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Rock improvers week - Costa Blanca

10/3/2018

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#costablancaclimbing
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

#calpecostablanca
Calpe and El Penon from Toix Este
#rockclimbingimproverscoursecostablanca
Enjoying the great rock and blue skies of Echo Valley :)
#rockclimbingimproverscoursecostablanca
Approach walk to Segaria
#costablancaridgescramblesandmountaineering
High on the Arista al Forat de la Forada
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Multi-activity fun in Costa Blanca

27/1/2016

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Calpe-Penon
Calpe and the Penon from Toix Este
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.

​


Segaria-ridge-traverse-Costa-Blanca
Ann & Kim on Segaria ridge
Puig-campana
Morning light on Puig Campana
Puig-Campana
Goats on Puig Campana
Via-ferrata-costa-blanca
Kate & Leanne on Ponoch Via Ferrata
Magical-mystery-tour-Toix-sea-cliffs
Magical Mystery Tour, Toix
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