Pal Norte 8c+/9a by Anghelo Bernal

Anghelo Bernal has done Pal Norte 8c+/9a in Margalef after some 30 tries over ten weeks. The Colombian has lived in Margalef since 2016 (when 8a+ was his PB) and he works in the El Pont campsite. "The town is very small, but as a climbing park, it is huge, it gives many options to climb and not get bored. Going to each sector is like being in a different place, both for style, length and weather. This climbing season due to the covid issue there have been very few people, 80% fewer climbers compared to previous years, this has been very bad for the town since its economy is based on tourism." (c) Esteban Lahoz

"Yesterday, I didn't even feel like trying the route, I was very scared, but thanks to the positive words that Beto told me, I relaxed and tried one more time. On the send, I did everything perfectly, I just listened to my breathing and told myself that this time, I would chain. Without much thought, I am shaking and with tears in my eyes, plating the chain with inexplicable feelings of happiness."

What is your next project?
Era Vella and Victims of the future' are the two projects that I have been working. I want to be the first Colombian to do a route of the 9a level and it would be the 5th in South America. With my last send, I am already much closer to achieving my goal. (Era Vella did break and has now been confirmed to be 9a).

What about new routes in Margalef?
There are two people who equip constantly. I know that Vincent Palau and Joan Rivera have equipped about 100 routes each the last year. If we add the other climbers who equip sporadically, we could possibly add some 70 more routes. Although in a couple of years there will no longer be rock to equip. In the last climbing guide, there were 1429 routes in 82 sectors.

Please describe the Colombia climbing scene?
Colombia is a very large country and climbing in recent years has been growing and this has led to the beginning of exploring new places and equipping more routes, near the capital there are several climbing schools' Suesca 'is the oldest there is also' macheta 'and' choachi 'that are sport. towards the east of Colombia near Venezuela in the department of Santander we find the ‘Mojarra’ and ‘Florián’ and to the south close to Ecuador in Pasto we find small sectors that together there are between 300 and 400 routes. anghelobernalquintero's profile picture In all of Colombia there are only about 8 8b + routes approximately and there are several projects for that reason, in order to meet my goal of raising my level I decided to move to Spain since internationally it is known as the country of the rock and we know that it has the majority of the rough roads of the world.