Costa Blanca - Week 2

So another week has passed in Costa Blanca and the weather has managed to maintain up until now, however the rain only lasted a very brief time and is now off again and the forecast is due to be sun, sun and more sun!

Nat has gone back to Austria already, but not before a brief stop in France meeting up with friends, visiting her old workplace for Entreprises and stopping off in Mallau to watch the Boulder World Cup. She had a great trip out here and now she is looking forward to the rest of her work placement in Austria (Landeck) and hopefully joining us for a trip to Ceuse in the Summer :D

So today this week has been yet another eventful one for Team Scotland! I have been joined out here by two others, Amanda and Jules who are keen to push their own level as far as possible. Amanda has been getting stuck into some quick redpoint mileage and has thus far dispatched a couple of quick 7b+'s and is now working on a 7c. Jules only just arrived and today was her first day climbing. Jules is hoping to work an 8a out here, she had already tried one from her last trip called "La Putita de Millau" so was keen to get on this. Amanda Lyons bending her way through the crux of "Yo Somos Olimpicos" (7c)

In the morning today, I decided that the 8a seemed easy enough at the beginning to justify warming up on which resulted in a successful onsight for me :D Turns out that if you don't go direct at one section it is only 7c+, fair enough as it felt too eays for 8a, but this is where things start getting a bit weird and I don't really see the point in giving it 8a if it is easier to climb 1m left of the bolt as opposed to straight up...

"Dosis" (8b+)

End of the tufas on "Dosis"After warming up, I got on with my redpoint attempt on "Dosis" (8b+). First go I mucked up the first crux as it was so cold and I couldn't feel my fingers. The moves through this section are really powerful between one small but positive crimp, a bad sloper and a small pinch (tufa). With my numb fingers I just couldn't feel anything I was holding so opted for a return to the ground, 5 minutes rest and a re-attempt. This time I crushed the boulder crux and made it through the the tufas out right... It was only once here that I realised my kneepad was too high on my leg for the kneebar :O I quickly moved through the next sequence to a higher (better) kneebar that would fit and finally I could shake out a bit :DOn the upper section of "Dosis" (8b+)

The next part of the climb was a techy sequence between pockets and a slopey right hand tufa which involves one or two quite powerful committing moves. Luckily I didn't much these up and managed to continue with my upwards progression into the rest before the final crux.

This last section scared me considerably as it involved some big moves between some not very good holds with bad feet! I had issues figuring this bit out on my first time up the route, but now at least I had a decent sequence sussed. After a good shake at the rest, I blitzed through the moves and before I knew it I was clipping the chains - WHOOP! 

"Dosis" for me was the ultimate Wildside route, it literally had everything you could want - Slopers, Pockets, Crimps, Jugs, Tufas, Technical climbing, Bouldery climbing, Endurance climbing, etc... It was a real adventure and the first time I have felt nervous climbing a route on redpoint this trip for the sheer fact that I knew there was multiple places I could fall off if I just wasn't positioning my body accurately.

"Pinoreta" (8c)

As well as "Dosis", I have also done a few other excellent routes in the last few days. I climbed the stunning line to the right, "Pinoreta" (8c). This was the last hard pure line to climb at Wildside for me before I start either moving onto link ups or projects if I want to try something harder.

"Pinoreta" is a beautiful sheet of orange rock scattered with long sections of water polished tufa and a short bouldery section at the start on pockets and crimps. The route itself is split into these two sections, the top probably raking in at about 8a from the rest point (a massive jug!). The bottom crux is weird and I am not sure entirely of the boulder grade? It could be anywhere from V6 to V8 - hard to tell. It involves a pretty cool set of moves:

• Big rock over on a high tufa to make a flat undercut hold
• Heel hooking a tufa to reach a good 2 finger pocket
• A precision jump to catch a small finger slot in the wall above
• A few more moves of sustained climbing until...
• A hard cross through move followed by slapping a bad sloper then jumping for a jug!

The crux of "Dosis" - Going to the sloper!That is the boulder crux of "Pinoreta". The 8a top out is mostly technical bridging between two slopey tufas, but there is a rather hard section right at the end of the most difficult part of the climb where you have to stab for a good sika crimp quite high up. This move for me wasn't hard on its own but required good precision and accuracy as well as enough energy in your left arm to create the force necessary. To avoid unnecessary pump for this move, I missed the previous clip (which I would have clipped from my right hand, holding on with my left). This meant that after doing the move, I would be around 4m runout and to get to the next clip you had to climb still another 4-5m of climbing that wasn't entirely easy. When I did the move on the redpoint, all thoughts of falling went out of my head, I was focussed and determined asnd climbed this section as confidentally as ever before. Thanks to Dan for capturing the ascent on video. The guys said afterwards that from skipping the clip I did it might be worth an E11? :P

Ramon (local) getting the first clip in on "El Club de la Luchas" (8b+)

So what now?

After doing "Dosis" yesterday, I tried another 8b+ called "El Club de la Luchas". Nat had a go on this before and the climbing looked awesome! It is very sustained with little or no rests for most of the way, but the good thing is at least it isn't too overhung meaning a bit of weight through the feet and you can reduce the pump slightly. The climbing revolves around a long blue bumpy streak created by waterflow down the wall which has resulted in awesome sidepull slopers nearly the entire way up the climb! It certainly is very different to anything I have done before and I am really excited to get back on this today and hopefully finish it off. 

After "El Club de la Luchas", I still have another 12 days left! There is one or two 8b+'s left in the sector, one called "Septiembre" which does look really good! Also another called "El Ultimo Mono" that looks amazing, but a bit dusty as if nobody has ever climbed it :P I now this isn't true as it is regarded as a top 50 in the guidebook, but maybe it has had less traffic this year?Jules preparing for her first attempt at "Yo Somos Olimpicos"

There is also some good looking 8a-8b's I have yet to climb which look great and I would love to practice my onsighting and see what I can get up to with them.

And of course there are the link ups :D But there is so much good new climbing to be done!