The Line of the Week
Cornudella de Montsant to Barcelona, Spain
Takin’ It Hard in the Paint
Volume 2
It appears that I am living in a mirror image of myself. The only thing that differs are the activities, the weather and the language. Right now in Tahoe I would be skiing pow in the heart of winter. Right now I am sending limestone radness in the Catalonia, Spain.
Right now I would be saying words like sick, sweet, killer, about place like the Fingers, Palisades, and KT. Right now I have translated similar words into Spanish like venga, venga muerte, venga tio, puta madre, si, si, muy guapo about places like Siurana, Arboli, and Montsant.
Right now in the States I would be fired up about the biggest match-up of the year between New York and New England. The Gmen vs the Pats, New York vs Boston, the rematch. But, right now I’m in Spain and in Spain it’s all about soccer. Not only is it all about soccer but it’s all about two teams, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Together they are stacked like two all-star world cup teams. They are wizards, not to mention gods to the people of Spain. Either way, it’s the talk, it’s the vibe, it’s life around here in the greater Barcelona region. Everyone cares, man, woman, child, grandma. It’s a matter of pride!
So, besides the wine and cheese and the smooth Catalonian sound I’m living the same life just on another spectrum. Either way you look at it I’m pretty much taking it hard in the paint. Everyday I wake up, check the weather (usually spectacular), get my gear and head to the crag. I crank as hard as I can and photograph my buddies Reuben, Matt, Seth and Cory crushing it hard in the paint. The Spaniards here “venga” like you wouldn’t believe. They are strong like bull. This is the mecca of sport climbing, it’s everywhere.
But, if you know me you know that it’s not all about climbing. After all, I didn’t fly all the way over the freakin’ Atlantic Ocean just to play with some piedras (rocks). There’s got to be a taste of local flavor. Otherwise you might as well be climbing Twin Crags in Tahoe City. Then I saw it plain as day in the place everyone on the planet sees it. It was written in plain Spanish right on a television advertisement. El Copa del Rey (The King’s Cup). Real Madrid was coming to town for a rematch against their bitter rival and foe FC Barcelona. Arguably the two best soccer teams in the world were facing off against one another in Europe’s biggest stadium to a sold out crowd of 100,000 screaming madmen. I had to go. I had no choice. I had no ticket, I had no directions, I had never driven in Spain (let alone Barcelona). I didn’t even know where the stadium was. All I knew was that this is why you travel. You gotta go hard in the paint!
I grabbed Seth as a wing-man. We got violently lost. We hit unbelievable traffic. It took us 2 hours to find a parking spot. We walked towards the stadium with the 100,000+ that filled up the streets. We basically got snuck into the venue with a scalper who claimed he had tickets that we bought from him. He nodded at some of his friends in our seats, they got up and we sat. I sat in awe at the grandeur of the stadium. It was gargantuan. It was live HD. The sound of the chants and songs brought a smile to my face. All four goals were scored on our end. It was awesome!!
To sum it all up…we drove home at 1 a.m. and got severely lost again. It took us hours to get home as we didn’t have a good map, couldn’t find the correct highway and a dense fog moved in so we couldn’t read the signs. I laughed… a lot. I passed out on my bed in the living room of our rented house in front of a fire that Reuben left for me. I just woke up and am going to pack my climbing gear, hitch to the crag as I missed my ride and finish this mission on a high note. This is traveling, this is going hard in the paint!!
“What is hard in the paint? Is it hucking huge air and hoping the hommies are watching your grab, as you hold it the whole time? Is it crimping a sharp ass razor blade to your waist and matching your foot, going for a pretty good undercling that goes in to the sickest mundercling of your life? Is it partying down like you were “on the Playa, man”? Or is it living for yourself and taking it right from the three point line, through the paint for the easy lay up? I’m gonna leave it open for subjective ratings, causing total spray down mayhem coming to a town near you soon……”– Matt Waskiewicz Current temporary resident, Cornedella de Monsant
“For me, going hard in the paint is about stepping it up and giving it all you got. Whether you’re forgoing better financial judgement to venga with your friends for a month in Spain, dub stepping until dawn or pulling a mono-pocket down to your waist and high-stepping for glory; you must be realistic and go ballistic!” – Reuben Shelton
Stay tuned for more Climbing shots from Spain, check out:
http://ryansalmphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery/
The Line of the Week is a weekly photo piece by Ryan Salm featuring some of Tahoe’s finest athletes doing whatever we deem rad. We will be using the term “Line” loosely to describe anything resembling chutes, big airs, pointers or any general madness. All images are the property and copyright of Ryan Salm Photography. All images are only to be used in conjunction with the Line of the Week. Any other usage must be cleared in writing by Ryan Salm.