Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Costa Blanca Long Weekend

I have been in the sunny mountains of Southern Spain this weekend with regular clients Jude & Sue. We travelled out together on Friday night with a short flight from Manchester to Alicante and an even shorter drive to the lovely village of Finestrat, at the foot of the beautiful Puig Campagna.

Saturday saw us head to Sella which provides a sport climbing mecca on superb limestone. The temperatures averaged about 22c all weekend and we enjoyed soaking up this precious winter sunshine as we climbed a mixture of single and multi pitch routes, including one of the classics of the crag Marion - a 3 pitch VS that gives some great exposure and a taster of what was to come.

Sunday was the main event as Jude & Sue had come to climb Puig Campagna via the all time classic route, Espolon Central. This is a 13 pitch Hard Severe Trad route with the occasional bolted belay and a grade 2/3 scramble to get off the top of the route. We started at sunrise at about 7:30am and enjoyed pitch after pitch of superb steep limestone and some amazing exposure. The views across the Mediterranean were stunning and a slight breeze meant the sunshine was only a pleasure. The ladies did a superb job and we climbed the route in six hours, taking another 4 to enjoy a safe and leisurely descent and the Christmas cake that Sue carried for the entire route!

We spent the next two days climbing single and multi pitch routes by the sea as Jude increased in confidence and skill in here leading, ticking off some great 5's and impressing both Sue and I in the process.

The whole weekend was only improved by the location of our apartment being 2 minutes walk from Ooolala restaurant in Finestrat, if you are ever nearby pop in as the food is amazing!


















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