The Porcelain Wall, Sarganata. From August 22 to 27, Pep Masip and I put up a new route on the Porcelain Wall. We took six days, with five bivouacs (no pre-fixing), to do 12 60-meter pitches. Initially, we wanted to repeat Pete Takeda and Erik Kohl’s When Hell Was In Session (A5) which, along with Warren Harding’s Porcelain Wall, were the only two routes on the wall. While hauling loads, we saw a line of cracks, more to the right of the two aforementioned routes. It was very obvious and logical, and we decided to climb it. Sarganata means lizard, as we waited for the sun like the lizards do.

The first six pitches are simple aid with a bit of free climbing. If it were repeated, it would result in more of a free route, because the crack had a lot of shrubbery. The last six pitches are very vertical and technical. I’d like to point out that there are no bolts on any pitch, nor in the six first belays. There are nine bolts in the last six belays.

Later, with Pep Masip, we did a third ascent of the Reticent Wall on El Cap. We were on for 11 days (no pre-fixed ropes), including one day of bad weather. It is a very beautiful route, but it was very difficult to get information about it, because few people actually gave us any. In the end, we had to go with the topo from the poster of El Cap. It was a very laborious route on every pitch, without exception.

Sylvia Vidal, Spain