There are certain things in life that bring us the shivers. For me, one of those things was a rock climbing route on the Sierra de Toix sea cliffs. I'd been very keen to climb this for ages, but until last winter the bolts were in a dangerously poor state, so it stayed in the back of my mind. Tales from friends who had ventured through the hole into the abyss were also enough to keep us away!
But when the bolts were replaced,there was no excuse, I just needed to find a willing and able partner (not always easy for a route with such a big reputation, this is not a 'costa clip up' style route).

Ann kindly agreed to join me. When she saw the abseil descent there may have been some meditation going on! Setting up the abseil is not straightforward as it's necessary to re-belay on a bolt hanging over the edge, this needs to be done whilst dangling above about 70m of air! Every abseil we set up we check and check again. This abseil was checked even more than usual, there is definitely a scare factor going on at this place!

Once on my way down the fun began. Amazing scenery, views out over the sea, peace and quiet, amazing rock architecture all around. Ann soon followed whilst I sorted the climbing rope and checked out the 1st pitch of the route.

Pitch 1: Trending left from the rock bridge on huge holds up the steep left wall, I forged a way up this, clipping the occasional bolt (there's not many) as I climbed. Soon I was standing on the rock bridge high above Ann and clipping into a belay station. That was all nice and straightforward, fun climbing.

Pitch 2: This became steeper, as it forged a way up heading slightly left from the belay. Holds were never obvious but were almost always very good. Bolts were very spaced again, perfect. A hand traverse rightwards leads to a hanging stance at the next belay station. This is apparently the crux pitch, but felt pretty easy. Looking down whilst taking in the rope, I noticed the exposure had built up rather a lot, absolutely fantastic!

Pitch 3: The real crux! Awkward moves off the belay stance lead to a left trending ledge system. This time the holds aren't so good, there's also more evidence of polish on the footholds. The further left I move the more the exposure builds, it's mind-blowingly amazing. I need to remember to focus on the climbing though, so only try to look at the view when next to a bolt, for this is no place for 'airtime'! All too quickly i've reached the top and am building the final belay. Ann cruising up to join me. We hang around a while longer to watch some friends finish off their climb, then we pack up and head for home.

Happy and satisfied at a climb well done.

Ace route, probably the best sport climb i've ever done.

Thanks Ann

Mark   

After our adventures in the Malafi gorge, we decided on some more conventional rock climbing antics. First up being the super steep and sustained El Dorado on the Toix sea cliffs near Calpe.
The route starts from a small beach below Pueblo Mascarat. Pitch 1 traverses out over the sea to a spacious ledge, this is a good warm up pitch with a few tricky moves but nothing too difficult.
Things change quite dramatically thereafter!

Pitch 2 is steep and unrelenting, but all of it is on magnificent rock and all the moves are brilliant. An absolutely fantastic pitch of climbing, one of the finest I have ever done. By the time I reached the belay my arms were so tired it took a huge effort to clip the rope into the bolt, I was very close to falling off at that point, but thankfully mustered some strength from somewhere.
Sam took over for pitch 3. This started very steeply and with some awkward moves. Soon this pitch progressed onto slabby terrain, giving a slight respite to the arms.

2 abseils took us back down to the beach for a late lunch by the sea.

A grand afternoon.

Other notable routes this week have been: Via Pany on the Peñon, Sonjannika at Morro Falqui, and GEDE at Mascarat.

Good climbing, thanks Sam

​Mark

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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More absolutely fabulous days have been enjoyed here in Spain. Rest days were shunned in search of more adventure and how much could be crammed into a few short days. Never enough time.

On Sunday everyone completed a full traverse of the Toix ridge. Our variation on this includes a multi-pitch climb of around 250m starting from Toix Este. So this is a very big extension to the day, and well worth it. The climbing is mostly straightforward, but the whole time the atmosphere builds as we climb higher and higher above the sea.

After lunch at the Mirador, we continued our journey by venturing onto the main Toix ridge. This begins with more straightforward climbing, leading to a scrambling section which is extremely memorable. Narrow and space below your feet come to mind. Everyone did really well on this mentally and physically challenging day. Photos of this day are below.

The star of these days for me was without any doubt the 'Magical Mystery Tour' on the Toix sea cliffs, Calpe.

Only 1 of the team had abseiled before, so we engineered a practice session into the day. This was essential as access to the sea cliff is by a 40 metre free-hanging abseil!!! So a warm up to this was needed. The practice session and the real deal all went without hitch, with everyone arriving in the big caves at the bottom of the abseil looking and probably feeling a little awe-struck.
The temperature on the cliff was high, with no wind, full sun, and reflection from the sea, everyone was soon feeling hot and bothered.
No worries though, for this is an awesome place with plenty to occupy one's thoughts!

Straightforward scrambling soon leads to the climbing, but the transition isn't at all gentle, suddenly there's a 30 metre drop straight into the sea and you need to step over the void to make the move, spicy it certainly is.
From now on the climbing is continually interesting and the crux is fittingly near the top. Everyone emerged triumphantly at the top of the cliff, relieved, elated, inspired, refreshed.
A wonderful experience.

Photos from the sea cliffs are above.

And the final day of the course had to come, sad times indeed.

We spent it well, with a visit to Toix TV for some quality single pitch cragging with beautiful views over the coast and to the mountains.
Routes in the 6's were being cruised by all, and some very smily faces as a result (and aching muscles). Some sensational leads by both Edd & Lauren on 'Gufelwufel' (5). This is at the top of the grade and both cruised this on lead. Really pleased with this and the smoothness of transition from indoor to outdoor leading for both, well done.

Photos below show Genevieve on Gufelwufel, and below again is the view from the crag.

What a place to climb. What a week has been had. All in the company of such lovely people.

Thanks to: Edd, Nicola, Genevieve, Lauren, Jules, Chris, Kate, and Kim. You made it a fantastic week.

After a rest day yesterday for Anna & Colin, we were back in full flow today. The rest day had been important, for today we were visiting the Candelabra del Sol sea cliffs near Calpe.

This is an imposing place, not for the faint hearted and a head for heights is obligatory.

After a pleasant and scenic walk of around 20 minutes we arrive at the abseil station, now the fun begins. About 40m of free-hanging abseil takes us down to ledges above the sea. The ladders nearby were used by fisherman to access these same ledges and so they would fish for the best catch. Climbing up or down the ladders would require nerves of steel and a suicidal mentality!!

The sea was choppy today so we had the pleasure of crashing waves for the whole time, this is so calming, Being so close to such a powerful force as the sea can give a surprising sense of calm.

The initial section of the route is a traverse and is little more than scrambling, albeit in an impressive setting. But soon enough the moves become more difficult, the exposure mounts, and we're having lots of vertical fun.

Each of the 3 main pitches brings with it unique challenges, but the overwhelming factor is the sea below, reminding us the only way out is up. What a sense this is, absolute magic. And the name of the route?

Magical Mystery Tour.

A fitting name if ever there was. 

The photo below shows the Puig Campana framed by a Pricky Pear. This is during the approach to the Candelabra del Sol.

The photo above shows the sea cliffs. And the top photo is of Colin & Anna on the belay after the first pitch of proper climbing.