Camí de les Agulles

A he-goat looking at us

The other day I met with Xenia and Fermín and the three of us went to Montserrat in order to have a little hike in the Agulles area. Since them, too, have recently started climbing, I thought it was interesting to bring a book with me, I had acquired some weeks before. It's a guide of the existing climbing routes in that very zone, each with a description and a photography. At the end we didn't do much hiking, but instead went, book in hand, from one rock needle to another, eagerly searching for belays in the walls and comparing the book's descriptions with whatever we actually saw. Fun it was.

After a while of that we had picked out several routes we were considering worth trying, and hopefully someday will do so. Despite the fact that this was not what we actually had come for, it turned out to be a quite entertaining activity too.

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Nevertheless did we some hiking. In fact did we explore the better part of a path called "Camí de les Agulles", which meanders it's way up and down between the different rock needles which give name to this zone. More than once we had to make use of fixed ropes as an aid to negotiate the natural obstacles in our way. If you've read this article, this might sound familiar to you, and it won't surprise you to know, that the "Camí de les Agulles" actually is the continuation of those paths I had explored only two weeks before.

Fermín on one of the numerous fixed ropes to be found in Montserrat

The highest point we got to offered us a nice view of what lies East of Montserrat as for example Sant Vicenç de Castellet, and it also was a good spot for shooting some pictures. After a short break there, we started our way down and back home, for all of us had plans for the afternoon. Before reaching the car, however, we took a little detour which led us to the deepest Montserratian cave called "Pouetons de les Agulles". It's depth is about 125m, but obviously we only could see the black hole of the entry pitch, which "only" measures some 30m. Years ago I visited the cave two or three times, so I could tell them a little bit about the adventures I had lived in it, but these days it's not caving we have in mind, but to do some climbing together.

A little more to your right, more, just a little m... oh, not that much!

I'm pretty sure we soon will return there for doing so.