UKH

Going to Calpe in January. First time sport climbing in Spain . Going to climb Costa Blanca on the Peñón . Any advice on any aspect would be appreciated 

Costa blanca not amazing, el navigate much better.

Rope, quick draws and something to abseil with. Pretty sure you would get off it with a 70m rope. But you can escape left off Costa blanca near the top onto easier routes. 

Well, we'll be taking a load of quickdraws - it's fully equipped but long pitches. If you're doing other routes on the Penon then the guide recommends a small rack - others on here will know the details.

I just got back from there last week. 70 metre single rope, 15 or so draws and plenty of slings and screw gate carabiners (if climbing multi pitch) did us just fine. 
We didn’t climb the Penon so got no beta on that...
Some routes require trad gear so if you have a rack take it along (we don’t so just stuck to the pure sport routes).

Can really recommend Guadalest, Sella  and Toix for crags to visit.

Careful reversing the hire car in the supermarket car park, there’s a post just there...

Funny you should mention it, we did the exact same thing last year, but in to a tree!

Climbed Diedro UBSA on the Penon - used a couple of extra nuts on a couple of pitches, & a couple of threads/slings. You can get away with just using the bolts if you are happy running it out on easier ground (all the crux moves had bolts nearby). I usually take 2 x 60m half/twin ropes (allows longer abseils which is occasionally helpful)

Came out of nowhere that post, it must have been speeding 

Get there early and consider a "back up" route in case you get beaten to it - which may force you into a situation where you'd like a rack of nuts. Worth having some 120cm slings to replace sun bleached threads, as often these are in lieu of bolts.

On Thursday there were probably 7/8 groups trying to squeeze onto the rock - I think every line had a party on it, including some very slow moving UK groups well out of their depth (think dogging up the easier pitches) and the Valencian MRT running pitches together on 70m halves!! Half ropes preferable for Penon specifically but you could probably get away with a single with a few longer slings for weight saving. 

There is a Spanish topo by the entrance to the promenade much more accurate than the Rockfax - PM me if you want it. 

Don’t forget to avoid going to the supermarket straight from the airport. Many cars get broken into that way. 
 

go climbing or drop stuff at house first. 
 

Take a helmet too

A few years ago, we managed to reverse into a church during a costa Blanca trip!  The driver still blames this on god.  How we managed to hit a very large stone object is beyond me, posts are a little less obvious.

Immodium if you're eating out in Benidorm

If you have the choice I would say use double ropes on the Penyon. But if you've only got a sport rope, don't let that put you off.

If you're doing Penon -  take a head torch - if there is traffic on the route - or you have a leisurely late start or you are taking it easy you might well end up doing the last pitches in the dark. 

Take hire car stickers out of the windscreen, so that its not obviously a hire car.. When parking leave NOTHING in the car, remove the parcel shelf and leave glove box open, so that it's obvious at a glance that it's empty. I've had hire cars broken into twice before I started doing this, once in a supermarket car park, and once when climbing on Puig Campana.

Good advice about not going straight to supermarket from the airport. Supermarket car parks are not necessarily safe, nor are more remote crag side parking areas.

This will probably be tempting fate, but to add balance, we have been going to Costa Blanca for 25 years and never had a car broken into. 

Plus 1 for helmet - very busy place.

This also applies very much to Puig Campana, where benightments are not uncommon. In January you will need to make a pre-dawn start with head torches. It's worth doing a recce of the route to the start the day before because it's not that easy to find, particularly in the dark. Also take plenty of water.

It's really worth considering Serra Gelada, nearby, if you're into adventurous trad routes on hard sandstone. Full topo for the area for £2 from Compass West, put together by the Edwards clan. Reasonable trad rack required, though, as threads are only in situ gear. Echo Valley and Puig Campana trad is also brilliant!

Hi there,

all depends the route you want to climb. The clasic ones are bolted, you will need an small rack if you decide to climb Diedro UBSA or Valencianos, but the others, like Navegante, Costa Blanca, Miserables, are bolted. But there are more areas to visit. I recomend Puig Campana, with lots of really good routes. 2 ropes, a full rack and some cams.

Enjoy yoyur days in Costa Blanca. And don't leave things inside the car.

David Mora

Mountain Guide

www.montana-mediterranea.com