Journal of mountaineering activities.

ByTravesía Pirenaica

Keeping a diary of our mountaineering activities is a nice way to keep the memories of our outings or to plan the next ones, although it can also be a motivation to go out more or to train better. The way to do it is personal and can be a blog, a record of the outings we do during the year, or whatever each one prefers. It is up to each person to decide.

One of these people who keeps a record of the outings he makes every year is Juan Andrés Zudaire "Txananan". A mountaineer from Navarre, he is a fan of tirelessly hiking the small mountains near his home, the Pyrenees, or wherever the occasion arises. He has never liked running, but he has a reputation for never stopping, and well deservedly so, as those of us who have shared outings with him can attest.

Hello Txanan (@txanote)Earlier you told me that it was after a back injury that you started to go out in the mountains on a recurrent basis. Was this the beginning of your love for the mountains?

Hello, I did like the mountains, but I had other priorities. As I was physically limited, I became more and more fond of it and every year it's getting better and better.

Climbing the Trinity of Iturgoyen on the 25th of December, like every year.

And tell us, how is this diary of mountaineering trips that you started just now, two years ago?

It is very simple, or so I think. It's an Excel where I have the year divided into months and days. Then each mountain or route is written down in a different colour and with its altitude, so when I do an outing I put the colour corresponding to the day I do the activity. This way I have written down the day I do the activity, the altitude difference, the number of times I have done it and at the end the total for the year.

So every year you reset the counter to zero, how did 2020 go, did you meet your target?

I think I have done well, to be honest. Counting the months that have had to stop due to the pandemic and some seasons stopped due to physical issues, for the aforementioned reasons, I have surpassed the year 2019. So I am satisfied with what I have achieved.

Last year there were almost 60,000m of positive altitude gain, and in this year of the pandemic, almost 70,000m. In any case, surpassing last year's figure is a motivation, a challenge for the year ahead. Have you set yourself a target figure for this year 2021?

It's just that I don't really set a figure for myself. The figure thing was more for the first year. I see it more as keeping a record of what you do in a year and seeing how you progress, if you surpass the previous year and if you are satisfied with yourself.

Going back to the diary, there are some mountains that you repeat all year round, any day of the week. For example, you have climbed Montejurra 43 times this year.

In the end, repeating the same mountain so many times is a matter of proximity. When you have a bit of time you put on your trainers and go up. This year I have climbed Montejurra* 43 times and San Millán* 62 times. I don't think these figures are very impressive as people in the area climb a lot more than me, but even so, I'm satisfied.

* Montejurra and San Millán are two mountains near Estella-Lizarra (Navarra). Montejurra has an altitude of 1,045m and a difference in altitude of just over 600m, while San Millan has an altitude of 672m and an accumulated difference in altitude of almost 300m.

After completing "The Big Three / Hiru Haundiak" in the area: Montejurra, Belástegui and Monjardín.

Do you also keep a list of the mountains you have already climbed?

The list is the same for what I do all the time, as well as for the ones I do once. The good thing about making this list is that you write down all the mountains you do, so that tomorrow, I can refer to it to know if I have done this or that mountain.

In summer, on the peak of the Monks (2,349m), with the Midi d'Ossau in the centre of the picture.

Evil tongues say that the "push" to start writing down outings came at a party on New Year's Eve. What was it like?

Hehe, how many resolutions and adventures will have been made after a lunch, dinner or party. What can I say if almost everyone has been involved in something similar. It was very easy, to be honest, they asked me if I could climb Montejurra once a week from home and do 30,000m. So I said yes and that I would write it down so that I wouldn't have any accounting problems. And of course, a friend has to give the go-ahead at the end of the year.