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Villena Via Ferrata

30/3/2018

A team at the starting col of the Ferrata

Earlier in the week Kate flew back home to the UK to prepare for our summer season and to take out lots of people over the Easter holidays. It's been non-stop for her since landing!
Meanwhile, I've had a little downtime. But not one to sit idle, as soon as i'd left the airport, I headed over to Villena to check out the Via Ferrata there, it's been on the list for a while.

The morning was gloriously sunny, but due to the altitude the temperature was pleasantly warm rather than hot, perfect. After a short walk I arrived at the starting col, a team was already here and were gearing up. This spot was a perfect place to view the whole route and the surrounding countryside. As I was solo I went ahead of the group and moved rapidly over the easy terrain.
It's a fine route, a good starter Via Ferrata and good to combine with a visit to the nearby Castle.

There's a full write up and information here: Villena Via Ferrata

Thanks for reading folks :-)

Mark

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Multi-activity holiday, Costa Blanca

24/3/2018

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Cala Testos - always a pleasure and privilege to visit

It's been another super busy week here, with 6 lovely people visiting us from the chilly North East of England. In search of winter sun and adventure they certainly chose the right place. On this occasion the adventure started a little earlier than intended, at the airport!! A broken aeroplane led to delays and diversions, but thankfully everyone made it to Spain.

We started with a rock climbing session at the nearby Alcalali crags. This was a welcome tonic, to be outdoors, in the sunshine, and touching real rock. To round off the day we took a walk through the local hills around Llosa de Camacho.

Day 2 was a big one! Barranco del Infierno canyon trip. A chilly wind blew today, this helped cool us during the approach walk, but was then thankfully lacking once in the depths of the canyon, perfect. With about 10 abseils into increasingly wonderful scenery, this definitely touched the spot for everyone and I think became the highlight of the holiday.

Day 3 brought along a few aching muscles, so a beach day had been planned. But no ordinary beach. We were heading to Cala Testos via a short canyon descent. As is often the case, the beach was deserted and felt just as paradise should, wonderful in every way.

Thursday brought a mix of activities to make for a true Mountain Journey. Walking from Llosa de Camacho, following trails through the ancient groves over to Font d'axia where we enjoyed an afternoon of rock climbing in the sunshine. We had the whole place to ourselves once more, so only the sound of Bees, Birds, and Owen sending another tough climb!!

Friday comes around too soon again! We spent the day by the coast, rock climbing at Toix crags. About 7 routes in all, including a new addition to the crag, courtesy of Andy Hedgecock. The sun belted down on us today and by mid afternoon we retreated to the ice cream parlours of Calpe, well why not? A walk under the mighty Penon to round off another fantastic week here on Costa Blanca.

We'd heard of a local medieval market going on today (Saturday), so headed over to check it out. It was pretty special, taking over the whole village, with stalls selling all-sorts, including lots of freshly produced and very likely locally grown food. Geese roaming the streets, Donkeys too. Folk dressed up in medieval costume, and medieval memorabilia on display.
Only a few days left here for us this season, then it's back to the beautiful Lake District and hopefully a long, hot summer in the mountain there :-)

Thanks to Michael, Andi, Dean, Michelle, Owen, and Robert.

Mark

The narrows of Barranco del Infierno

En-route to our Barranco del Infierno adventure

Enjoying the great climbing at Alcalali crag

Climbing in glorious sunshine at Toix crag

Colourful medieval market in Lliber

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Rock improvers week - Costa Blanca

10/3/2018

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The Forat in the Forada ridge, Vall de Gallinera

This week we welcomed Lizzie to Costa Blanca. Due to some delays with air travel, we started Monday a little later than planned, but still found the time for a big route on Toix Este and a few shorter routes at Alcalali crag. All this gave Lizzie a feel for the rock and the climbing here.
The main objective for the week was mileage on rock and that box has been well and truly ticked. We reckon around 38 pitches (trad and sport) and about 850 metres of climbing over the 5 days.

Mixing sport climbing days with trad days helped us achieve a balance, so Lizzie can return to the UK and enjoy the trad back home, having led a few pitches on the super sharp Limestone here.

We journeyed to the south side of Bernia ridge on Tuesday to sample the crags of Echo valley / Vall de Guadar and rattled through 12 routes at the conveniently located Echo 1.5 crag. A few leads for Lizzie today too.

Wednesday was a trad day and for this we chose the nearby and very extensive venue of Segaria. Barranco Buttress is only a 15-20 minute walk along an old aqueduct and really close to our base here in Llosa de Camacho. As expected, we had the whole crag (possibly the whole mountain) to ourselves, so the pick of routes. A couple of longer routes for starters, up a pleasantly angled slab about 45m high. These were around V'diff and Severe and lots of fun. We then moved on to a smaller buttress and Lizzie led a couple of these routes at about Diff. The only sound we had all day was birdsong and bees enjoying the flowers, such a joy.

For Thursday we had planned a big mountain day, but strong winds caused us to re-think this. Instead we climbed single pitch sport at Sierra de Toix. Visiting Toix TV and Far Oeste crags and 8 more routes logged, including more leads for Lizzie :-)

The weather came good again for Friday. Well, when I say good, I mean absolutely outstanding. Wall to wall sunshine, warm temps, and a light breeze to help keep us cool, complete perfection. We used this to best advantage and set off for the Vall de Gallinera and the Arista al Forat de la Forada. A 7 pitch outing at about 'Severe' grade overall. With an easy approach walk, stunning setting and 250m of adventurous climbing through varied terrain, this is a route that's sure to bring a smile. And after that 250m of climbing, we finish with an abseil into the Forat (rock arch) for which the mountain is famous. A short while earlier there had been a small choir of 3 singing in the Forat, Lizzie would occasionally join in too! A musical day out.
Pleasant walking off the mountain and back to Benissiva, stopping to admire the wild flowers and glorious views of Forada on our way. Such a brilliant day :-)

Big thanks to Lizzie for joining us this week, we hope to see you again soon.
Happy climbing

Mark

Calpe and El Penon from Toix Este

Enjoying the great rock and blue skies of Echo Valley :)

Approach walk to Segaria

#costablancaridgescramblesandmountaineering

High on the Arista al Forat de la Forada

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Sport climbing holiday - in Sunny Spain

3/3/2018

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Fine views from El Bovedon crags, Gandia

Over the last few days we've welcomed back Rachel for her 3rd climbing trip to Costa Blanca this winter!

Each day we climbed at a different crag and over the course or her stay climbed at:

Echo valley: this area is home to a wide variety of crags, from single pitch bolted routes to multi-pitch trad adventures. We enjoyed 8 friendly routes at Echo 1.5

Bovedon (Gandia): Just north of our Llosa de Camacho base, lie these wonderful crags with a massive amount of routes. The local climbing scene around Gandia is strong and this is ever apparent when visiting the Bovedon crags, with so many newly bolted routes. Today we were also joined by Stig from Norway and Kate was climbing with us too. Can't remember how many routes we all climbed, but the highlight for us all i'm sure was a big pitch of 6b+ 'Jovenes a los 70' (young at 70)! The rock at Bovedon is super sharp, by the end of the day all our fingers were feeling battered and shredded, but still we walked away from the crag just before sunset as the magical light shone over the orange groves and onto the rocks, beautiful.

Sierra de Toix & Morro Falqui: Today the weather didn't play ball and a little rain came along!! So we delayed our climbing and instead had an explore of the Mascarat gorge prior to touching rock at Toix. This plan worked well as the rain stopped and the rock dried almost instantly :-) We were joined by Steve from the Midlands and we climbed a couple of mega long pitches before Steve took the led over on Toix Far Oeste. More rain came our way and we rain away! Me & Rachel drove north to seek the shelter of Morro Falqui and the classic 'Coming Out'. As expected, this was completely dry and sheltered from any rain and we enjoyed another fab climb before it was time for Rachel to make her way to the airport :-(

Temperatures have risen over the last few days and currently conditions here are perfect for climbing on most of the valley and mountain crags.

Thanks to Rachel, Stig, Steve, and Kate

Mark

Cragging at Echo valley with views of Ponoch beyond

Rachel cruising 'Coming Out' at Morro Falqui

Kate & Don - enjoying another sunny day at the crag

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Villena Via Ferrata

Multi-activity holiday, Costa Blanca

Rock improvers week - Costa Blanca

Sport climbing holiday - in Sunny Spain

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