I left off the last blog lingering upon the sweltering Valley of Mascun, where I was chillin' in the sun, and doing all kinds of jug-hauling. After I realized I had been there for almost three months, I felt weird, and needed to do some objectives and get the hell out. In the beginning of July, after completing my Rodellar objectives, like bouldering the route-boulder Ali-Hulk (9a they say) and onsighting an 8b+ and a couple 8b’s on my last day, I felt all strong and ready to tackle the strange new land of France. The change of scenery was wonderful. It was hard to leave the brilliant Spanish climbing scene, so much fun, and so relaxed, but it was necessary, like a worm getting out of a cocoon, it was an evolution of life, which must take place. 

My destination in France was Ceuse of course, to try Realization. Was I weak or was I strong? I had no clue, I made assumptions, assessed my strengths, and concluded — Sure, why not try A Muerte on the coolest climb in the world! As Chris Sharma was already reporting climbable conditions, and Team Big-Up was arriving in only matter of days, I got my hustle on and cruised out. As I walked up the trail on the first day I was there, quite worked from experiencing the trail again after many years, I realized a lot of things I hadn’t seen in years past. Ceuse is beautiful, in all respects, and I had one hell of a good time enjoying its majesty, something I hadn’t fully delved into in my younger years. 

It was rad there! We had a kick-ass equipa which included the good ol’ Lowell brothers, Josh and Brett who are gangsters, Corey Rich, who a straight G as well, and the two biggest thugs of all Daila Ojeda and Chris Sharma. The King Lines filming was on. Then there were the other Americans and some Germans too. Udo Neumann, Lalya Mammi, Seth, Chad Perkins, Ethan Pringle, Jon Cardwell, and Gabor Szekely where all kickin’ it like thugs too, making up the caravan family, the hard livers ... Having the younger crew brought some good energy to the wall. Ethan was embarking on his quest to climb Realization as well, just crushing all over the thing, and looking really strong, which got me very excited to try and crush too.