Iker Pou frees difficult climbs at Margalef, Spain

It’s that time of year again. That period when climbers migrate south in search of limestone, sun and friction, heading mainly towards Spain and, in particular, to the crags Siurana, Oliana and Margalef.

At Margalef 40-year-old Basque climber Iker Pou has now sent two short and intense climbs up a series of ferocious one-finger and two-finger pockets that characterise the climbing on the painful conglomerate outcrops. The first route is called La Orden del Puño and is graded 8c while the nearby Pueblo Pequeño Infierno Grande is even shorter and brutal and graded 8c+.

In 2012 Iker Pou freed what even today is considered one of the hardest sport climbs in the area, the 9a+ Nit de bruixes. Pou is recognised as being an absolute expert of this style of climbing, that requires pure power and nerves of steel, and it comes as no surprise that the third ascent of Wolfgang Güllich’s legendary Action Directe in the Frankenjura was carried out by Pou, way back in distant 2000.

TOPO: the crag Margalef



Link: FB Hermanos Pou, La Sportiva, Petzl, The North Face