November 22, 2016 - No camping.

I was working from home this morning and had to travel for work in the afternoon, but first I took a small lunch break. It came in the form of a short stop at Gorge aux Châts.

Last Sunday I bumped into Peter 'Pete' Collins and he told me was around until Wednesday.
He said that he definitely wanted to try "Spanish Caravan" in Gorge aux Châts during his trip, so somehow I expected to find him there.
It didn't come as a surprise to see his van parked at the area.
When I found him in the main area, he said that he just was able to finally finish "Spanish Caravan".
It was great news. I was happy for him and it only strengthened my desire to try the problem myself.

Last time I saw Pete was when I did "La Caravane" and it was he who told me about "Spanish Caravan".
A quite logical line to the left that I had never really noticed before. I didn't really try it then, but I was psyched to come back for it.
Now that Pete did it, he could give me some very helpful beta. The moves are beautiful but very powerful, especially in the first part of the problem.

At first, the first move to the small crimp seemed almost impossible for me, but after a while I found a method that worked.
Now that I could do that move, I could do all of them separately. It was simply a matter of linking it all together now.

I got close but when I told Pete that I was going to give it one more try, I sent it.
It felt great standing on the top, totally unexpected.

If it wouldn't have been for Pete, I maybe would have never even noticed the problem and thus never climbed it.
Thanks to Pete also for the beta and the encouragement. I'm not sure if I would have been able to climb it today without it.

Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Spanish Caravan 7B+

Now I'm traveling for work until Thursday, and no, I'm not sleeping in a caravan.