Ella Laraña 7b - Cuenca - Alfar

A super cool and technical 7b in Cuenca, Sector Alfar. If you are around, it is totally worth having a go. Vertical, technical and pumpy, filled with a variety of moves. _________________________________________________________________________ On our second day in Cuenca, I decided to try this 7b, Ella Larana. On my first try, it felt absolutely brutal with some pretty gnarly cruxes. After coming down from my first attempt and talking to other climbers, I found out this route is considered a classic in the area. The first part of the route starts off okay with some nice, technical moves. On the first crux, I bump my left hand onto a small two-finger pocket, adjust my feet, and then reach for a pretty bad crimp with the right hand. From there, I adjust my feet again and reach for a better hold with the left. The next few moves are still pretty tricky: small crimps and a lot of body-position-dependent moves. But once you get it right, you can rest for a bit on a decent hold. The second part of the route isn't super hard, but has another mini crux. quite easy to loose balance. The left crimp is solid, but the right hand is a bit high, which makes it tricky to reach up with your left and get back into a comfortable position. and place a nice right heel hook to clip the next draw. After that, there’s a sequence of good moves on solid holds, giving you a chance to recover before the final slab crux. This is the last chance to shake off before the second crux. Once your left hand hits the crimp, it is game on, the crimp isn’t great, and then you hit two gnarly monos. At this point, your feet are critical. I almost lost it placing the left-hand mono, but pushed through and finally got to a good hold, which marks the end of the second crux. From here, it’s not super hard, but it’s still technical and requires full attention. There’s a nice sequence of crimps, side pulls, and jugs that will take you to the chains, if you can keep it together. So, if you’re around Cuenca, definitely give this route a try and let me know what you think!