The Spanish Costa Blanca is an almost perfect rock climbing venue. Not only is there a lifetime's worth of to quality sport climbing, but there are huge mountain crags and world class sea cliffs to explore. The climate is great too.
Having a combined climbing trip/family holiday with my parents Pilar and I based ourselves in Mascarat near Altea. This proved an ideal spot close to many of the local area sea cliffs and crags (though a bit of a drive to the higher mountain crags).
Our first climbing day took us to Sierra de Toix where we jumped on Roland's Magical Mystery Tour (100m, 5c). The route is an adventurous outing originally climbed by British climber Roland Edwards. After a wild free hanging 50m abseil we end up in a huge ledge still high above the ocean. From here we traverse left through enormous rock architecture to where the route starts. Further sections of Scrambling lead to three pitches (the first still traversing). The last two pitches are in great positions in a great sea cliff environment. The route had been retro bolted recently by the look of it. I placed a couple of wires but there wasn't much need for trad kit (to our disappointment).
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 | Awesome Cliffs
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 | | Pilar on Pitch 3 - Great exposure |
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 | | Me looking down - Superb positions |
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Being in the area we finished the day in the Toix Ridge (5c). 5 pitches of easy climbing lead to an all to short ridge with some great exposure. I was grateful for the diminutive nature of the ridge as clouds had been gathering over the mountains and some loud thunderclaps along with some dribbles of rain meant we really had to move quick. The rain hit just as we excited the ridge.
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 | Pilar on a pitch high on Cilber -Heading for the Toix Ridge
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 | | Romping up easy bolted slabs |
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 | | Me on the exposed ridge before the rain & thunder came |
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Later in the week we had a long day on the Bernia Ridge (180m, 4c). The Bernia is an iconic ridge of summits overlooking Altea and provides a great day of hiking and scrambling with amazing views (including the whole of Benidorm). Upon leaving the car the wind nearly knocked us over and I immediately had doubts about doing the ridge. Ridges and wind aren't the best mix. Pilar ensured me that it would be sheltered. I couldn't understand how but decided to crack on.
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 | Negotiating some highly exposed terrain
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 | Half way along the Bernia
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 | | Pilar making a small abseil |
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The first half of the ridge is the most interesting in terms of climbing- exposed scrambling with some Insitu bolts for security. That said we didn't rope up. Instead choosing to abseil to an anchor to bypass about 4m of exposed climbing. There was a second abseil of about 25m before we put the rope away and followed the red dots through grade 1 or 2 scrambling with long sections of hiking. The rope came out briefly again for the short crux section which l led. A knife edge fin of rock in a col between two summits it had not much exposure but was polished to a sheen and, in trainers, I pulled on some bolts (it was graded F4).
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| Enjoying the knife edge |
From then on it's a long hike to the summit of Pic Bernia (lots of goats) and the long hike back down. Regarding the wind, It was surprisingly minimal though through the cols it funneled to ferocious speeds. Sunburn was a bigger worry.
Later in the week we sampled some more moderate classics. The best was
El Dorado (65m, 6a+) - a great route to do in the evening we jumped on it late on after a day of rain. It consists of three pitches of climbing up to 6a+ with a mixture of new and old bolts, in-situ tat, and rusty pegs as protection. There is also ample natural protection to be found as the route for the most part follows a crack. The route is a great line for the grade and is so steep. As the first pitch traverses over the water there is a feeling of inescapably and commitment ( much more than on your typical clip-up). The second belay being a hanging one in an amazing position. A down scramble and long 50m abseil takes you back to the beach.
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 | Me traversing Pitch 1
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 | Pilar at a spectacular hanging stance
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 | The rappel down
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| The South West face of the Penon |
Before flying out we managed to get a route done on the iconic Penon de Ifach. The enormous limestone monolith standing guard outside Calpe was always going to be on the list for Pilar and I and it took until the last day before we could climb it. And early start (5.30am) meant we could climb our route a) in the shade, b) before anyone else, and c) in time to get our flight that day. Our route was the classic
Diedro UBSA(5c, 220m). Not technically hard but getting a bit polished and we also didn't
know how well bolted it would be. It turns out the route is well equipped and although it has the feel of a trad climb in reality I didn't place much gear at all. Walking in to the route is a strange experience - feels like a mountain route but with a sea cliff atmosphere. Diving sea gulls protecting their young add to the feeling of intimidation.
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 | Starting up the groove
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 | Looking out from the large cave
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 | Pilar abseiling from the cave
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 | | Topping out |
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Route finding couldn't be easier as the name suggests you follow a large corner. After pitch 6 there is a small but exposed abseil required to gain the finishing corner system. This gives the route some real character and certainly spiced things up. We got the route done in super quick time and joined the hoards of tourists on the summit before slip sliding our way down the polished path in our sandals back to the car (and then the airport).
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| Hordes of tourists on the summit of the Penon |
