Product of ND: Picos de Europa

The last few weeks have been pretty fleeting. We have been climbing almost everyday, with the exception of rest days and today which was too rainy. The first week we were here we had the opportunity to take the cable car at Fuente De (roughly translated to where the rivers start) up to the Picos de Europa. We did a small climbing session there at a crag called La Vueltona and then proceeded to rip down the mountain via bicycles. Jake took a spill over the handlebars on one section and my tire popped just before town, otherwise it was a success. Another favorite spot of ours is Urdon just up the valley, which has some amazingly overhanging routes in the 6a-8a ranges. Just down the road is another amazing crag called El Salmon and again it has a wide range of routes on killer tufas. The amount and diversity of climbing here is ridiculous. If we get time we may even bolt some new routes on a giant pillar next to the road near Tama. Alfredo, one of our instructors, informed us of a small get together at a little church up the mountain. So, we rented a Landover and took the two tracks to the top. San Tirso was built in 1684, which predates most things in the U.S., needless to say its crazy living in such an old country. We ate some great food and drank the never-ending bottles of wine. Most recently we have been practicing top rope rescue, lead rope rescue, and working on lesson plans. It's already been three weeks and it feels like we just started yesterday. Life is good.