Welcome to da Costay Blancay!

My first trip to the Costay Blancay (Costa Blanca for those not familiar with Bo' Selecta). If I'm honest, I was not sure what to expect... I have heard a lot of good things about this place, but also a lot of not so good things :(  The unfortunate truth about flying to Alicante is the permanently etched image of Benidorm and British tourists on hen and stag parties... Not my idea of a holiday truth be told.

When I arrived at the airport at 9am, the plan was to go sort out the hire car, drive to accommodation, sort out stuff then return to pick Nat up from the Airport at 10pm. On arriving at the airport and seeing the car people, it turns out there is a law of no hiring out cars to people who have held a driving license for under a year... I didn't realise this and apparently it is in their terms and conditions (Chapter12 - Article 15 - Paragraph 9 - Section D - Point C).

So I waited about for ages until Nat finally arrived and we grabbed a €90 taxi to our accommodation in the pleasant little village of Finestrat. Finestrat is a beautiful little village perched high in mountaineous outcrops of Alicante, far flung from the horrors of Benidorm :P It's like being in any other climbing area I've ever been to in Spain - Siurana, Rodellar, Santa Linya, Margalef... It has the same rustic, rocky feel to it that I have become so acquainted to. It certainly is good to be back in Spain!

Sella - Wildside

So far we have had 4 days climbing out here, just under a week. It has been an interesting experience so far with both Nat and myself having to adjust to climbing on rock again. Nat has had less time between her last rock climbing adventures whereas my last sport trip was back in August (terrible I know!). But it has all been coming together slowly...

On our first day I climbed a popular 8a called "Watermark". I almost did the extension (8b) 2nd go but as I was pulling the moves after the crux, my foot slipped on a very polished foothold and as I fell my desperation to maintain grip on the crimps I was holding came to no avail. 

Each day I have been here I have been using the abundance of 7b+'s and 7c's at the crag for warming up on. The climbing in these grades is really fun, there are no really hard or tweaky moves, all the holds are positive but there are sections of more bouldery styled climbing separated with good rests which makes for a nice warm up.

On the second day, I decided to try an 8c called "Espacio Tiempo". This literally translates into "Space Time" - cool name if you ask me :P I was keen to try this for a few reasons:

1. Upon reaching the crag, you notice there are 3 main sectors - Left, Middle and Right. The right side is easier angled (but still steep). The left side is again, easier angled but more sustained than the right. And the middle is just a very steep bulge with sustained moves on incredibly overhung terrain - this is were "Espacio Tiempo" is...
   
   

2. The climb itself covers a wide range of stylesof climbing - Slopers, Crimps, Tufas, Kneebars, Bouldery, Sustained, ect... You want it, it's got it!
   
   

3. I spoke to a local at the crag (a man we have come to call "Jesus" for the simple reason that he looks like a Spanish Jesus) who told me there is a link up between "Espacio Tiempo" and another 8b+ "Oceano" which gets 8c+ (though some guy took 9a for it?). I would definitely like to try this!

The first time I tried it I did every move first go without too much trouble, but it was noticeable that there was little rest between each section and it would be hard to link. I had two tries on Day 2, the second of which I managed a fairly big link through the first crux and into a good knee bar before "the crux" (the hardest move on the route).Alvaro Arenas en "Espacio tiempo" 8c

After a rest day we came back and I had another scout out of the route, trying the moves again, assembling a better sequence for the upper half and generally tidying up my lower sequence. 4th go I shocked myself falling off the last clip from the ground! I fell more because I was so shocked of my performance - I wasn't actually that tired...

We came back yesterday and I gave it a redpoint attempt after warming up on a spectacular 7c called "La Casa de los Tullidos". I fell again right at the very top but only because my foot popped thanks to a rushed placement. I decided to clean up my foot movements up here for a better, more efficient sequence. On my 2nd go of the day, 6th go in total, I climbed from the bottom all the way through my previous high point into a good knee bar and stuck the final crux without much trouble. Clipping the chains felt good and that was my 2nd ever 8c and the first (hopefully of more) for 2013...

I was a little worried at first how I would climb this trip. I have had an unfortunate finger injury plagueing me since the start of 2013 and it has forced me into a much more gentler training regime. I know however that technique always triumphs over strength and that it was always possible to make a good trip out of this even if I wasn't firing on all cylinders. I am now confident that I can make more from this trip than I had expected with this early triumph and hopefully I can move on from this to some bigger and better ascents over the next few weeks :D

Natalie on a giant hand!

I was really inspired as well by some words taken from the world first 9a onsighter, Alexander Megos. I don't know him well, but I have met him a few times on my travels and have seen him at the competitions a lot over the years. His words really inspired me to take a deeper look into my attitude towards climbing and performance:

"Something I have learned in my climbing years is that time management is really important, but the most important thing is fun. It’s not worth training hard for a good result in a competition or to climb a hard route, if on the other hand you lose the fun which climbing should be. It doesn’t matter if you have climbed the route or you’ve won the competition. When you feel like chilling or doing something totally different, just do it. Sooner or later you will find your way back to climbing because it’s simply the best sport on earth"

Alexander Megos

If all my young padawans are reading this back home, write this down in your diaries and reflect on it whenever your feeling down during training, at a competition or with a project climb. 

Anyway, I'm gonna finish of my rest day today and tomorrow - VENGA TIO!!!