Why Not Fly To Spain To Learn About Climbing?

Probably because most of us don’t get paid to do it. This is an article about a Wall Street Journal writer who goes to Catalonia to learn to climb.

“The rock in front of me was nose-high. A scrub-encased boulder, with a limestone surface as smooth as a frying pan, it was my first test on my first day rock climbing in remotest Catalonia, and I was failing. I didn't know where to grab or what to do, until my teacher, Catalan rock climbing guru Toni Arbonés, pointed at a slight irregularity about level with my hip. ‘Put your foot there,’ he said, ‘And give me your hand.’

And just like that I sprung to the top, feeling for a second what real rock climbers feel—utter, outrageous mobility.”