Written by Christabel Goode.
On a very cold (-5 °C) January morning, a group of sun-starved climbers got up before dawn to seek out dry rock and sunshine. The first climbing destination for the group was Sierra de Toix, an “impressive ridge that juts out into the sea”, where they spent a very hot (22 °C) and sunny afternoon getting used to the rock and remembering what sport climbing is.
Day two of the holiday (otherwise known as “holiday Tuesday”) saw another pre-dawn start for Christabel, Rob, Aurélie and Damon as they headed for Espolón Central on Puig Campana. This was a 13-pitch trad route that Christabel and Damon had both attempted on a university trip back in 2016. While Damon had managed to finish it with his climbing partner (albeit in the dark at 1am), Christabel and her partner had a slight epic and decided to bail off after pitch 8 arriving home 23 hours later. This time, everyone managed to go (mostly) the right way and even topped out in the light. Overall a very successful day starting with a beautiful sunrise just as they started the route followed by sunset as they were walking back down.
Meanwhile, Ruth, Donald and Amber headed to Alcalali for a slightly more relaxing day getting leads in on some sunny single pitch routes.
Day three saw the whole group having a slightly slower start then headed up to Olta. In hindsight, this could have been a great time for a rest day but instead Donald and Amber crushed some pretty hard routes (Tai Chiand Tufa Groove were a couple of highlights) while the multi-pitchers moaned about their sore fingers and tiredness.
On day four, Ruth, Aurélie, Christabel and Rob went to Alcalali again, where this time a snake was spotted in/near one of the routes. Amber and Damon went to do the Magical Mystery Tour and had a great time.
Day five was another early start, waking up before sunrise to make the most of the daylight. Bernia ridge was the objective of the day, which is nearly 2km of scrambling with a short bolted 4c pitch and a couple of abseils. No major dramas throughout the day, although at points wayfinding felt difficult because the red spots we were following had faded or in some places been painted over in silver! We finished the day (and the trip) off with a meal at a local restaurant before packing up and heading home the next morning.
