Climbing 2012

31st May 2012

Day in Cheddar Gorge, ticked Twillight of Imperialism, A Pat Littlejohn South West classic.

Half way up and heading for the crux

Brilliant route, safe ( A wee bit loose at the bottom), sustained, 35m long ( two good shakeouts ) and technical to boot. Am still smiling

Cooked in Chorro, 12th – 24th May 2012.

Gav on a monster 6A+ at El Polvoron

The air shimmered, everything, including the mad dogs and Englishmen were hiding from the heat, even the cars which had been driven by their owners up bankings and into ditches to find shade under the trees looked as if they were seeking refuge from the sun.

I had never been to El Chorro in May before, October, February and even March yes but only because the weather in the UK had been so awful did we decide to pack bags and look for some sunshine elsewhere did we end up there and then.

El Chorro

El Chorro is a fantastic gorge and major geological feature ( formed by the African and European tectonic plates colliding and forcing up an ancient ( from the Miocene era) sea bed ) which has resulted in acres of amazing limestone cliffs just inland from the Costa del Sol. However it is quite far south and as such does tend to get a wee bit hot but the climbing there is awesome, especially for a mid grade climber like myself.

The mighty Poemarocka 7A

There are slabs, caves, tufas etc etc etc on rock of every conceivable aspect so that you are guaranteed to get protection from the wind and the rain and either shade or sun at any time of the day. The generally single pitch ( but there are some monster multi pitch trad routes as well) climbing is reasonably well bolted, the lower offs are in good condition and the grades tend to be a little on the soft side which massages the ego. Sounds Ideal ? yes it is, which is what makes it one of my favourite destinations for a sport climbing trip. Couple that with lots and lots of crags to disperse the crowds, reasonably cheap and local accommodation ( you do not even need a car) and finally its being really rural so that you need never be bothered with the crowds and associated crap that goes along with the Costa Blanca and Benidorm/Calpe rock trip.

This little trip was no exception, despite having been there many times before the heat drove us to crags that we had avoided in the cooler and earlier trips and we had new routes and more than enough stuff to keep us interested.

On top of the Arab Steps at Sunset

The other aspect of El Chorro are the associated activities you can indulge yourself in. Mountain Biking there is fab ( so I am told ) and there are some great walks to do on days when you need to rest your fingers and arms from the excesses of the steeper routes.

On the Camino del Rey

The other main feature of the area is the Camino del Rey ( Kings Walk ) which is a walkway built through and around the gorge which was used to give access to the major works ( Hydrological and Engineering) being undertaken at the turn of the last century.

The then king of Spain used the feature to view the works and gave it its name. Since then the walkway ( 1m wide and approx 100m above the river ) had fallen into disrepair and the access to it has been taken away due to some unfortunate deaths. However if  you have a head for heights, are capable with ropes and the associated safety measures of slings, screw gates and other paraphernalia of climbing you can still get onto the walkway and traverse the gorge. Its a memorable day out, its not totally safe, there are large sections missing, the concrete in places is rotten, the safety wire is dubious but its a great adventure and an outing not to be missed. It is possible if you have someone with a car to pick you up at the other end if you traverse the whole gorge, the other alternative is to come back via the train tunnels, which is against the law and if caught you will be heavily fined but its the way the majority of climbers get to the faraway crags in the gorge and again is a little bit of  a forbidden fruit and further adventure, not that I am promoting it of course.

Jane in the train tunnels

Finally, as if that is not enough being there in May gave us another aspect of the area that we had not considered before. The recent rains had given rise to a fantastic display of local flowers and spring was in full flow.

Spanish Thistle

Going up to a crag at Desplomandia early one morning we walked up through a fantastic display or poppies, thistles and other wild flowers. A cuckoo was cuckooing away in the valley below, the fragrances of Rosemary and Tyme were strong in the nostrils and the only other sounds was the associated birdlife and the wind sighing in the grasses.

Did I mention before just how much I love this place !

Portland 17th April, a flying visit.

No..no pun intended. Jane and I were down doing a recce in Swanage for a forthcoming silver DofE so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to just “pop” over and check out some routes at Portland.

Twas the first day after the Easter break and with everyone back at work we had the crags to ourselves. The sun shone, the wind was light, the temp cool so we headed down to Blacknor to see what we could get up to.

Jane starting up a 6B

One 6A, a 6A+, a 6B and a failed 6C later we retired with tired arms to the seaside to sit in the sun and reflect on why the 6B was easier than the 6A+ and how we were going to get stronger for the coming year.

Life’s hard sometimes.

Back on the rock 29th March 2012

Henry on Touchez mon Derrier (Another pile of Choss)

I hate to admit it but this week was the first of me getting back onto any real rock in the UK.

It is one of the “problems” of enjoying so many disciplines in the outdoors. Winter climbing, walking, scrambling, leading on foreign mountaineering trips, sport climbing and the DofE work just soak up my time.

Then when I could squeeze a day I struggled to find a climbing partner, enough was enough. The weather this week was fabulous and I was “free” from Tues to Thurs inclusive. No excuses I dragged Jane down to Goblin Combe on Tues to get my rock legs back.

The day was fabulous, the sun shone, the woodpeckers pecked in the background and I warmed up on Gunabad, a classic E1 then got onto Smaug and launched myself over the E2 crux ( taking a bit of a flyer on the first attempt) to find the big jug and salvation.

Suitably psyched I headed for Wintours the next day with Henry ( aka Noggin ). Now Noggin has a bit of an esoteric approach to climbing, he likes things that have no stars, are falling to bits and see very little traffic ( I wonder why)

Not to be tempted by his antics I led off on Big fly direct a nice three pitch E1,  low in the grade but a nice warm up.

Men without hats

Henry then decided we should seek shade in the back of the quarry, it was hot and seemed like a good idea. He found something called Industrial disease, a charming name for an HVS which in fairness wasn’t that bad.

He then pushed me towards a route called Men without Hats, Phil Beddow put this up, why, I must ask him. Choss city would be a better name, after calling fer ma mammy on several occasions and trying to ensure that the rock I pulled off didn’t cream my belayer I topped out and swore at Noggin for route choice.

To round off the day Noggin then decided to have a pop at an E2 called Touchez mon Derrier.

Flippin heck can he choose a pile of choss, he has an uncanny knack for it.

So that was it, my first outing in the UK this year, a day at Goblin and a few piles of choss at Wintours.

Well Big Fly direct wasn’t all bad.

Next venue is definitely my choice.

Costa Blanca Jan 2012

Sunset from Toix ( Credit Kim Jackson )

The Costa Blanca was where I started sport climbing over 20 years ago. Aye I can remember when it was all fields there !!

But seriously we had a 100 page guide book by Chris Craggs ( who my wife once told that his name would be better if it was Cliff ( He wasn’t particularly amused)) which detailed some couple of hundred routes, this then evolved into a Rockfax guide as the popularity of the area exploded and the routes became increasingly polished.

I tired of the venue after dozens of visits and other areas like Chorro, The Costa Duarada, Kalymnos etc opened up and offered fresher and more adventurous opportunities. ( If sport climbing can be classed as adventurous that is )

So when the opportunity to go back there came along my feelings were mixed, especially after a fantastic two week sport climbing trip to Klaymnos had been had in Nov

There are however a couple of really good venues for some more adventurous climbing in the Blanca that give a change from the clippity clipping of single pitch sport routes.

So it was with this in mind that we packed the twin 50′s, a small rack, helmets and the other paraphernalia of long multi pitch days out into our bag and joined the usual jostling of the easyjet queue bound for Alicante at Bristol airport.

We arrived late morning picked up the cut price Jalopy and drove out along the autopiste of death toward Calpe. Stopping only to pick up some victuals we dumped our bags, packed the rucksacks and headed out to Toix to get some afternoon sun and the feel for some hot limestone.

Jane at Toix

If the Costa Blanca was where I first experienced sport climbing, Toix West was the first crag I ever waved an extender at. It is a bit of a low grade area which should be ideally suited to beginners. However there has been activity with the drills there and quite a few more routes have been squeezed onto the crag. It has not improved the venue, there are now so many routes there that it is rather difficult to determine which line is which. Also the gear which we climbed on 20 years ago has not been renewed and some of it it simply laughable. Rusted Bolts, really dodgy lower offs, pegs that I wouldn’t hang my rucksack on. Thankfully we had the venue to ourselves ( I would hate to be climbing there if it was busy as so many of the routes use the same lower offs which are on stone littered ledges ) so we picked a couple of low grade 6′s with newer bolts and warmed up till the sun went down.

Penon De Ifach

The Penon De Ifach is a large lump of limestone that marks the end of a major Spanish geological feature. It rises for some 1300ft out of the Med and offers some good and adventurous ( partially equipped ) Multi pitch lines.

I have climbed many of the more ( and less ) popular routes here in the past so chose a route called Via SAME  which is given E3 by Chris Craggs and 5, 6B, 4, 6A, 5+ with three pitches of concluding easier climbing above to reach the summit.

The first three pitches went off well enough and seemed to be about right for the grade, these bring you to the open crack pitch graded French 6A by rockfax and British 6A by Mr  Craggs 20 years ago. Bit of a difference here and in truth is probably somewhere between the two, lets settle on strenuous British 5C or F6B protected by dodgy threads ( likely the same from 20 years ago ) and some dubious bolts. This takes you into an enclosed chimney stance which once your partner has joined you ( Which in the case of Jane with much sweating, swearing ( at me for route choice) and leaving quite a bit of skin and blood on the rock on the way up ) you climb up and then squeeze out of a fissure at the top of a bulge into a position of incredible exposure and the warm sunshine. The fissure is so tight and awkward that Jane could not get through it wearing the rucksack and had to tie it onto one of the twin ropes for me to pull through, then after leaving more skin and blood on the way through joined me on the belay of the gods.

It was a really scary experience, squeezing through the fissure was really awkward and the move so tenuous that falling off was a very real possibility, if that had been the result then the final resting place would have been on the end of the rope hanging in space some 3 or 4 m from the fissure. The belay position was awesome but the 700m or so of emptiness beneath our feet ate away at your mind.

However fear is an emotion with the shortest half life of all and by the time we were on the slab i was buzzing with elation and looking for more.

Tangible relief on her face Jane makes her way off of the belay of the Gods on Via SAME

BRILLIANT..E2 seemed about right for an overall grade after we had made our way up the slab, along the ridge and disposed of the three pitches of “easier” climbing to reach the summit above.

Kim et al had meantime been working their way up a route to our left called Via Valencianos. I have done this route many times before and found it a tad polished. Kim’s view was ” A hellish route, polished like glass, overcrowded, badly protected not in the least enjoyable.

We all finished on the top more or less simultaneously and made our way down for some really deserved cold beer.

Kim on Via Valencianos

The next day was spent recuperating, paddling in the sea and just generally chilling out, Via SAME had given us both a bit of a kicking, physically and mentally and hey, the sun was shining, it was high 60′s and life’s too short to ignore the beach.

The rest of the week flew away with visits to Echo valley ( where I ended up having an adventure on a 50m ( which turned out to be 55m ) 5+ ( which turned out to be 6B ) on 50m ropes which needed 16 draws and I only had 14. The Toix Amphitheatre ( Magic sport route called Rainbow Wall ), The Puig Campana and more paddling/sitting in the sun. Kim et al had an adventure on magical mystery tour and Epsolon Central on the Puig.

So how ( In my humble opinion ) is the Costa Blanca now, in a word dangerous unless taken with the appropriate degree of respect.

Example of Tat at Toix

The gear that was there 20 years ago, especially at Toix is in a laughable condition, rusted single bolt lower offs are not uncommon, Lower offs that do not close or that are almost worn through with continual top roping. Tat, pegs and bolts that should have been replaced long ago or that has been backed up again and again.

Clearly the drive here has been to open more and more venues to keep the punters coming but with no policy on replacement of existing gear at existing venues.

I would think carefully about choosing this as a venue to start your sport climbing career as there are likely going to be injuries caused by equipment failure in the near future.

Maybe this is one of the failures of sport climbing and consumerism, develop, consume/climb and move on to the next venue leaving polish and rock litter in evidence. Who’s responsibility is it to keep this equipment in good condition anyway.

I do not have the answer but do not think I would recommend this venue for novices/lower grade climbers who are looking for a well equiped venue.