully in the sun (left side from around 16H and right side from around 18H), so early starts are recommended. Most days we had the place to ourselves, how good is that? Stand out routes were Gigita (6b+), Limonchella (6c+), Catalina (7b), Clasica (7b), Sensacion de Pinzar (7c), Kingline (7c+) and Gambusina Line (8a). There are some really steep, thrutchy 7c cracks (reminiscent of Gogarth Main Cliff) in the back of the cave for masochists (eg Sucina, Virginia and Amazonia). George Smith would love them!

The view from Cova de les Gralles (carefully taken to avoid showing the quarry).

Whilst at Figols, we checked out some of the other crags in the area. Tres Ponts involves waiting until 17H before climbing in summer (so we didn't bother hanging around wasting time for that). Figol a l'ombre and Socol de Narieda were really disappointing (tiny crimps and slippery slopers) and I wouldn't recommend either (especially in summer!). There are obviously some harder routes at the left side of Figols a l'ombre that are classics, eg the 8a/8a+ link up looks like a must do in cooler temps. Fontanella had great connies (cool and windy) for summer, but the climbing was disappointing again (very fingery, polished and caked in chalk). However Lapsanus (30m) and Segle XIX (45m) were very good 7b+'s. I was too much of a wimp to try Aromes de Fontanella (a hard 8a) as it looked like too much effort in summer.

After spending so much time in the Vallée du Cinca (Bielsa) over the years, our impressions of Alt Urgell, by comparison, were rather disappointing. It's ugly, noisy (from the quarry opposite Cova de les Gralles and the road traffic) and the river is dirty and smelly. That said, luckily, the climbing at Cova de les Gralles is really good and it makes a great summer venue. A muerte!

Thanks Elaine for the following photos.