I was lucky enough to get 3 climbing trips to Spain in 2023 over the quieter winter months. El Chorro, Majorca and Calpe. All epic sport climbing and deep-water soloing destinations for climbers.

El Chorro was a such a great trip! I went for 1 week over the New Year, Dec 2022. A lot of first-time experiences for me, especially climbing abroad and driving abroad. Must have lucked out with the weather because there wasn’t a drop of rain all week, mostly sunny and highs of 23℃. My first time hiring a car and go landed with a LH drive Fiat 500! What a laugh, it became a 4×4 that week as some of the tracks to the crag car parking were certainly mixed terrain!

Armed with my guidebook full of post-it notes marking pages for climbs I wanted to complete, places I wanted to visit and food I wanted to eat, the adventure was on! First day took it easy and got the mileage in on some steady f5 and f6s, the height of the climbs ranging from 10m to 25m, combined with the steep location that crag was at, it felt like I was lots higher. Spectacular views over the reservoir below and regularly screeching of the train passing through the tunnels.

El Chorro has a Via Ferrata too, a popular ‘rest day’ activity for climbers. I’d never done one abroad so was straight on it, such a laugh. A via ferrata is an aerial mountain route with a vertical or horizontal journey up a cliff face, equipped with elements such as iron rungs, suspension bridges or zip lines.

This Via Ferrata was about of 650 metres in length with 250 metres of vertical ascent, situated in one of the most spectacular surroundings of the Natural Park of the Gaitanes Gorge, in the area of Álora, starting at the El Chorro Station. The steep climb up soon eased and I crossed the 15-metre Tibetan bridge, a fully equipped section that was easy to walk over. Some more climbing and I was facing the 30-metre monkey or Nepalese bridge. Just a single wire going across the gully. Now you can either zip wire across it, but didn’t have those so channelled my inner monkey and swung across it! So much fun. The rest of the Via Ferrata took me right up on to the top of the Frontales Crag and even better views of the surrounding area.

Lots of climbing done in El Chorro. I won’t go in to too much detail about it, other than it was bloody fantastic. Sport multipitches are the one, so fast and efficient. Ticklist was a wicked 320m multipitch (Blue Line, 5c top 50), 180m multipitch (Amptrax, 6a, top 50), epic Via Ferrata in that heat! Climbed loads of classics at Desplomilandia (f5a-7a). I did over 360m in single pitches this day!) Checked out Valle de Abdalajis, Frontales, Escalera Arabe and did the Caminito del Rey guided tour. Well worth it! Caught the lovely sun all week to top it off.

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Majorca was equally a great trip, not as long and not as lucky with the weather but I still left with sore finger tips! We landed in Palma during the back end of a storm, late February. A few days prior the airport has a few inches of snow about! Picked up the hire car, a Ford Fiesta ST, with Oscar and Adam and I was once again the driver. We had to navigate a few road diversions and we took a drive up a mountain pass to get a better look at the island, skirting around fallen branches. Felt pretty odd being there in the snow, not something that regularly occurred, cool to look at but that meant no climbing on the first day.

The second day, the sun was shining, we had dry rock so visited Port de Pollença and climbed at La Crevata. A great crag situated on a peninsula out to sea. We climbed up high and could see the beaches either side of us, literal 360-degree views. I ticked a whopping 35m 6c+ which was exciting, especially with some of those rusty old sea bolts. Eeek! How nice to hang out in the sun and sending it on sport with the boys!

Second day involved a mix of DWS and sport, something that is best done in summer, but I was psyched. After abseiling down 15m I climbed my way back up some cool overhanging routes and fortunately stayed dry! Definitely a summer trip, maybe next one in August! Then we climbed sport routes in this epic bay and had to traverse out over the sea and take up a hanging belay. Such a good laugh. Will certainly be returning to this great island, and maybe even hit the road bikes too!

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Final trip to Spain before I got super busy with work was to Costa Blanca, staying in Calpe. Kia Sportage 4×4 this time, perfect for those dusty off-road tracks! An early birthday treat for me. A great mix of climbing, scrambling and via ferratas. Straight of the plane to the Callosa de Segura Ferrata, a spicy K5 one. Grades go from 1-6 with 6 being the most technical. The 5 has a massive 100m vertical climb, an 80m suspension bridge 400m above the floor and then some 45-degree overhanging down climb sections which were tough but so worth it! Completed the Toix Ridge, after climbing a 130m multipitch to get there. Narrower than Crib Goch and much move exposed it was a great tick, very exciting!

Spent a day doing the Bernia Ridge, a grand traverse of one the areas mountain ranges. It has the iconic shark 3 fins on it which is the coolest feature I’ve seen on rock! Climbing up and along it was certainly an experience I won’t be forgetting. The rest of the ridge had a mix of abseiling, straddling narrow edges and lots of scrambling which made it a physical day, all with the sun beaming down. Loved it.

Hiked up the Peñon de Ifach, a stand alone 300m towering castle of limestone right next to Calpe, stunning views, and host to a range of mixed climbs on it. Something I didn’t do this trip but would certainly love to do in the future. Finished off the trip with the Redovan Via Ferrata, a K4 adventure with steep cliff faces, lots of bridges, and the swinging arm element. You climb a ladder, attach your lanyards to the arm and kick off, it sends you in a semi-circle to the other side where you catch the ladder and continue climbing. Being hundreds of metres above the floor made it surreal and this was my favourite moment of the trip, that feeling of flying ands swinging around high up on a rock is what I love! Great end to a great trip.

Now to explore some other countries!