For many climbers Easter vacation is scary; the first day I started my climbing Easter vacation was bad, and it finished worse. Rikar had an accident that could have been really serious.

Let’s recount it in parts: I left Rodellar before the weather got everything wet. I just stayed a couples of days, and I went straight to the Las Ventanas cliff to try and onsight Botanics (8b+) (for some climbers 8b/+), which is very close to the famous Pata Negra (8c) route that I sent three years ago. I knew the climbing style; it is the most athletic you can imagine. Most of the route is a big roof, so the holds weren’t too small. I started pretty strong, and there was a big column that my shoes were begging to feel, but I needed to avoid it because it was too wet. Behind the little roof that separates the upper part, my forearms were working hard, and the rounded undercling didn’t allow me to recover the energy to rest enough. It was really disturbing my mind. I went out of the little roof, trying to hook my heel somewhere, and then I reached some rounded holds, while my feet went violently out in the air. This movement almost killed me; I couldn’t hold anything big enough to save me from the desperation and negative thought. I was on the last bolt, I couldn’t even clip it, my energy was ending.

Photo by Rikar Otegi

I do not like to speak high or shout while I’m climbing with people around, but I recognize that there are moments when it is necessary to be relieved, and some energetic words in the precise moment are welcome.

While I was falling down and supporting my own annoyance, I started to swing from the last clipped bolt. I was cutting the humid air of that delicious spring afternoon with my body. I chose to use more romantic words than reproducing the words that came out from my mouth.

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ADDRESS 1
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STATE & ZIP
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