The Onsight Chronicles

Whilst we have been in Spain we have been using some of our “rest” days from climbing at Siurana and Montsant to explore the absolutely massive climbing area of Montserrat. Located only about an hour from Barcelona and with hundreds of conglomerate domes and perhaps over four thousand routes, Montserrat is a very significant “crag” which has played an important role of the development of Spanish climbing. It’s also a very spectacular area. For these reasons I’m interested in photographing it but unfortunately it’s such an extensive area that shooting here is actually a lot of hard work. It’s little wonder I’ve seen few great climbing photos from here — much easier to shoot at one of the trendy new areas with easy access even if they don’t have as much to offer your average climber.

At the south end of the Montserrat there is a massive old monastery which makes an interesting (though rather touristy) starting point to explore the climbing on the plateau above. You can even stay at the monastery if you want.

I spent several days photographing here a few years back so already have a bit of an understanding of the complexity of the place but it is still a lot of leg work to scope out the crags, climbs, access and the light, to see if I can find some angles that will enable me to create the kind of shot that I’ve envisaged for here. Fortunately I have a pretty clear about what I want but that doesn’t mean it will be possible…

Monique taking a break as we scope out the domes atop Montserrat.

All the photos in this post were taken on our various trips here over the last few weeks.

A mutual friend put us in touch with Silvia Vidal (above) from Barcelona; she knows this area well. A petite lady, you perhaps wouldn’t guess it straight up that she is one of the most accomplished “Big Wall” climbers in the world; and a lot of her biggest climbs she has done solo. We arranged to spend a day climbing with her at Montserrat but the weather was mank so instead Silvia kindly offered to show us around some of the climbing at the Aiguilles area at the northern end of Montserrat which I was interested in photographing.

Monique hiking up to the Aiguilles. It’s very different to the touristy southern end of Montserrat.

Approaching the Aiguilles Refugio… where Silvia introduced us to the hut warden
Xavier Garcia, aka “Harry”.

Harry is a quite a character. He had really made the refugio a great place to stay. Proud of the area and justifiably so, here he is showing of some of his amazing collection of topos.

With Silvia and Harry as the perfect guides, we scoped out the formations in the extremely complex Aiguilles area and decided that this formation (Bressona Inferior) was the go: it’s an interesting formation, has some good four pitch routes, it in the right position, and there’s another formation nearby that would be possible to climb to set up my rope to photograph from – so I can get the right angle and background. Everything looked good so we made a plan to return when we could get good light at the right time of day…

Another view of the Aiguilles at the northern end of Montserrat – in good light.

Our plan for this shoot came together a week later. In the evening Monique and I hiked back up to the Aiguilles, met Harry, and stayed at the refugio. The photo shoot could not be too early the next morning as there was too much deep shade, but that gave us time to rig my rope and for Harry and Monique to start climbing the four pitch route – Baby (7a+).

Everything came together perfectly and I am really happy with the shots (I’m just showing one here; I’m “saving” the rest – sorry). I shot on both digi and film, swapping out camera backs as if they were lenses.

Harry was stoked, after climbing in the area for 20+ years it was the first time he’d topped out on Bressona Inferior. And when we returned to the refugio Harry’s wife Maria had prepared this gourmet feast for us! There has to be an easier way to earn a living but that’s what I really love about climbing photography: the places you go and the people you meet, it doesn’t get better than this!