The Full Journey –⁠ Alexander Megos Shares His Experience

Alex Megos and Margalef go way back. It’s where the German climber has sent some of his hardest routes, including "Perfecto Mundo", 9b+. Last fall, he went back to the Finestra sector to do another first ascent: "The Full Journey", 9b.

I've already been to Margalef many times in the past decade and people keep asking me if there is anything left for me. Surprisingly, Margalef keeps providing more hard lines every time I go back.

At the beginning of last year, I got invited by Tom Bolger to have a look at this new line he bolted at Finestra. The first part seemed to be "doable", but the upper crux of the route, involving a shallow mono, felt very hard. Neither of us could unlock the sequence, even after a few days of trying.

A couple months later, during my second Margalef trip of 2022, I found a sequence that worked and I could climb the upper half coming from a different route from the left. I didn't want to try the original start of the route, because Tom was very close to sending it to the first anchor. He had put so much work and effort into his line, that it only seemed fair to give him the time to get the FA of "The Journey", the first pitch of "The Full Journey".

My trip was coming to an end and Tom clipped the chains of the first pitch the day I got back home. Immediately, my motivation to return in the fall was back and after the comp season, I headed back to Margalef for the third time that year. Since I knew what to expect, I could tailor my training to the pockets in Margalef. Linking the first part into the upper crux still took me another week. "The Full Journey" really seemed like a journey over three different trips that I could share with many friends. And it taught me that the send is not always the most important thing.