Easy trad multi pitch climbing on the shore of the Cuber

Another couples multi pitch climb - The “More Cowbell” line

During the Covid-19 mess that is 2020 we (Brigitte and I) have focused on getting to know Mallorca even better and have stayed in the Tramuntana mountains with our van a few times already. The range does have tons of hiking, scrambling and climbing to offer but the Cuber reservoir area has the special feature of super easy access and fairly easy terrain for short and not too hard adventures. During our most recent trip in mid-September we tackled a part of the “wall” that runs along the western shore.

The evening we arrived I went on a little reconnission mission and spotted two possible lines for the next day: One going all the way to the top of the Sierras ridge (roughly 200 vertical meters with a potentially difficult descent) and another going up about 100-120m onto a different ridge connecting to the main one with a still unknown but quite obvious descent down into the wooded valley between it and the main ridge. Both options consist of the typical sharp edge northern Tramuntana rock with deep water funnels running down it and the occasional tree that would make a great belay stance. As far as we know there is no gear in the wall, meaning you have to protect the climbing yourself. Armed with that knowledge and a few photos we decided to make our choice the next morning with the weather being our main concern.

The next day after a nice van breakfast of jam sandwiches and strong coffee we took a look at the weather forecast and decided to go with option 2 as there was a thunderstorm forecast for around 1pm - option 1 wouldn´t go anywhere and we would be back for sure anyways. 20 minutes of lake side approach walking later we were standing below our goal. The quick estimation was (turned out right): Three pitches of climbing, then some ridge scrambling to the highest point and back down the other side with potentially a bit of rappelling.

We sorted our gear and I headed off on the first lead of about 30m through some slaby stuff with more than enough places for protection (UIAA grade III-ish) to a comfortable stance on a big tree. Brigitte followed and we checked whether our plan still made sense and I took off again. Pitch two (35m, UIAA grade III-) goes slightly to the left up a reasonable incline with a little step in it again to a bomber tree. The last proper climbing pitch looked a bit harder from that stance than it did from the ground but nothing really to worry about. It heads more or less straight up to the ridge with the last maybe 4-5m being a bit steep (30m, UIAA grade IV-). I built the last stance close to the edge on a chickenhead and backed it up with a cam in a crack close so that I could keep an eye on Brigitte while climbing through the steep stuff. She made it without issues and we rearranged the rope to short roping and continued along the exposed but easy ridge to the highest point.

With the thunderstorm in mind and the descent looking a bit try at least for the first maybe 40 meters of vert we did not spend too much time up there. Getting off the ridge and into the wooded area behind it that would lead us back down to the Cuber turned out to be a bit time consuming and scrambly (including a 5m rappel down a rock step). Having reached the wood we packed up the rope and hiked out to the lake in no time (perfect timing as it turned out with the rain starting maybe 15min after we reached the van).

On the way down Brigitte had found a small cowbell (possibly more of a goat or sheep bell actually) which we took with us as a memento and that is the name inspiration for our little line: More Cowbell!

PS: Of course the longer route up to the main ridge is already earmarked for our next visit.

Adventurers: Brigitte and Bengt

Note: I did not find any description of this climb online and all the grades are my rough estimations. Please also note that a permit is necessary for climbing in the Tramuntana - You can find information on that topic here.