Climbing and Bouldering in the Costa Blanca

I just returned from a great trip to Spain. I was there for a week with 3 friends, Trevor, Tiba and Cecile (and my parents, who drove us around to the climbing area’s). We had lots of fun and did a bit of climbing. We started out in Gandia where I did two very nice 7a’s. The first one “Assissi de Vampiros” is a very hard and powerful 7a. I tried it last year and the year before and had absolutely no chance. The moves were simply too hard for me. This trip I succeeded and it felt great. I am also happy with the second 7a I did in Gandia, “Monsters of Rock”, a nice and technical traverse on tiny holds. 

The day after that we went to Pinos. I had done most of the routes in this area except for my big project Bloque which I tried last year and failed. The last move was too hard. I could not do it. This time I figured out a way to do the last move but at the end of the day I could not link all the moves together, too bad.

After a relaxing rest day at the pool we went to El Bovedon and El Bovedin. El Bovedon is a huge cave with very long routes. Not my piece of cake. There is one 8a “Lobos” on small tufa’s which is a bit shorter than the other routes but very powerful. I already tried this one last year and failed on the last two moves. This year I was able to do all the moves and was very very close to sticking the final jug to which you need to dyno. But again, my endurance is so bad that it was simply impossible to do all the moves without a rest in between. El Bovedin is a new sector with nice routes. I found a really nice short route on the far right site of the crag with long moves and some tiny crimps on a vertical wall. Not really my favourite style but the moves looked really cool and I was able to do it in the 2^nd try. I do not know a name nor grade but I guess somewhere between 7a and 7b.

The following day was spent bouldering, YES! We found some boulder problems on the internet that are put up by Mr. Edwards (thanks for that). After searching for a bit we found a nice cave full with problems “Cueva del Edwards”. Not really the typical boulder problems that I am used to. Most of them looked more like routes without a rope. Very long and hard to figure out which line was which and which holds could be used for one or the other. There were only two real boulder problems, a 6C “Beast of Darkness” great above the spraying ocean and a really nice but very tough 7B “Mosquito Roof”. I warmed up in a very easy but very long 7A “Original Sin” (a rope-less route) and spend the whole day on Mosquito Roof. This unfortunately did not work out the way I wanted. But no man lost. After another rest day at the pool we went back and I was able to send Mosquito Roof. I also did two other 7B’s at another sector close by “sector el torres”. These were less of a challenge than Mosquito Roof. I flashed “Dos Regletas o dos Tetas” and needed only a couple of tries to do “ETR-B3-L23”, a typical NoRopes topo name. See link below for more info on the boulders at Villajoyosa.

http://norop.es/villajoyosa

See below a movie of bouldering at Villajoyosa.

After two days of bouldering it was back to business again and fumbling with rope. We spend a very cold and windy day at Gandia, were I did a 7a “ Joc de Manos” and a 7b “ Dia de Borratxera”. The latter was really nice and a big challenge. The crux move was just below the belay, a very very far move to a two finger pocket which I missed 3 times before sticking it.

On our last day we went back to Pinos for 3 hours of climbing. I tried Bloque again. It felt really good. All the moves went smooth but no way I was able to link them together. As soon as I stepped into the crux move my arms got really pumped and I could not do the jump to the big last hold. Resting for a minute hanging in the rope that move went very well. I guess a lack of endurance training but also hitting puberty and getting heavier and more easily pumped is killing me on routes at my max.

I had a very enjoyable week and the routes I did were nice but I had so much more fun during the days we spend bouldering that this was probably my last lead holiday. Luckily there is a bouldering area close to Alicante with over 400 boulders. https://27crags.com/crags/crevillent.

So when mum wants to go to the Costa Blanca again to get some sun in winter next year it will be for bouldering and we take a bunch of crash pads instead of rope and a harness. No more route cleaning for me anymore!

Thank you Trevor, Tiba and Cecile for a great week together. 

More picture of the trip using this LINK