Sorrueda – the Severe climber

Bouldering in Fontainebleau with a Toddler

The woods around Fontainebleau have a reputation as one of the best places in the world to boulder. Thousands of sandstone boulders, with tens of thousands of boulder problems, scattered about a pretty forest that covers some 300 square kilometres. Fontainebleau also has a reputation as being a great place to take kids. That’s a … Read more Bouldering in Fontainebleau with a Toddler

Climbing a Cathedral and Ringing the Bell on the Klettersteig Pfeilspitzwand

A little over half way up the Klettersteig Pfeilspitzwand there is a brass bell hanging from the rock. If you want to ring the bell, then you need to take a detour that traverses the face of the buttress above a sheer drop. There’s a slightly tricky step to negotiate, before you stand on a … Read more Climbing a Cathedral and Ringing the Bell on the Klettersteig Pfeilspitzwand

A Little Bit of the Eiger – the Rotstock Via Ferrata

“All the Grindelwald via ferrata are closed.” The woman at the tourist information office said these words in a firm, brisk tone that indicated that she didn’t realise that I would find them disappointing. I knew that there was a risk that the long, cold winter might mean that some mountain routes would still be … Read more A Little Bit of the Eiger – the Rotstock Via Ferrata

Climbing in the Palms – Sport Climbing on Gran Canaria

Climbing in the Palms – Sport Climbing on Gran Canaria

December 16, 2012September 10, 2016the Severe climber

Rain, or the threat of it, is a big part of the life of an English rock climber. A fair amount of time is spent planning how to avoid rain, waiting for rain to stop, finding somewhere that it isn’t raining or just being rained on. In 2012, I seemed to spend far more time than usual in this dance with the rain and so wanted somewhere for my honeymoon in November where I could climb without having to worry too much about rain driving me off the crag. Gran Canaria, the biggest of the Canary Islands, was the destination my wife and I settled on.

Me climbing on Ninja Troll buttress at Sorrueda on Gran Canaria. This climb doesn't have a name, the guidebook just refers to it as number 8 on this buttress. — Me climbing on Ninja Troll buttress at Sorrueda on Gran Canaria. This climb doesn’t have a name, the guidebook just refers to it as number 8 on this buttress.

By being off the coast of North Africa, Gran Canaria has a warm climate that is prevented from being too hot by the trade winds that blow in off the Atlantic. During the time I was there, the temperature varied between 23C to 29C and could be pretty humid. The rock is volcanic and made up of strata formed by eruptions and eroded into a rugged, mountainous interior with canyons (barranco) fanning out from the centre like the spokes of a wheel. Read more →