24 HR SUFFER FEST

From Sardegna to a monster challenge; a 24 hour climbing marathon in Val Pennavaire – Albenga!

I had not heard of this type of competition before – from 10am Saturday to 10am Sunday the goal is to climb more pitches than the other teams and it is so much fun!

About 35 teams were there – in costume! Coming over to Albenga last minute I did not have a partner, but the organisers were very kind and until 10pm on the first day one of the volunteers from the event was so kind to trek out with me and hold my ropes. 12 hours of onsight climbing. Wow. Incredibly fun. After 10pm, I didn’t have a partner so Jason and I went out to meet up with Read and his partner as they suffered through the night, even nodding off while putting on their shoes.

By daybreak the guys were slowing down, but the sun gives you crazy energy after the cold night and the boys finished their morning power screaming through a few 6a’s before the final buzzer.

The organizers have made a very cool event and the community that comes together are nutters. Really amazing folks, laughing and joking the night away. I didn’t know what strategy to adopt with just one day of belays available so I pretty much just tried to onsight the most routes at one single crag and sneak in a 7c or two. In the end I did 16 pitches, but luckily I did those couple of harder lines because I could beat Read for our little bet : ) Even though he did 62 pitches!

Congratulations to Mao and your team for organizing such a fun event. Can’t wait for next year.