Climbing in Costa Blanca
This last week I’ve been working in Spain for Rock and Sun, teaching Trad Lead Climbing in Costa Blanca. Based in the Xalo valley, I was with Quentin for a few days, with the aim to leave him with the skills to be a self-sufficient lead climber. In the past he’s done some impressive ascents in the Alps. but always guided. After our time Climbing in Costa Blanca he’ll be able to start thinking about leading these routes independently! The excellent Rockfax guidebook for the area “Climbing in Costa Blanca” and the great climate during the UK winter ensure the areas popularity.
We started out at Toix, a vast crag above Calpe, one of the most popular crags for Climbing in Costa Blanca. With a variety of easier single and multi-pitch climbing, it’s a great place to develop your skills. Most of the routes are fully bolted, but many can be led on trad gear, giving you the comfort of being able to clip a bolt if you feel the need.
Lead Climbing in Costa Blanca, on this weeks Trad Climbing Course
We started out with a review of the skills he’d learnt on his few days with Trev earlier in the summer, looking at scoring gear, building belays and the themes that run throughout. He soon picked it back up again so it was just refining bits and showing him some new ways of doing stuff! The aim was to get him placing as much gear as possible, so we wanted to do heaps of routes!
Belay creation in the Costa Blanca, a vital Trad Climbing Skill
After a long day climbing at Toix we decided to sneak one last route in, and look at multi-pitch abseils, something Quentin wanted to learn as he loves climbing long routes in the mountains. After three pitches we ended up abseiling down in the dark! You can’t say we didn’t fit as much into the day as possible!
Late finish Climbing in Costa Blanca as the sun sets! Spot the Paraglider!
Our next day Climbing in Costa Blanca, we opted to head to Alcalali, a crag right up in the Xalo valley and very near to where we were staying. The aim of today was to build as many belays as possible applying all the skills Quentin learnt yesterday in the different situations the rock threw at him. Along the way Quentin led a number of great routes, and again we finished with a multi-pitch route and abseil decent that he managed. This time finishing in the daylight!
Hanging belay at Alcalali.
Multi-pitch abseiling skills
My final day Climbing in Costa Blanca on this course with Quentin, we wanted to put all the skills into practice and do a long route to a summit with an abseil descent. We chose the 7 pitch Cilber, again at Toix, at about UK vs. Quentin led every pitch, right to the summit, which gave us great views over the Med (towards Benidorm!!), a quick ridge traverse led us to the 3 long abseils down. A great day Climbing in Costa Blanca putting all the skills Quentin had learnt over the last 3 days into practice…
Lead Climbing in Costa Blanca on this weeks Trad Climbing Course – the start of Cilber..
Lead Climbing in Costa Blanca on this weeks Trad Climbing Course – the last steep crux pitch
Quentin on the summit of Toix after leading all the pitches to the summit during his Course Trad Climbing in Costa Blanca