Well what a strange year 2020 has been. This time last year I'm sure none of us could have imagined what lay in store. It's certainly been a rollercoaster ride for us, with many ups and downs. It does feel good to be at the closing day of the year, we hope for much better times ahead, for everyone.

Typically, we have been trying to get out in the mountains as much as possible. Yesterday that involved exploring the Cresta del Maigmo ridge climb. This lies between the towns of Castalla and Agost, a little inland from Alicante. The mountains here are very quiet, empty in fact, despite their dramatic beauty.

Our planned route proved to be very accessible, only a 10 minute walk to reach the first rocks. We then had around 700 metres of increasingly exposed ridge to climb and scramble over. Due to the exposed nature of the terrain we remained roped for much of the route. As is normal for mountaineering routes, there are a few loose rocks here and there, but the majority of the ridge was nice and solid, giving brilliant scrambling throughout. Views in all directions are fabulous, with a mix of dense pine woodland, mountain, and Alicante city in the distance.

At a maximum grade of IV and mostly nearer to III, this makes for a good first ridge climb. There are plenty of escape options and it would be easy to vary the route to make easier / harder as desired.

The descent route proved quite tricky, although it is possible to take a regular walking path to the 'Balcon de Alicante', which would be longer but more straightforward.
Our chosen descent involved a steep gully, exposed traversing, and scree chutes. It all added to the adventure and we wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Happy New Year everyone. Thanks so much for checking out our blog and thanks too for all your good company out on the hills, in the gorges, and on the crags. We are very much looking forward to seeing you all during 2021 :-)

Mark & Kate
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Today was due to be a rest day, but that didn't last long as there's still so much to discover in these mountains. Last year I laid eyes upon a ridge in the Vall de Gallinera and thought 'yeh that looks nice'! Now armed with more information and the recently published local guidebook 'Crestas y Aristas de la Comunidad Valenciana by 'Joan Crespo Sempere' we set off to explore.

What did we find?
Firstly we enjoyed a pleasant drive from Llosa de Camacho through the Vall de Gallinera, with stunning mountains and pretty villages this in itself would be enough for many.
We then only had a short uphill walk of maybe 15 minutes to reach the base of the ridge and gearing up spot. With this place being 'off the beaten track' we moved slow and steady along the initial section, which included a cave!
Being North facing we enjoyed the coolness of shade for a while, but then returned into bright sunshine once on the exposed sections of ridge.

Long sections of easy ground were split with technical climbs up to grade V so we were able to move fairly swiftly for much of the time, although route finding wasn't always a breeze!
The more height we gained the better the ridge became, and to finally arrive at the fortress was such a treat. There is so much more to it than appears from below and renovation works are underway, albeit low-key.
Guidebook description suggested a couple of descent options, we opted for the less technical of these, being a straightforward footpath, this brought us back to the parking area in about 20 minutes.

Equipment we took: helmet, harness, technical approach shoes, a light trad rack with plenty of 120cm & 60cm slings, 40m single rope.
This was enough, but if climbing this route again as a party of 3 I would consider a 50m rope to give increased flexibility on pitch lengths.
Due to the loose rock found along some of the ridge a helmet is an absolute 'must take' bit of kit. I trundled a few blocks along the way! But with a light touch and thoughtful movement this is a very worthwhile ridge scramble with stunning views in all directions, these include the mighty Benicadell too.

Thanks to Kate & Kim for joining me on this.

​Mark
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Yesterday we enjoyed a big mountaineering day with Stig from Norway. Being well accustomed to 'big walls' Stig was keen for one of the longer routes in the area. With temperatures still quite high we opted for Via Gene on Cabezon d'Oro as this face stays in the shade for longer than many. We remained in shade until 1pm and almost at the top of the route.

​Despite it being over 300m in length and of a wandering nature, we managed the whole route in 6 pitches, one of these being about 65m though, wow!
The Costa Blanca may be most well known for sport climbing, but there's a huge amount of trad here too, this route was trad, about VS in grade and sustained until the summit ridge. Care with route finding is required as this is a massive face of rock and getting 'lost' is a real possibility. Not that this was an issue for us, we cruised up in no time at all, only stopping for lunch once on the ridge shortly after 1pm.

A short scramble in a tremendous setting brought us to the abseil station and the beginning of our descent. 2 long abseils got us to the scree, then a fun and fast scree run down the gully, seemingly starting a number of landslides along the way!!

Under 7 hours car to car this time, so pretty speedy. Good day, no a Great day, thanks Stig :-)

Mark

​On Sunday I had the opportunity to go climbing on the mighty Puig Campana. Having done a few routes on this mountain already, I was very keen to check out more of what it has to offer and start to piece together a very long link-up route that would total around 30 pitches of rock climbing up to about VS grade.
 
We arrived at the parking above the Font d’Moli nice and early, although a few had beaten us to it and it looked like it could be a busy day on the mountain. Immediately upon leaving the car we noticed the strong breeze which was also impacting the temperature. Still, we remained optimistic so began the gentle walk in towards the base of Aristotles, a 10 pitch HS/VS. Once at the base of the route my optimism began to blow away in the gale force winds! Attempting the first pitch seemed necessary but inevitably we retreated from this one quite quickly.
After packing up we followed a pleasant scrambling line to the base of the popular Espolon Central route, the classic 13 pitch HS. From here we continued the scramble into the depths of Barranco del Infierno, a wide but ever narrowing gully which ultimately becomes a narrow canyon. This is where the routes we were most interested in are. It wasn’t quite so windy, but alas higher on the mountain the trees still swayed violently so a complete ascent wasn’t an option.
Instead we spent some time checking through the topo drawings we had brought and matching them up with crag features, in particular the starts of routes. This was time very well spent.
We finished our visit by climbing the first pitch of a route called ‘Sin Nombre’ (without name). This was pleasant and on excellent rock. A straightforward, if slightly spiky abseil took us back down to ground level and a retreat from the mountain for us.
During our searching we had be honoured to catch sight of an Eagle soaring high above. This magnificent bird made a couple of appearances before retreating to no doubt less windy places!
 
A good day was had on a beautiful mountain. We had made the right decision not to climb and risk being blown off the mountain by high winds. But it would be easy to allow temptation to get in the way of sound judgement, and this should be considered by those on short stay climbing holidays in the area (or any other mountain area for that matter). We could see a number of teams high on Espolon Central as we walked down, wow how wild it must have been up there, let’s hope they all had a great day and made it back down safely.
We’ll report again soon once we get this route ticked.
 
After a stack of admin tasks on Monday morning, the afternoon became free to explore yet more rocky places, this time nearer to our base in La Llosa. I’d heard the Barranco de la Canal was a fine place but had not appreciated it until a recent rock climbing day at Guadalest crags, from where it can be partially viewed from a distance. The amount of rock up there astounded me and I absolutely had to go for a closer look. Thankfully it’s really close to La Llosa and the approach walk from the Castell de Castells side is quick and easy, so far so good then.
 
I found a rocky spur on the Eastern side of El Castellet, but alas this gave poor and insecure scrambling. Not to be deterred I ventured to the far side of El Castellet and here I found a serrated rocky ridge that looked rather fun. Access to the base was nice and easy and the scrambling was excellent and on mostly good quality Limestone. The route leads all the way to El Castellet which is a fantastic vantage point. Overall grade for the scramble would be a UK grade 1.
 
My return walk initially went towards the amazing Barranco de la Canal. Wow what a sight this is. The scrambling and rock climbing possibilities seem huge. Watch this space for updates soon.
 
And then onto Tuesday’s exploits! More rock scrambling was in order and again this would be close to home in La Llosa. The Caval Verd ridge above Murla presents a fine walking itinerary and I reckoned there were scrambling possibilities up there too. A steep ascent on the track from Murla saw me quickly gain a rocky crest which offered sections of mild scrambing over sharp Limestone. After summiting the East Peak the terrain became more scrambly up to Penya Riog at 790m and the main summit on the Eastern section of ridge. Had it not been quite so windy I would have continued my exploration to make this a circular route, but alas with such steep and exposed terrain this wasn’t the day for it.
Returning via the same tracks was still very pleasant and provided all the seaward views I had missed during the ascent.
 
If you’re looking for an action packed holiday or short break here in Spain, give us a call / email and let’s make it happen. Rock climbing, mountain walking, scrambling, canyoning, and via ferrata.
 
Thanks
 
Mark

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

More busy times here on the Costa Blanca and more clear blues skies to enjoy.

Back on Monday 7th December Kim was guiding Joe & Sang on the amazing Magical Mystery Tour on the Toix sea cliffs. This all starts with a dramatic 40m abseil into the crag and follows with 5 pitches of increasing brilliant climbing. Joe & Sang enjoyed this so much, they have already requested to do it again in February, great news.

On the same day we welcomed Dave from Fresh Air Learning. Dave was here to sample the fine scrambling on offer nearby. We began with a short barranco ascent in the Echo valley. This initially follows a dry river bed and finishes on a nearby summit with amazing views all the way out to sea.
The following day me & Dave traversed the Toix ridge. After an initial climb, this becomes a knife edged arete that requires a steady approach. Dave breezed across this and soon we were once more on a summit offering fine sea & mountain views.
By Wednesday the weather was a little more uncertain and we changed plans to fit with this. Going to the nearby Olta mountain we found a fine scrambling route towards the plateau, from where we could join the path over to the summit. As we descended a little rain also descended!!! Thankfully not very much and we all stayed pretty dry, phew!
Home time for Dave on Thursday, hope to see you out here again soon.

On Saturday we met up with a local climber, Miguel. We went North to a Via Ferrata near Gandia, Las Marujes. This turned out to be brilliant and we discovered a nicely bolted crag on our return walk, bonus.
The Via Ferrata begins with a Tibetan bridge over a ravine, then a long and steep climb to the top of the main crag, followed by a shorter climb to the summit. A well maintained track leads back to the parking area in Tavernes.

Sunday was a big mountain day. Aristotle on the mighty Puig Campana. 10 pitches of traditional climbing followed by 3 abseils to descend, so quite a day.
The climb is split into 2 distinct sections (lower & upper) and it's possible to escape at the top of pitch 5. The lower section is quite difficult to route find, but does contain some fine climbing. But it's the upper section where the main fun lies. Pitch 6 is about VS4b and above this the whole route follows an ever narrowing arete, culminating in pinnacles at the top. With a few hundred metres of fresh air below, this is a mighty fine place to be, mega exposure!
The descend is initially by abseil, about 10m into a notch, then about 35-40m from new looking bolts (2015) towards the barranco, and finally about another 30m from old pegs (these are now looking pretty knackered)! Once in the barranco a lot of down-scrambling brings you to the base of the mountain just next to where Epsilon Central starts.

Monday saw us enjoy another big multi-pitch route. This time on the nearby and iconic El Penon de Ifach. There are many climbs on the huge rock, and most are very hard. We choose one of the easier lines, a VS / 5+ known as Via Valencianos. 8 pitches including the notorious 'slippery corner'. After the initial couple of pitches we arrived at the slippery corner, this requires basic aid climbing due to the intense polish the rock now has, but this is fairly straightforward to do. Above here the route really starts to shine, the upper slab is around 70m high and contains brilliant climbing in an increasingly exposed setting, the top belay is right on the edge of an arete giving fines views back down to Calpe. 3 more pitches complete the route and end very near the summit.

All of these routes and many more can be included into a climbing / scrambling / multi-activity package. Please get in touch and we'll make the arrangements.

Big thanks to Kate, Kim, Miguel, Dave, Joe, and Sang for making this last couple of weeks so great.

A few photos below showing some of the places we got to. 

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It's been an active and fun packed few weeks here on the Costa Blanca, with much rock climbing, scrambling, and via ferrata done with lots of lovely people.

Yesterday 3 of us ventured into the Mascarat gorge near Calpe. We have visited this gorge only once previously and didn't much care for it, but thought we should at least try one climb here, so picked a 3 star route called 'Llobet/Bertomeu. A HVS climb of 8 pitches and almost 300 metres.

Not only were we pleasantly surprised by the quality of the climbing, but we were all totally wowed by the incredible atmosphere of the place. Even though the climbs start at a roadside location, almost immediately the atmosphere is one of a high mountain environment with exposure to match. Route route is traditional, with just a few bolts at belays and that occasionally mark the route, but a full rack of climbing gear is required.

Each pitch had its merits and each was a challenge, if only to find the correct route through the sea of rock. But for me the 2 outstanding pitches were numbers 5 & 7.

Pitch 5: The crux pitch with quite a reputation! As I stepped around the corner to below the groove, I looked up in horror at how slippery it all looked! This was going to be quite a challenge and some 'flight time' was a real possibility. Taking it slowly, ensuring each foot placement was as good as possible, i'd search for the next hand placement, position my body as best as possible and move up in search of the next foot placement, all the time looking for cracks to place protection to supplement the spaced and old bolts! Before I knew it, I was standing above the groove and moving onto easier slabs, with the belay in sight, phew! Really pleased to have led such a difficult pitch of climbing without any dramas.
Kate and Kim soon joined me and we were all happy to have the crux pitch behind us.

Pitch 7: This provided us with route finding dilemmas, but thankfully between us we came to the right decision. Once on the traverse we enjoyed a massive drop below us, directly down to the base of the gorge, probably 250 metres below us. The moves were easy and well protected by old bolts and threads. The belay came as quite a surprise though as I was expecting this would take us to the top of the climb, but no chance. I set up a hanging belay above the huge drop and got the camera ready for when Kate & Kim emerged onto the traverse. I don't think either were enamoured with the belay stance, well at least I though it was brilliant! The remainder of the route was straightforward, with the top about 30 metres higher.

Knowing in advance the problems experienced by some climbers who visit these walls, we were all apprehensive about the climb. This of course adds a level of stress and gives an edge. Keeping a steady head is crucial in such situations, especially so on the harder sections of climbing. Personally I find this very therapeutic, and strangely calming internally, although this doesn't always show externally. The thrill of being right on the edge, at the limit is fantastic, but even at the top of the climb we don't let our guard down, there's a long way to go yet. So a quick bite to eat and off we go to start the descent and back to safety. It's only afterwards that the full impact of the day hits home, and a mental (and physical) crash follows with extreme exhaustion. What an amazing feeling, we love it.

The terrace descent was quite straightforward to find and follow, although great care is needed as the small track is very close to a huge drop! Once over a rock step we followed a cairned path back to the road.

Yes for all there's a bit of noise from the road when climbing in Mascarat, but it's an epic place to climb and the route is most definitely worthy of its 3 stars.

Thanks to Kate & Kim for agreeing to join me on this one and for climbing it so well, good times.

Mark

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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