Cascais, Portugal TR

Immediately after the last lecture at the IGC, we rushed to meet at the train station in Cascais on the thinly veiled excuse that Kenway and I needed to show Joe where the local crags were near Lisbon. I mean, dude's never climbed outside before, what kind of climbing buddies would we be if we left him in Portugal without showing him some rock?! We followed these very accurate directions, and after walking for 45 minutes or so, arrived at the Farol da Guia, where the steps leading to the cliffs are marked by a very nice stencil. There is also an obvious sign that I recall reads something like 'Escalada en roca', and we cheated a bit by following people with packs overflowing with gear.


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A short walkway leads to steps that take you down to the cliffs, and it's there that you get your first clear view of the beautiful limestone (Ever wonder what all the goofy holds in the gym are modeled after, you know, the ones that have a hole for each finger? Turns out it's limestone.) and a set of nice clean lines (note all the chalk!). And despite the fact that the weather was very moody (pouring rain one minute, then brilliant sunshine for awhile) there were lots of climbers running around, so we made a beeline down to the base to start climbing.

The place is nicely maintained (all the routes are bolted and most are marked with a name and a grade). None of us remembered how to convert from the European grading to YDS, so we just settled on a set of nice IV+s facing the water (after some searching, this translates to roughly 5.6-5.7). Joe and I tried warming up on some boulder problems, but gave up pretty quickly as they were of the 'impossible to spot, fall and break your neck and then slide into the ocean and drown' variety. Best to just start climbing anyways.

So Kenway racked up, and flew up Directa (IV+) so fast I could hardly keep the rope moving up to him! He kindly setup a toprope and Joe and I followed his lead. Unfortunately for Joe, it started to rain just as he reached the crux where the holds get sparser. To his credit, he climbed on, and when he passed the crux---almost as if he were rewarded for his perseverance---the clouds parted and we had brilliant sunshine again. Pretty good first climb, no?

That's Joe way up there topping out in the sunshine to the right.

Kenway climbed back up to clean the anchors, and managed to snap this view from the top with his shiny new camera. In case you are wondering, Kenway is clipped into another set of chains behind him.

Wary of the shifting weather, we moved over about 25 meters to another IV+ (Doce) that reminded me lots of The Eye at Joshua Tree.

Set between two opposing aretes, it offered lots of opportunity for stemming, drop knees and crossing all over the place. Kenway led once again, and aside from the pigeons that flew out of some fucking bat cave to nearly shit in his eyes (now that would of been a story!), he made it to the anchors pretty quickly (with style even).

Joe enjoying a little layback near the bottom. This climb was a veritable jugfest, with 'thank god holds' strewn everywhere, and ample opportunity to rest.

And here I am at the short traverse near the bottom that gets you to the start of the fun stuff. I know, I know, it looks like I've got some junk in the trunk, but I assure you that it is photographic inaccuracy.

We had a V and a 6a lined up next, but alas, it was not to be. The minute we packed the rope up to move, the rainclouds rolled in and the downpour began. We hoofed it out of there as fast as possible, and managed to catch a cab back to the train station (only after we got thoroughly drenched, of course).

All in all, an incredibly fun 2 hours of climbing, set in an beautiful location with great friends. So if any of you guys make it out to Europe, make sure to stop by Joe's place in Lisbon and go climbing!

A few more pics here.