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Punsola-Reniu (6a A0, 7P)
Our fourth day, one of the rear tires on our rental car disintegrated and so we had a non-climbing project of trying to exchange the car in nearby Huesca. Process was not helped by our less than fluent Spanish or the relaxed operating hours of Spanish businesses. Once things were sorted (sort of…still waiting with great anticipation for the bill), we drove around a bit, including a stop in a national park by the French border and eventually ended up heading back towards Barcelona with hopes of climbing something in the famous Montserrat. Somewhere along the way, we were stopped at a highway checkpoint by polite but machine gun armed police, a scene more reminiscent of Mexico than Europe. We’ve done the tourist thing in Montserrat with family back in May and recalled seeing an impressive conglomerate tower high above the road. A quick scan through the book revealed it to be the Cavall Bernat. That afternoon, we scouted out the approach and decided on a route, something called the Punsola-Reniu..

Shirley nearing the top of pitch 5 of Punsola-Reniu on Cavall Bernat tower in Montserrat (Sept. 2010).
The next morning we flew home from Barcelona. Our gear finally joined us a day later.
Photos

Recon hike the evening before we went to climb the phallic beauty that is Cavall Bernat (left; Sept. 2010).

Shirley on the approach hike to Cavall Bernat with the morning fog lifting over Montserrat formations (Sept. 2010).

Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 4 of Punsola-Reniu with the shadow of Cavall-Bernat visible (Sept. 2010).

Shirley loving life atop pitch 4 of Punsola-Reniu – so much, two years later we’re still smiling about climbing there (Sept. 2010).

View from somewhere high on Punsola-Reniu route on Cavall Bernat. Climbers on adjacent cliffs provide a nice sense of scale…cliffs are larger than my initial assumption about the place (and the route they’re on looks fantastic!). September 2010.

Shirley near the top of pitch 5 of Punsola-Reniu route…this is back to 6a-ish terrain after the crux 6c+ section (that got A0’ed; Sept. 2010).

Shirley nearing the top of pitch 5 of Punsola-Reniu on Cavall Bernat tower in Montserrat (Sept. 2010).

Yours truly on the summit of Cavall Bernat in Montserrat with a piece of modern art (good belay anchor too; Sept. 2010).

Shirley arriving on the summit of Cavall Bernat. View is to the SE with Gorros (I think) visible (Sept. 2010).

Descending the backside (south side) of Cavall Bernat tower…the Normal Route follows the obvious dihedral to summit in three pitches (Sept. 2010).

An unknown party topping out on the final pitch of XYZ on Cavall Bernat tower…the climbers provide a nice sense of scale (Sept. 2010).

Shirley batmanning down fixed ropes in the descent gully for Cavall Bernat tower after our climb of the Punsola-Reniu route (right skyline; Sept. 2010).
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