Nearly Home

My two months out here is coming to an end, on Tuesday I catch the bus down to Malaga to meet Yvette for a week in El Chorro then fly back to damp England. It’s been a good two months, although there has been rain I am still to miss a day’s climbing because if it. There definitely has been plenty of sun, most of the time we’ve headed swiftly to the shaded crags once warmed up.

Me at Orihuela

As with all trips it’s the people you meet who make it, it would have been a hell of a lot duller without Paul, Dan, Ryan, Scott and Elly. I’ve been taken to some incredible areas and climbed some incredible routes. Paul Thorburn who developed the Pirates of the Caribbean area below Toix T.V gave me a personal introduction to the area and I was able to enjoy some incredible pitches on immaculate rock.

Ryan at Orihuela

Although the climbing and company has been magnificent times here have been pretty frustrating, as someone quite unpleasantly put it to me yesterday, I’m just here to tag along. Every day climbing has generally been to belay someone on their project, or to make up numbers to go to a crag they want to go to. I’ve still not had a bad day’s climbing, but out of two months here I’ve only been to one crag at my behest, and that nearly got cancelled as well. In a way this doesn’t matter, I’ve achieved nearly all my goals, redpointing a few 7c, onsighting 7b+ and hopefully hitting my millage goal with Yvette next week. The only disappointing thing is I never managed to see so many other incredible crags, this region has so much to offer, but I feel I’m leaving having barely touched the surface.

Would I come back? Definitely, there is too much to do here not to come back.

Learning to Redpoint

I've been here a good few weeks now, getting up in the morning doing some cleaning then rest of the day climbing. There is a good community of strong climbers in the area, so haven’t been short of people to go climbing with. The main problem is trying to get back on the projects I’ve opened up across Costa Blanca. I had a good session on a few 7c, but hadn’t been able to get back to the crags to redpoint them.

Working the lower crux of Batacazo

For me redpointing is a whole new game, outside I’ve always tended to go for the onsight, and when that failed get it second go. Now I’m trying to climb routes I could never onsight and having to be very methodical in my climbing. Bolt to bolting the route, working the moves, getting the foot holds perfect the clipping positions right then going for the link. My main objective was an awesome 7c at Los Pinos called Batacazo, it was the line of the crag, a series of perfect pockets leading up the overhang for 18m. I could do the moves, but on the first redpoint cold fingers stopped me dead, I couldn’t feel the hold or clip the bolts and had to take the fall, unpumped and frustrated.

Me on Tai Chi at Olta

It took over a week before I could get a lift up there, so the pressure was on, not knowing when I could get back on it I had to do it that day. I warmed up bolt to bolt on the route, tearing a chunk out of a finger and making another finger go numb in the process. More worryingly I was shattered at the top, out of breath and knackered, it didn’t bode well for the redpoint attempt. But on the redpoint it could not have gone better, each moved flowed into the next, every foot went exactly where I wanted it, I reached the brief rest post cruxes relaxed and with a mild pump in my forearms, I locked off the under-cling and clipped the chain and had the route in the bag. I even managed to jump on the 7c+ next to it and link it together in two halfs and fell off the last move trying to onsight the 7b next to them all. So if I ever get back to the crag they will have to be finished as well.

Costa Blanca

Why is it when you have three months to relax, climb and explore you book the earliest flight possible so you don’t waste an hour. That’s how I found myself at Gatwick at 5am, somehow, maybe because it was 5am I got in, checked and through security in 10min. Must be a record of some sorts!

Anyhow, what am I up, in a spate of wondering what to do with myself I emailed the Orange House in Costa Blanca, Spain to see if they needed a helping hand. Luckily for me they did and hence I’m here, doing the house work, filling in pot holes, the odd bit of gardening and then a lot of climbing.

The Orange House

I’m still trying to get my head around this trip, I’m a creature of routine, I like to know what I’m going to do. So having to wake up everyone morning to find out what job needs doing, then hoping at the end of that someone is keen to climb is all very strange to me. So far I have managed to climb every day, so it seems to be working.

The climbing hasn’t been too bad, my six weeks off have left me with poor rock skills and a big lack of commitment. Somehow I managed to onsight a 7a+ on my first day and felt strong on two 7b yesterday. But it’s going to take a while to get everything back how it should. Luckily there are plenty of strong climbers here, so I’ve had the opportunity to get on some harder routes and push myself, something I seldom get the chance unless I am feeling confident enough to put the clips in myself.

This time around on the blog things aren’t going to be that interesting, I’m hopefully going to get a trip to Madrid sometime in Feb, but most the time it’s going to be climbing climbing and climbing. But I hope you still enjoy it.

A big Dudu

Some jobs around the house

Climbing at Sector 'Wild Side' at Sella