Overall it was pretty good but more of a family holiday with some climbing thrown in but regardless of that it is always nice to go somewhere different and do some climbing with a good bunch of people. Plenty of coffee was drunk and if possible I came back even more of a coffee freak than I was before I went, a horse steak was consumed (very tasty it was too) and I also maintained my onsight level at 6a+ which was pretty pleasing in it's own way.
Sardinia (or more specifically Cala Gonome) has been on the climbing map for a while now - a point that is painfully obvious at the more popular crags which have suffered from the traffic of a thousand punters - the worst examples by far being Fuili and Biddiriscottai (aka the Cave of Polish). If you take the time to explore the less popular areas however then the odd gem emerges such as Margheddie - home of the classic if somewhat scantily bolted 6a+ slab climb "Nomadi" that deserves everyone of its 3 stars. Get that 20 minute walk in sent, do Biberon as a warm up and then get on it - you might not thank me for it at the time but you will afterwards - trust me on this.
As I have written elsewhere one of my aims for this year was to get 6b sent (preferably onsight) by the end of the year. To this effect I jumped on "I wanna hold your hand" at La Poltrona and was sent packing with very little fuss by it! Now maybe this is a particularly hard instance of 6b but it felt like the living end of hard at my level of experience - in other words f***ing desperate. In mitigation I hadn't warmed up properly in any way shape or form but even so it didn't make or break the route getting sent - I would have gotten a couple of moves further had I been warmed up but it would still have sent me packing in the end. In contrast the "escape route" - the route splits at about half way into the aforementioned 6b and a 6a called L'Eremita - was a walk in the park. OK the final section was a bit exposed and it probably would put the living fear into a 6a leader but it was still easy in comparison and that, as much as anything, highlighted just how much of a step up 6b seems to be. Still I seem to remember 6a+ felt pretty desperate at one stage and they don't seem quite as bad now...
Anyway Sardinia is not just about limestone - there is other rock there too in the form of Basalt and Granite. The basalt is located more towards the south west of the island which looks really funky and weird from the pictures I have seen but the north is all granite - huge crags of the stuff but it is predominantly climbed clean or as we know it trad style.
The exception to this is Capo Testa - now this place is like being on the moon or something with
the truly bizarre shapes that the granite has formed - it is worth visiting it just to see these but the climbing is rather excellent too for those interested in pursuing such options. One word of advice - don't bother trying to climb it once the sun has hit it as this will inevitably lead to a lot of swearing and the like with next to no upward motion being achieved. I speak from experience here and had the rant that accompanied me being lowered off a very slippery 5c+ been recorded I have no doubt that it would have gone global on YouTube much to my embarassment and everybody elses amusement by now!!
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