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5 days of 'hot rock' climbing holiday

30/1/2019

Enjoying the great scrambling offered on the 'Cresta del Migdia'

A very busy week and the sun shone almost constantly for all our climbing and scrambling antics.

We've been joined by Lizzie, for a week of easy rock climbing and ridge scrambling. Lizzie first visited us last year and quickly warmed to the idea of climbing on sun drenched limestone, peaceful crags, and beautiful views. Well, who can blame her!

For day one our plan was to ease in gently. After the 9th route at local crag Font d'axia we decided this wasn't quite the gentle warm-up that was planned! But still, a grand day was had and a great start to the week.
On day two we ventured inland to the 'Cresta del Castellar' which lies on the outskirts of the small city of Alcoy. A strange place to go climbing, but the views are surprisingly wonderful. As this is a fairly short ridge, we finished the day with a walk along the Barranco del Cint. The purpose of this was to see the resident Griffon Vultures. And wow did we see Vultures, loads of them!

Sunday came along and day three for us. The church bells played as we arrived in the small village of Tormos. Another ridge for us today, the 'Cresta del Migdia'. This provides 100's of metres of mid-grade scrambling along an arete. There are a few moves that are up to about 'moderate' climbing and these can easily be protected if needs be. The ridge provides plenty of entertainment and adventure, but then comes the descent! With no proper path and plenty of vegetation, this can (and usually does) provide the crux of the day. We navigated this pretty well this time.

Day four took us to the ever popular Toix crags. We enjoyed a selection of single and multi-pitch routes, all on beautifully sharp limestone and all giving us amazing sea views. Tired muscles saw us finish a little earlier today, but we still packed in plenty of climbing mileage.

The last day always seems to arrive much too soon!! We spent the day at Olta crags. These are set back above the seaside resort of Calpe and command excellent views of El Peñon d'Ifach. We rattled through 8 pitches of climbing and had the whole crag to ourselves, again.
A happily tired Lizzie flies home to the UK today. Hopefully see you again soon, for some Lake District rock.

Mark

Cresta del Castellar, Alcoy

Sunshine and bolted limestone at Toix crag, Calpe

A Griffon Vulture soaring above Barranco del Cint, Alcoy

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Puig Campana - again - oh yeah!

22/1/2019

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Evening sun lighting up the mighty Puig Campana

It was this time last week we'd been climbing the massive Espolon Central on Puig Campana. That was a big day! And today we're back on this magnificent mountain again, for an equally impressive route that goes at a similar grade.

Aristotles - HS/VS 4b and about 365m gives 6 pitches of good, but wandering climbing in its lower half. These pitches are well worth doing, but it's the upper section that gives this climb its character. Once above the half way ledges a pitch of about VS leads up and across a delicate slab, this provides great climbing throughout the pitch. Above this the route joins an arete, the climbing becomes a little easier again, but the exposure is phenomenal and it is these final pitches that make the route brilliant and memorable.
The climb terminates on top of a huge pinnacle with massive drops on all sides! A number of abseils brings us safely down off the higher ground, but there's plenty of entertaining scrambling before we're off the mountain, and this all adds to the fun of a day on Puig Campana.

This was the first time Joe has climbed on Puig Campana, so it was worth savouring the experience and we took our time, having a leisurely ascent. With perfect conditions, great rock and a great route, with nobody else on the route or even on that part of the mountain, I think it's fair to say Joe was pretty happy with his experience of Puig Campana.

We waiting a while once off the climb in order to enjoy the glorious sunset too. Even if not climbing on this mountain, it is worth the walk up to the base to enjoy the early evening light on the rock.

We climbed 13 pitches and made 3 abseils. The route is doable in 9 or 10 pitches, but rope drag would be more of a problem. It is also possible to make only 2 abseils to reach the scrambling terrain, but 2x60m ropes would be needed for this and we only had 2x50m.

Another brilliant day on the Puig Campana, thanks Joe for joining me on this adventure.

Mark

Selfie from very high on the route

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Espolon Central - Puig Campana

15/1/2019

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The massive Puig Campana

It's fair to say I'm feeling a bit tired today, most likely a rest day in fact.
Why? Well, yesterday I joined a couple of friends, George and Rachel, to climb a big route on Puig Campana. This is the massive and iconic mountain passed as you drive along the coast road from Alicante to Calpe and is just inland from Benidorm. It's unmissable and unmistakable. I've climbed on this crag maybe half a dozen times, so not loads, but enough to feel I know my way around reasonable well. For Rachel and George, it was a day for them to familiarise themselves with the mountain and terrain and get a feel for the place. They have even bigger projects in mind!

Our route was to be the super classic 'Espolon Central' a Hard Severe / 4+ of about 440 metres and taking the most striking line on the mountain. Espolon Central translates to 'Central Arete' and that's exactly what this is. Follow the huge arete in the centre of the South face. So you may think route finding will be easy. Not really. Just reaching the arete requires about 100m of climbing. Once on the arete you realise it is actually huge, so a line needs to be chosen, ideally the correct line. George was leading the route today and thankfully his route finding skills are first class, we didn't put a foot wrong anytime.
Me and Rachel we able to simple enjoy seconding the route, enjoying sitting around on the big belay ledges, and chatting away, all whilst George did all the hard work, thanks George. This was a huge help to me as I'm currently doing some research on the route and the mountain.

We climbed the route swiftly, about 5 hours of climbing landed us at the top of the route. So far we had enjoyed continuously interesting climbing on good rock in increasingly spectacular positions. The climbing is never hard, but it is run-out and the length of the route means it's very tiring, exhausting in fact. So not to be under-estimated.

After a nice rest and mini-explore at the top, we began our descent. Once you've done this and know the way, it's pretty straightforward, but first time, it can be daunting and confusing, especially when tired. We discussed what this would be like on a misty day, or worse, in the dark! It doesn't bear thinking about. Thankfully we had bright sunshine, t-shirt weather even at the top of the climb.
Red paint mark the way and there are occasional fixed cables to help protect the trickier sections. The exposure here is similar to that experienced during the climb, so care is required. We soon reached the edge of the huge gully and made our way down into it, from here it's a steep scree run back to base.

A couple of climbers from Madrid followed us up the climb, and we noticed at the top they continued to scramble upwards for maybe 100m. We thought maybe they are continuing all the way to the summit. But then noticed they too began to traverse leftwards as if making a descent to the big gully, only higher up. Still not sure what their plan was or if they found a good way down. But would be interesting to know. The terrain didn't look too friendly. They certainly seemed to know what they were doing though.

8 hours out on the mountain for us yesterday and almost every minute of that we are on the go (George much more so), so all pretty knackered now. Back to bed maybe!!

Thanks to Rachel and George for a fab day out.

Mark

Rachel cruising up the groove on pitch 7

George leading up pitch 9

Big views towards the coast from high on the route

More amazing scenery during our descent. This is taken after the traverse with fixed cables, we are about to enter the big gully

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Another day another spectacular ridge - El Realet

9/1/2019

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Afternoon sun over El Realet and Castellets

It's been a very busy time for us just now, with ridge after ridge, as well as walking and running routes, and exploring more of the brilliant 'trad' climbing Costa Blanca has to offer.

Almost to the day 4 years ago we traversed 'El Realet' ridge near Finestrat and until today we hadn't been back. Well, there are so many other fantastic ridges and climbs.

But today we made a return visit and it was great to re-live the excitement this knife edge scramble has to offer. Starting fairly easy at about grade 3 but it doesn't take long for the exposure to build up quite dramatically. This coupled with a few harder moves definitely means this one stays in the memory bank for a while.
We used a selection of techniques to allow us a speedy yet safe traverse, these included 'moving together', 'short-roping', and 'pitched climbing' all interspersed with short sections of soloing where appropriate.

We spent a little over 4 hours on the ridge. Long enough to soak up the atmosphere, but never long enough to be satisfied, for these places are truly amazing.

A couple of equipped abseils at the end of the ridge brought us down to easy ground and just a little bush-whacking to reach the road.

All in all a fantastic day out, thanks to Kate and Kim for joining.

For more information about these places or to arrange a guided day, please don't hesitate to get in touch. We'll help as much as we can.

Mark

On the initial section of El Realet

The first of many very narrow and exposed sections of ridge

Back on easier but still very exposed terrain on this amazing ridge

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Cresta dels Bardals - more amazing ridges, Costa Blanca

8/1/2019

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High on this amazing ridge, with the summit of Pla de la Casa as backdrop

Yesterday we went exploring on the nearby Serrella mountain range. We have walked extensively on these mountains, but hadn't done any climbing or mountaineering, until now that is.

Last year we'd walked up to the 'Cresta dels Bardals' to see if it would be worth trying a traverse of it. What we saw we liked, but the hike up was less appealing! However, we have since discovered a much easier way to approach the ridge, meaning the approach walk is only about 20 minutes. That makes this mountaineering trip possible in a half day, how cool is that!!!

We arrived at the base of the ridge around lunchtime, had a lazy start before getting down to business. The ridge starts easy, well actually is mostly easy. But very quickly the exposure arrives, and wow that comes by the bucketload. The ridge lies at about 1300m altitude so even being at its base there is a feeling of airiness. Stand on the crest and begin to negotiate the extremely narrow sections and that exposure really does take over.

There are occasional bolts along the crest, but a trad rack of gear is needed (thankfully we had this with us). And whilst the climbing is never difficult, definitely more like scrambling, it felt very worthwhile having the rope and proceeding with caution. There is plenty of loose rock up there and the drops off either side are rather big!

A brilliant day out and the ridge traverse only took us about 2 and a half hours, so an easy day out too.

Thanks to Kate for joining me on this one.

Please get in touch for information or guiding enquiries for either the Lake District or Costa Blanca, we'd be delighted to help.

Mark

On one of the many very narrow sections!

A seat on the ridge

At 'Point Africa' just before starting the ridge traverse

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The ridges keep on coming - Cresta del Migdia

3/1/2019

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Mandy and Phil on the initial narrow section

During a quiet day about a year ago I’d decided to explore a ridgeline near Segaria, Costa Blanca. We know many of the ridges in the region as well as we know the Lakeland scrambles. This one had still to be checked out, so I set off in search of adventure and hopefully a fun scramble.
From the Orba valley Cresta del Migdia is an impressive curving ridgeline and even whilst being so close to the mighty Segaria ridge, it demands attention and begs to be climbed.

I set off from the small village of Tormos and after an easy walk reached the base of the ridge. The start didn’t look promising, but at least the green paint blob suggested someone else had been here and thought it worthy to mark!
The initial moves were in fact much better than appearances suggested, and the rock felt solid and was certainly sharp, at times a bit too sharp. My memories from last year fade until the descent, that being rather memorable for not quite the best reasons! For now let’s just say it was ‘absorbing’. I do remember the ridge being pleasant and a straightforward solo at about UK grade 2 so was fairly keen to go back if the occasion arose.

Then a few ago some friends went across this ridge, I didn’t join them as I was working elsewhere. They came back with tales of such a fun day on a great ridge with lovely sharp rock. Okay, so I now needed to make some more effort to go back and rediscover this place.

Yesterday I did just that, along with the good company of Ros, Neil, Mandy, and Phil who were all keen for an adventure too.

As soon as we arrived at the base of the ridge I remembered the start, but many of the details had faded from memory, all the better and all the more adventure. What this ridge gave us was hundreds of metres of wonderful scrambling on super sharp limestone. Views over the Orba valley and to Segaria and Montgo were breathtaking. Why had I waited a year to come back here, crazy! Whilst a group rope was carried it was never deployed as everyone felt comfortable on the terrain, although for anyone not used to exposure there would be times a rope could come into play.

A short descent at the end of the ridge led us to a broad col and from here the terrain deteriorated to rough scrubland. I remembered this part well! We found a line of tiny cairns so followed these into pine woods, part way through here the cairns and path disappeared and left us to bushwhack the rest of the way back to the main path. A few scratches and maybe a little cursing later we arrived at the big path for the easy return walk with fine views back up to the ridge.
Very doable as an afternoon out and feeling like a proper mountain day, this ridge is worth putting on the list as a ‘rest day’ for visiting climbers, or a fun day out for mountain enthusiasts.

We can offer help and guidance on this and any of the other ridges in the region as well as all the fun activities we offer back in the Lake District. Don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks
Mark

Enjoying the final section of the ridge. Segaria and Montgo clearly visible in the background

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5 days of 'hot rock' climbing holiday

Puig Campana - again - oh yeah!

Espolon Central - Puig Campana

Another day another spectacular ridge - El Realet

Cresta dels Bardals - more amazing ridges, Costa Blanca

The ridges keep on coming - Cresta del Migdia

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