Ten days ago, Touchstone athlete, Ethan Pringle nabbed a speedy ascent of Era Vella (5.14d) in Margalef, Spain. Pringle spoke a little bit about the climb.
This phenomenal Margalef test-piece was put up by Chris Sharma in the winter of 2010. Located on one of Maglalef’s steepest and tallest walls, Era Vella has become the most frequently repeated 9a in the world. It features fun climbing throughout, big moves between good, comfortable holds and no boulder problem harder than around font 7b+, but with no good rests or easy sections either… it’s just a race to the top! Because of it’s beauty and pure resistance style, strong climbers flock from all over the world to test themselves on it, and it has been climbed by over 15 people now in the short time since it’s FA. Well, after 8 tries on the route, add my name to the list! I was lucky enough to share the experience with good friends at the cliff that day and even have one of them capture the send on video! Enjoy, and get psyched!
It was such a treat to work Era Vella, a route I could make progress on on every attempt because of its style, and it’s a line that every climber who stands at its base marvels at. A true king line!
Besides dispatching Era Vella, Pringle also managed to send an 8c+ (5.14c) second go and has plans to extend his trip so he can work on the infamous Papichulo 5.15a.
Pringle makes the climbing in Spain sound amazing. “Margalef is just stacked with classic routes of all grades. Most of the holds here are pockets though so you better like climbing on pockets if you come here… My skin is pretty sore from them after almost three weeks of climbing here so we might have to go to Rodellar and pull on some tufas to mix things up a bit. Poor us.”
Get psyched for more Spain action coming from Pringle soon!
