Two years ago we welcomed Edd to Spain for a fairly last minute introductory rock climbing holiday. Each day we climbed a lot and generally had loads of fun. Last December Edd was back, this time with his sisters and friends. Needless to say we were delighted by this and much fun was had. The theme was still rock climbing, but canyoning and scrambling were enjoyed too.
This December the team were back for more. All now climbing really well and leading trad routes back in the UK, I knew the itinerary was going to need to be pretty special so got to work on making plans for great mountain adventures.

Day 1: Arriving around lunchtime, there wasn't much time for climbing, but we did squeeze in a visit to the local Toix crags and this proved to be a perfect warm up for the holiday.

Day 2: We visited Font d'Axia crags in the Jalon valley area. A lovely quiet crag with loads of great routes from 4 - 7a, so a good range. Everyone climbed loads despite the heat of the sun wilting us at times. And even the 7a saw an attempt!
During the day we looked at multi-pitch climbing skills too, in preparation for a sea cliff adventure tomorrow. Everyone led climbs today and much improvement seen by all. Awesome day!

Day 3: A serious undertaking today, we were heading to the Morro Falqui sea cliffs near Teulada. Our sights set on the 6 pitch 'Sonjannika' which climbs the full length of this impressive cliff. A canyon descent starts the day, then a short scramble to reach the base of the route. With 6 of us on the route, careful time management was crucial for safety and success, thankfully everyone worked hard to keep the day flowing smoothly. I climbed with Jules who was fab company all day. We all met up on the big ledge above pitch 4, here we enjoyed lunch overlooking the sea :-)
As with many brilliant routes, the best is saved until last, and pitch 6 doesn't disappoint. Long and with several tricky sections and a traverse to finish the pitch off, this is excellent in every way. There were a fair few tentative moments on that final traverse, but everyone kept their cool and climbed it well, often finishing to applause from those already at the top. A big and awesome day.

Day 4: An easier day today, with a visit to Jalon market during the morning to buy some Christmas gifts to take back home. During the afternoon we headed for the beach at Les Rotes. Here we swam in the warm sea and enjoyed some beach bouldering. A nice restful day.

Day 5: Another 'full-on' day. We began with a long Via Ferrata on Ponoch. This brought many smiles and much laughter all round. The weather wasn't being so kind today though, with cloud swirling around us for much of the ascent, although this did add to the atmosphere. The clouds cleared briefly when we were at the top and this provided us with big views of the mountain and surroundings. A multi-stage abseil took us easily back to the base.
During the afternoon we went cragging in the nearby Echo valley. With everyone going so well, we almost climbed the whole crag out during our fairly short visit, top effort.

Day 6: Bernia ridge traverse - big day out! An early-ish start for this one saw us walking in before the sun had warmed the air, this allowed a speedy start. We geared up at the 'Forat' then began our ascent to the ridge. A few nerves amongst the team today, especially so once the scale and location start to register! Once on the ridge we were in the sun and pleasantly warm. Movement along the crest soon came naturally to all, and the exposure soon a normal part of the day. Still, concentration levels stayed very high throughout for everyone, big space below the feet tends to have that effect!
We cruised the ridge, the abseils, the climbing section, and then to the descent. Scree run fun, why not? This is a super rapid way to loose height on the northern side of the ridge. Within only about 50m everyone was looking comfortable with the terrain and much laughter could be heard, for this is brilliant fun.
We made it back to base in time for coffees, cake, and beer at the Bernia restaurant. Another awesome day.

Day 7: Yesterday had been a long mountaineering day, and muscles ached a little this morning. So our plan to go cragging to Gandia fit the bill perfectly. The sun was out again, the rock warm, the routes fantastic. Everyone climbed the worm hole route of 'Pequeno Saltemontes' which is so much fun, and made even more so if your name is Lauren or Edd ;-)
This very much became a day of consolidating leading skills for most, with both Jules & Nicola really excelling and ticking loads of routes on the lead. We almost had to drag ourselves away at the end of the day, still so much to do here.

Day 8: Last day for the team and a trip to Aventador crag. This is home to a short and very steep Via Ferrata and that's what we started with. The weather was overcast and cold when we arrived, but thankfully this soon changed to blue skies and sunshine :-)
Jules enjoyed the Via Ferrata so much she went up it again, taking Kate with her. Nice one.
A fine selection of routes were climbed on the main crag, a little multi-pitch action too, and a quality 6a lead for Lauren. Nicola & Edd spent time placing trad gear to help plug the gaps between the bolts. This is a good way to become proficient at this and carries less risk, win win.

Where did the time go, why do you have to go, we'll miss you all so much

Big thanks to: Edd, Lauren, Jules, Nicola, and Richard - an absolute pleasure

For the winter months we are basing ourselves in the Costa Blanca region of Spain. Here we aim to provide guided walking, rock climbing, canyoning, via ferrata, and multi-activity holidays.
Even though we know the area very well already, there's always more to explore, so we're here early to spend time doing just that.
Already 4 more walking routes done in the lovely Jalon region, and more on the way. Kate is going to write about these soon. The focus of this post is Rock climbing & mountaineering.

A starter day at Alcalali crag and 9 routes ticked was all a wake up call for arms and fingers. Thanks to Juliette for the motivation to keep going. This lead to a day at Aventador in Northern Costa Blanca. There's a Via Ferrata here so we started with an ascent of that. It proved to be good fun and quite challenging due to the rungs being so far apart and a relentless steepness. We were able to descend easily from the top via a small path, so no rope required.
We continued the day with 5 climbs at the crag, so a busy day.

Then yesterday we drove South to Forada in the Alicante region. This crag forms a crest of perfect rock at almost 1000m above sea level. We had the whole place to ourselves all day, the only sounds we heard were ourselves chatting and the occasionally Bumble Bee busying itself. This was a new venue for us and it was well worth the visit for every route was excellent and the views outstanding. We managed 10 routes here.

And for today, an entirely different proposition. This was mountaineering rather than climbing. We firstly ascended the Via Ferrata on the mighty Ponoch (the crag is around 500m high so quite Alpine in scale), this gained us height in order to begin the adventure proper. A grade 5 rock scramble to the summit of the mountain.
With only a vague description and no proper too of the route, there was a lot of unknowns here!
We soon established ourselves on the route and were able to link areas together at an amenable grade, finding the occasional piece of fixed gear along the way. Not quite knowing what lay ahead we pressed on at a very rapid rate, this brought us to the top of the scramble very quickly indeed. We now could realise the scale of the summit plateau of Ponoch! That's going to be a tough walk I told myself, but the views were absolutely mind blowing, so who cares about a bit of leg work out.

We blasted up to the summit in time for lunch, having now ascended a 230m Via Ferrata and around 300m of scrambling along with a rapid 30+ mins walk to the top. To say we were tired would be an understatement, but very happy indeed.

The return to the valley was a pleasant walk on good and well marked paths the whole way, a delight.

Thanks so much to Juliette for joining me on all of these adventures and providing masses of enthusiasm the whole time. Thanks too to Kate for joining us at Forada and on the walks and to Kim & Jill for joining on the walks.

Mark

Photos from top to bottom are:
1) Juliette on the Ponoch Via Ferrata;
2) Rock climbing at Forada, Alicante region;
3) Sunset at Forada;
4) The mighty Ponoch;
5) Near the summit of Ponoch looking towards the Pleasure Domes;
6) Kate, Kim, and Jill enjoying a walk around the Guadalest reservoir

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