For all of those who wish to, you may now follow us on Twitter. Unfortunately our twitter is only available in Spanish at the moment, but we hope to be able to offer it in English in the not too distant future. If you can speak speak Spanish, or want to follow us regardless, you  can find us @hermanospou.

We decided to take advantage of Twitter as a means of giving our opinions on current issues in the climbing world, and to keep people informed of our activites, so you know what the Pou Brothers are up to; as we have been doing on Facebook for some time now (largely in Spanish).

For those who didn’t know, we cannot add more friends on our personal Facebook pages (Eneko and Iker) due to Facebook’s own policies. Our Pou Brothers page is not limited, however, and is frequently updated with all our latest news; so all those who want to can get added and receive acces to all the content.

We plan to make a big effort on both Facebook and Twitter, but without losing perspective- at the end of the day our thing is mountains. It always has and will continue to be so, so if at any point you don’t see us in cyberspace, that’s because we are busy fighting one of those battles which we all enjoy so much.

Our local crag of Santuario de Oro is one of the Pou Brother’s all time favorites.

Only 15 minutes from our hometown of Vitoria, it isn’t the best crag in the world by any means- the rock is slippery like no other place on earth, and the routes themselves are too short- but it is next to Egino, the crag where we cut our teeth as climbers, and is set among some of the most beautiful scenery in our province with green fields, cows lazily grazing, and quaint villages.

We met up there to do a Teach to Reach- to film a few basic climbing lessons. This is the result. We hope you like it!

We finally have the got hold of the Video from this Autumn in Turkey! We like it as it is a little different, a touch more artistic, with more detail, and better worked shots; but we will let you judge for yourselves.

Attached are the croquis of the routes we opened too.

The purpose of our visit to turkey was none other than to promote deep-water soloing at an international level, through an event organised by Red Bull in the ancestral Mediterranean town of Olympus, a beautiful place just one hour from the coastal tourist city of Antalya.

It was Eneko’s Second visit to the area, his having made a trip there last year with The North Face’s international athletes team. On that occasion, in a single day, a number of routes were opened, although we left the top of the wall largely untouched as it reaches over 30m, turning it into free soloing rather than deep-water soloing.

This time, accompanied by Efram and Ugur (two Turkish climbing champions), and the Iranian Nasim Esquí, we were a little bolder and opened some much longer lines which created some incredible routes both for their height and their quality. The climbing is largely on columns, although there are a lot of holes as well as long, bouldery moves. The quality of the rock is exceptional throughout.

To reach the foot of the routes, and for moving between them, a boat or dinghy is essential.

Including this, we have taken part in four Red Bull Deep-Water Soloing events: Mallorca in 2008, Colombia in 2010, Brazil in 2011, and Turkey in 2011.

Last week, and having barely landed from Mexico and The North Face Athlete Global Meeting, we drove down to Madrid for Red Bull’s own Athlete Meeting.

We stayed in the Eurostars hotel in one of the city’s new and very striking group of four skyscrapers, and settled in to a very intense few days: meetings on the product itself and its relationship to the sporting world, and even a day of rallying in the mountains around Madrid where we played with quads, motocross bikes, buggies and more. We even had time for Red Bull’s now traditional Christmas party which is a firm favorite and always a lot of fun!

The last athlete meeting was three years ago, in Benasque in the Pyrenees, and it was a great experience, and a pleasure to see everyone again. Having a few days to relax in great company was a plus too.

Not all of Red Bull’s athletes were able to come but all of the following did make it:

Sergio Layos (Street BMX rider- one of the world’s best)

Andreu Lacondeguy (Freeride Mountain Bike rider- one of the world’s most “hardcore”)

Marc Marquez (Motorcycle Road-Racer- One of the world’s best)

Mario Mola (Triathlon Athlete- World junior champion)

Viki Gomez (BMX Flatland- one of the world’s best)

Jorge Prado (Motocross rider- Junior world champion)

Jonathan Barragán (Motocross rider- Spain’s leading exponent of Motoross as well as one of the world’s best)

Adam Raga (Trial’s Bike rider- 6-time World Champion)

Ivan Cervantes (Motorcycle Enduro racer- Best Spanish Enduro racer and one of the world’s best)

Dany Torres (Freestyle BMX rider- One of the world’s best)

Dany León (Skater- One of the world’s most promising up-and-comers)

Gisela Pulido (Kitesurfer- 5-time World Champion)

Josef Ajram (Triathlon Athlete- Specialist in distance Ironman)

And the Pou Brothers!

After two intense and fun days, we are left unsure as to how Red Bull will outdo themselves next year; but we are sure they’ll manage it somehow!