After lots of days focusing on rock climbing, we decided a change was necessary, so a more mountainous day was planned. Close by is a long rocky ridge, it's spectacular to look at and even better to be on.
Having completed a full traverse (about 4 - 5km) recently and knowing how exhausting that is, we opted for a slightly more relaxed version and started at the half way point. Thankfully, this ridge can even be split into 3 sections, although 2 is fine. A very enjoyable way to spend a day.
The walk up is steep, but on a decent path all the way to the col. From here things become more arduous underfoot and full concentration is required the whole time. The scenery keeps on getting better, and soon we reach the summit, Edd does a balancing act on the trig point!

The ground soon becomes rockier and much narrower, with some easy climbing sections. This keeps everyone focused and absorbed, revelling in our surroundings. Narrow, rocky crest, tricky hand traverses, and soon we arrive at the final abseil station, about 22m takes us down onto a PR route near the old fort. From here it's all walking terrain with the setting sun and a beautiful mountain backdrop as our companion.

As a team of 7 we traversed this in 5 hours 30 minutes and it always felt quite leisurely. A lovely day in the mountains with good company, thanks all.

​Mark
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After a brief rest we headed back to the local crags, climbing 6 routes. L’Ocaive crag provides welcome shade until mid-afternoon, making it an ideal venue for warmer days. The outlook is superb and it’s only a few minutes from the house, can’t fault it then!
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The steep and sharp nature of L’Ocaive took its toll on our fingers so Friday called for a shorter crag session. We had plenty of admin to be doing anyway so that worked well. During the afternoon we did however venture over to the nearby Segaria TV crags, just for a look. Well, we packed climbing kit too, just in case. As predicted, it was peaceful and in the shade. We set about choosing routes, finding a couple of lines that looked enjoyable. Both routes we climbed here were very well bolted and gave interesting climbing on impeccable limestone, we’ll definitely be back for more. With easy access, great views over the valleys and to Pego marshes, there’s plenty to recommend this little known crag.
 
For the weekend we were joined by friends from Castellon. Their plan being to climb on the sea cliffs near Javea. We decided to tag along too and enjoy some rock climbing by the sea. Sonjannika is a 6 pitch climb of about 180m and provides stunning climbing in quite unbelievable positions on this massive cliff. The big bonus with climbing here is the nearby beach for post climb swimming in the warm sea.
 
On Tuesday I had work planned guiding Matt & Rachel over the Segaria ridge. However, a last minute call from our friend Ann and an invite for us all to go water skiing saw us postpone the ridge traverse and check out some water sports. We discovered that Rachel is a natural skier, with Matt and Kate being pretty good too, whilst I don’t have sea legs so had to get ditched for a while and sunbath instead. All in all a fantastic day all round.
 
Wednesday became our Segaria ridge day, so an early-ish start to give us a fighting chance. This narrow, rocky ridge is over 4km long and a traverse involves numerous pitches of rock climbing, 3 abseils, and a huge amount of airy rock scrambling on the sharpest limestone ever! We made swift progress to the base of the ridge, but already the sun was tiring us. We climbed about 4 pitches of rock before an easing let us revert to solo mode and a speeding of our movement. The nature of the terrain requires constant concentration at all times, so we made sure to have plenty of short breaks to let our brains recharge.
Our cut-off time at the big col was set for 2pm, we arrived at a staggering 12.30pm. This allowed us to ease off the power a little, enjoy more stops, and check out the views.
We took the time to re-equip an old abseil station, making it safer for us and those traversing in the future. More very airy scrambling led to our final abseil down to the Segaria TV crag, bringing with it some very welcome shade and a well deserved rest! The walk down was nice and easy, initially through pine trees, then orange grooves. We all arrived back suitably exhausted, out of food and water, but extremely happy with a satisfaction that only a big mountain day can bring.  
 
If you’re looking for an action packed holiday, short break, or a day out during your holiday 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

The climate here on the Costa Blanca is about as good as it gets. Warm sunny days, low rainfall, and sheltered from harsh  westerly winds. And of late the weather has been behaving particularly well with near perfect conditions every day, split or what!

We've been making the most of these great conditions and have enjoyed a few big adventures.

Segaria ridge:
A few weeks ago I completed a traverse of the western section of this fine ridge: ​www.mountain-journeys.co.uk/blog/segaria-ridge-traverse-part-2  --  and now was time to finish it off by climbing the eastern section in full.
A short walk under the steep eastern face leads to rough ground and the initial traverse pitch. This is easy, but exposed and it's nice to have a rope on. Once in the notch it's a case of follow the wide ridge until an abseil station is reached (20m). More easy climbing leads out of this deep notch along more of the ridge to reach another significant notch. Here it's necessary to climb leftwards along a platform (not to the right as described by Rockfax) below very steep ground, as this eases (about 10m) follow a ledge system back right towards a fixed rope and belay above. From here easy scrambling leads to the summit cross.
Soon after this is a very narrow section of ridge, this is really exciting. Once beyond this the ridge widens considerably and easy scrambling and walking remain to reach the wide col. We turned left (south) here and headed back to the car.

Puig Campana:
The plan was to repeat Epsilon Central (HS) on this massive crag. However, even though we started out early, there were already 3 teams on the route, and 2 more teams arrived shortly after us!! Plan b, a slightly easier route called 'El Moro' (Severe). This is about 350 - 400m and contains a fair bit of scrambling too. We had the route to ourselves which is always nice. We didn't have the base of the route to ourselves though! Goats, a whole;e herd of them, came to see us. They particularly liked our climbing kit. It was a privilege to be so close to these animals and for them to clearly not be afraid of us. A beautiful start to the climbing.
About 10 pitches later we arrived at the top of the route, briefly considered a summit dash too, but thought better of it as our water supply was by now very low. The descent into the huge gully was easier than I remembered it, thankfully.

Toix Este - Horst:
This is a favourite of ours and a route we've done many times with many people, it's always a pleasure. Starting high above the sea and with views across to the Penon, it's a wonderful setting. The 1st pitch of climbing is the most difficult, but the rest of the route (4 more pitches) are still very worthwhile and on super sharp rock that's nice and solid. The route terminates at what looks like a small quarry. Walk left here (looking in) to gain the continuation ridge above, this leads up to the Mirador at about grade 1.
From the Mirador it's easy to finish off and head to town for a beer. Or, why not walk to Toix Oeste and climb Cilber up to the Toix ridge and finish with a full traverse of this, again finishing back at the Mirador. Then you've really earned that beer!
On this occasion we cut it short and called it a day after the Toix Este route.

Via Ferrata - Ponoch:
A regular trip for me, a re-visit after 4 years for Kate, and a first time for Leanne. Much fun was had by all on this metalled, vertical playground.
Cloud rolled in and shrouded us, but later cleared to show the full scale of Ponoch. Note to self - must get more routes ticked on this mountain.

Magical Mystery Tour, Toix sea cliffs:
A magical expedition to a dramatic sea cliff. The 40m free-hanging abseil sets the tone for this serious adventure. Whilst the initial climbing is easy (about grade 2), this soon changes and the challenges come thick and fast.
As with all the very best routes, the hardest pitch is saved until the end, with 40m of grade 5 and only about 6 bolts protecting the whole pitch, keeps things interesting that's for sure. A simply brilliant route.

Thanks to: Kate, Leanne, Joe, Ann, Kim, and Susie for joining in these adventures.

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It is about a year since our last visit to Segaria, here's what happened on that day: http://www.mountain-journeys.co.uk/blog/category/segaria-ridge

So a few days ago I decided it was time to return. Not to try a complete traverse, as I would be scrambling solo, but to complete the rest of the ridge and the longest section.

Starting quite late, I raced up to the col above the recreation area, even Kate was find the pace a bit quick! But there was a mission to get on with and speed would be key.
From the col Kate & Don descended tracks to the North side to complete a walking circuit which would meet up with my route later. I began the scramble to the main summit of Segaria. Easy but prickly.

The ridge soon became more exciting, but the main joy came from the amazing view along the ridge line, absolutely spectacular.
I was expecting some abseils so had a 50m rope and some climbing hardware with me, carrying all this made me so much more wary on the exposed sections as my bag was heavy and occasionally put me of balance!
Reaching the first abseil, which led to a massive gash in the ridge, I decided to down climb instead as it was quicker and straightforward.

Once in the big notch I eyed up my route back out, and on initial inspection this looked scary! The exposure would be huge and with plenty of loose rock around this was definitely something to take with extreme caution. The climb was far easier than it looked and the rock mostly very good, and soon I was on a knife edge ridge enjoying big exposure and scrambling at its very best. Route finding was nice and easy, but there was still always the element of what's around the next corner, and I would later find this taxed me a lot mentally.

I began to descend this narrow ridge and it briefly widened, so much so it was possible to jog a few sections. I could see Kate & Don sitting in the sun watching my progress. I was nearing the end of the ridge and was pretty pleased as my brain was ready for a rest! I soon found fixed anchors in the rock, but these proved useless for an abseil. So I continued to search and found a number of other pieces of fixed gear, none of which were suitable.
I descended a little more, passing a pinnacle and down to a tree, here I found the double bolt anchor that would take me to the ground safely.
This abseil was less than 25m (I had a 50m rope) and led to a grassy area and path next to a north facing crag. After a brief rest, we enjoyed a lovely walk out along the southern flanks of Segaria.

This section had taken around 4h 30m car to car for a solo traverse.

Next is to link it all together, that'll be quite a day!

After early explorations of this ridge and a desire to traverse it for some years now, today was the day we actually set foot on its rock.

Our intention was to tackle the first section of the ridge which takes in the main summit and a few others too. This seemed like a sensible objective for our first time on the ridge. However we got far more than we bargained for!

Early route finding difficulties were soon ironed out, but time had already been lost (and we hadn't made an early start).

Soon we recognised some obvious features and our hopes were raised. The scrappy scrambling became excellent easy climbing taking in some dramatic scenery. Once on the arete proper things became even better, although route-finding was still far from straightforward.

There was a general lack of protection on the arete and with lots of loose rock, we were unable to move particularly quickly, all costing yet more time!

An abseil of almost 25 metres brought us into a huge notch on the ridge, from here an easy climb saw us back on the arete and dropping into yet another notch. This time we spotted a fixed rope (as mentioned in the guide we had), but with time marching on and the prospect of darkness catching up on us, we decided to abseil off the ridge and into the heavily vegetated terrain on the north side. Painful and tedious, but safe and definitely the right decision.

The remainder of this magnificent ridge will be waiting for us and we hope to return very soon to complete the traverse.

Slight disappointment was in my thoughts as we walked back to the car, even a sense of failure that we didn't complete our objective.
But on reflection, we couldn't have hoped for more, and most importantly, we came back safely, ready to try again soon :-)

Photos:
Above = part of the Western section of ridge.
Below: Kate on easy ground on the arete with Montgo towering behind.
Bottom: Climbers on the initial col and about to gain the ridge.