2 September 2023
Sรฉbastien Berthe sends Orbayu (8c) MP
Sรฉbastien Berthe, who two weeks ago sent Rayu, including a flash of the hardest pitch which he gave a personal 8b+ grade, has done Orbayu (8c). Both 500-metre routes were done ground up in one day. So far in 2023, the Belgian has done La Rambla (9a+), sent 100 7A's in Font in one day and onsighted Ajo crudo (8c). (c) Erwan Rucay
"Last week I sent Orbayu in a day on Picu Urielu, Picos de Europa on my first ever day climbing on it. This 500m 8c multi-pitch is located on the West Face of Picu Urriellu, more commonly known as Naranjo De Bulnes in the Picos de Europa National Park, Spain. The 14-pitch line is in part a free version of Mediterraneo, an aid route established in 1980, and was first climbed free in 2009 by Iker Pou and his brother Eneko. Previous repeats were carried out by Nicolas Favresse and Adam Pustelnik in 2011, Cรฉdric Lachat in 2014, Edu Marin in 2016, Gorka Karapeto in 2017, and Siebe Vanhee in 2020.
On Friday 25th of August, together with French climbers Soline Kentzel, Ugo Monier, Erwan Rucay (last two came to take pictures and climb a bit in the first pitches), we started on the first 7c pitch at 7:15 am. I climbed fast and strong through the first 4 pitches (graded 7c, 8a+, 8a and 7a, but are most probably easier than that) flashing or onsighting all of them. I arrived at the base of the crux pitch around 10 am, feeling fresh, confident and ready to try hard!
The only bad news: the weather was changing a lot, and clouds were dangerously coming closer and closer. The name of the route, โorbayuโ, comes from the very typical low clouds coming from the ocean that are literally eating you: wet fog and not much visibility. The least we can say is that we had our dose of Orbayu that day! As soon as I started climbing on the 8c pitch, Orbayu clouds were on us.
My first flash go stopped quite fast: I fell at the crux due to a wrong beta. Then, I spent almost an hour finding my way up to the anchor and dialing the beta. After the crux, the final bit of the pitch has no bolts anymore and is quite tricky: quite physical climbing, slippery pockets (pinscars where aidclimbers would put pegs), hard to protect,... Back down to the belay, I felt confident and optimistic about my chance of success that day.
Unfortunately, my second attempt didnโt really go as expected: the clouds were soaking usโฆ Rock was still dry, but ropes, draws, skin were wet. Rope drag was terrible due to water on the rope, I slipped once, I slipped twice, but stayed somehow on the wall. But after a battle on the crux, this try ended badly: I fell at the last move of the section with a split fingertip, a bloody wound on my index finger.
The orbayu was coming in and out and it was impossible to predict when it would be time to climb. After a really long rest, I put some tape on my finger and I went for the third try. It ended the same way as the 2nd. Things were going bad and my chances of doing it were decreasing drasticallyโฆ
I felt tired and pessimistic. But Soline, Ugo and Erwan were so happy and psyched! The mood was great and I can only recommend you to bring in your own multipitch project ๐ I decided to give it a last go, just for the game. The climbing was hard, I was slow and weak. skin hurt. The crew was cheering so much. The battle was on! Somehow, thanks to those guys, I climbed my way through the crux. I now needed to stay really calm and focused. I took my time and fought so hard in the final section, feeling tired and pumped. What a moment to finally clip the anchor after about 30min of fight! Wow, I couldn't really believe what I had just doneโฆ It was 5pm (spent about 6-7 hours on that pitch) and we had to be fast: there were 10 more tricky pitches on gearsโฆ I onsighted the following 8a and Soline and I kept moving slowly (quite easy climbing but interesting protection and itinerary) to the top of Picu Urielu! โCumbreโ above the clouds, it was 11 p.m. We finally reached the parking lot at 3am, getting lost a few times in the very wet clouds on the way downโฆ Ugo and Erwan were still waiting for us with food, grateful! A nice 21hours-day! Thanks to Soline, Erwan, Ugo, Siebe, Nolwen, Kico and Alvaro!
Note: Hard for me to give an honest opinion about the grade of the crux pitch. Conditions were probably not optimal and I struggled quite hardโฆ Previous climbers gave it around 8c. Compared to the other sport climbs Iโve done around here, it felt similar to the 8cโs Iโve tried. Still, I would not be surprised if it was 8b+. It is probably harder than the crux pitch of Rayu. Anyway, another great climb out there!"
"Last week I sent Orbayu in a day on Picu Urielu, Picos de Europa on my first ever day climbing on it. This 500m 8c multi-pitch is located on the West Face of Picu Urriellu, more commonly known as Naranjo De Bulnes in the Picos de Europa National Park, Spain. The 14-pitch line is in part a free version of Mediterraneo, an aid route established in 1980, and was first climbed free in 2009 by Iker Pou and his brother Eneko. Previous repeats were carried out by Nicolas Favresse and Adam Pustelnik in 2011, Cรฉdric Lachat in 2014, Edu Marin in 2016, Gorka Karapeto in 2017, and Siebe Vanhee in 2020.
On Friday 25th of August, together with French climbers Soline Kentzel, Ugo Monier, Erwan Rucay (last two came to take pictures and climb a bit in the first pitches), we started on the first 7c pitch at 7:15 am. I climbed fast and strong through the first 4 pitches (graded 7c, 8a+, 8a and 7a, but are most probably easier than that) flashing or onsighting all of them. I arrived at the base of the crux pitch around 10 am, feeling fresh, confident and ready to try hard!
The only bad news: the weather was changing a lot, and clouds were dangerously coming closer and closer. The name of the route, โorbayuโ, comes from the very typical low clouds coming from the ocean that are literally eating you: wet fog and not much visibility. The least we can say is that we had our dose of Orbayu that day! As soon as I started climbing on the 8c pitch, Orbayu clouds were on us.
My first flash go stopped quite fast: I fell at the crux due to a wrong beta. Then, I spent almost an hour finding my way up to the anchor and dialing the beta. After the crux, the final bit of the pitch has no bolts anymore and is quite tricky: quite physical climbing, slippery pockets (pinscars where aidclimbers would put pegs), hard to protect,... Back down to the belay, I felt confident and optimistic about my chance of success that day.
Unfortunately, my second attempt didnโt really go as expected: the clouds were soaking usโฆ Rock was still dry, but ropes, draws, skin were wet. Rope drag was terrible due to water on the rope, I slipped once, I slipped twice, but stayed somehow on the wall. But after a battle on the crux, this try ended badly: I fell at the last move of the section with a split fingertip, a bloody wound on my index finger.
The orbayu was coming in and out and it was impossible to predict when it would be time to climb. After a really long rest, I put some tape on my finger and I went for the third try. It ended the same way as the 2nd. Things were going bad and my chances of doing it were decreasing drasticallyโฆ
I felt tired and pessimistic. But Soline, Ugo and Erwan were so happy and psyched! The mood was great and I can only recommend you to bring in your own multipitch project ๐ I decided to give it a last go, just for the game. The climbing was hard, I was slow and weak. skin hurt. The crew was cheering so much. The battle was on! Somehow, thanks to those guys, I climbed my way through the crux. I now needed to stay really calm and focused. I took my time and fought so hard in the final section, feeling tired and pumped. What a moment to finally clip the anchor after about 30min of fight! Wow, I couldn't really believe what I had just doneโฆ It was 5pm (spent about 6-7 hours on that pitch) and we had to be fast: there were 10 more tricky pitches on gearsโฆ I onsighted the following 8a and Soline and I kept moving slowly (quite easy climbing but interesting protection and itinerary) to the top of Picu Urielu! โCumbreโ above the clouds, it was 11 p.m. We finally reached the parking lot at 3am, getting lost a few times in the very wet clouds on the way downโฆ Ugo and Erwan were still waiting for us with food, grateful! A nice 21hours-day! Thanks to Soline, Erwan, Ugo, Siebe, Nolwen, Kico and Alvaro!
Note: Hard for me to give an honest opinion about the grade of the crux pitch. Conditions were probably not optimal and I struggled quite hardโฆ Previous climbers gave it around 8c. Compared to the other sport climbs Iโve done around here, it felt similar to the 8cโs Iโve tried. Still, I would not be surprised if it was 8b+. It is probably harder than the crux pitch of Rayu. Anyway, another great climb out there!"
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