On February-2 we decided to start our short week holidays climbing in the heart of Montserrat. We choosed to try JORDI VIDAL, an all-free route climbing the massive East wall of Plec del Llibre superior. The route consist of 4 long pitches (6b/6c/7a/6b+), the difficulty is mandatory and the equipment good (excellent bolts). It was established by Salvadó Figueres and Kim Santacatalina, what is guarantee of quality and boldness.
The climbing went smooth -except for a nasty wind that kept blowing during all the ascent- and every single pitch was great.
Pitch 1 is the easiest and the crux is the slightly runout section to enter the belay st.
Pitch 2 is wonderful, offering technical wall climbing with a distinguished crux to reach bolt 4. In this one there are no runout sections, but climbing is mandatory except for the central meters.
Pitch 3 has a boulder move to start, then sustained climbing all the way to the belay anchors. Look for single finger pockets in crux sections half the way up.
Pitch 4 enjoys the route's best rock and has the hardest (and mandatory) section from bolt 8 to 10.
The route is completely equipped. Bring 2 long slings for the belay anchors and 11 quickdraws, some of them longer than usual to avoid rope drag.
This is a magnificient climb, but to enjoy it you should lead at least 6c. It needs a little bit of traffic for the rock to be cleaned up in some flakey sections, but it has what it takes to become a great -though difficult- classic free climbing route.
We at ROCKTOPO are currently finishing our ebook on Plecs del Llibre-Montgròs. As soon as it is ready we'll make it available for you to download at rocktopo.com. There you'll find detailed rocktopos for Jordi Vidal and many other great routes.
This "Jordi Vidal" line looks great in the picture of your post. I wanted to go for it this Easter week but it seems the whole area is closed to climbing due to peregrine falcon nesting season. As far as I know the falcon's nest is in Montgros wall, and not in Plecs del Llibre. I care for wildlife, and everyone should do: climbers of course, but also hikers and other mountain users. I saw a group of hikers on top of Montgros, directly above the nest... The point is, were those hikers more or less disturbing for the falcon than an eventual climbing team of 2 in any Plecs route? The hikers were louder, spent there more time and maybe were not aware of disturbing a falcon's nest. And they were much closer to the nest than any climber in Plecs del Llibre would be... Maybe it's not what you do, but how you do it what matters, and the awareness regarding a sensitive issue like a bird's nesting season is more important than just abiding by rules not always foolproof or ignorance proof... Let's common sense people use common sense.
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