Monastery and Moon, Montserrat, Catalunya, 2018
Montserrat is a very special place for many people, from monks and nuns to Catalan loyalists to foreign tourists and rock climbers (and even mountain goats, the real climbers around here!).
It definitely is permeated with a special sort of energy.
I have been here a half dozen times so far to climb some of these weird extraterrestrial conglomerate pinnacles and it is always a cleansing experience that runs me through the gamut of emotions. It starts with a gnawing anxiety and slight sense of foreboding as we hike up the trail toward the north facing walls in the chilly shadow of the rock towers. Then, there is the focused concentration as we work our way up, using knobs and odd stone chips of all sizes, the several pitches toward the sun and the summit…a focus that is not unlike meditation, interrupted periodically as we each each, in turn, reach the various anchor points and make the switch from climbing to belaying.
Then, as belayer, you certainly do have to pay attention to your partner’s movements, but there is also time to contemplate the shadows, the wind, the birds, the distant snow-covered Pyrenees, the sound of distant trickling rockfall off of the hooves of a goat herd, the ringing of the ancient bells echoing up through the stone labyrinth from the famous Montserrat Monastery far below…and, naturally, there is time also to contemplate one’s very, very small place in this temporal and wonderful place we call Earth.
Look closely…the two climbers are descending (yes, using the metal cross as a rappel anchor–faith!) a formation known as Gorro Frigi (a type of conical wool or felt hood). They had previously climbed up via a line just left of their descent route called Via del Carles (5.9), a classic 5-pitches and one of the first routes I climbed in this area of the Montserrat massif. I was photographing from Rataplan (5.7-5.8), a route on the Magdalena Inferior:
Climbers on Gorro Frigi. Montserrat, Catalunya, 2018
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