Page 34 - 1995 Mountaineering Club Bulletin

dented. A good night in Alicante followed with Scotty duty the next dav and me having to rise at 0630 to meet Mick off ot the good ship Brecon. The early start was required to attempt a 1200' severe on a hill called Puig Campana. Finding the hill was no mean feat with the guide book to hand. Finding the route on the other hand was a complete disaster. Guide book description proved to be a little cagey. Especially as the route name was to be painted on the base of the route. Not, we decided to make our own route up to the ridge proper, so off I set on my idea of a severe to VS grade alternative start. Oops, sorry Mick guess you will find this one a challenge. The route turned out to be HVS 3b 410’ of sheer hell for Mick, with Mick earn ing the sack and me the rack. After the fourth pitch we decided that we should ab down now, as it had taken us four hours to complete this 400’ section and we had also used up all of our fluids. Secretly I was also worried that Mick would fancy taking a pop at me for drag­ ging him through so many bushes. After all I would like to keep
Mick as a climbing partner upon our return to England. We set off for Benidorm and a long awaited dip (the walk down took F hours in 40 deg C)
This concluded a successful Med trip from which all three of us learnt a lot about guide books, the reason for the European sea­ son differing from ours, and ourselves. I for one have never real­ ly pushed myself against routes of which 1 have no previous knowledge. This has given me the courage to seek out new routes in the UK, and I hope will make me more able to make a better contribution to the sport in general. For too many years now I have been living off of the backs of my fore runners and not giv­ ing anything back to the sport. This I hope to recitfy in the com­ ing years. I have just to convince my climbing partners of this now, wish me luck.
Kev Amaira
ANNUAL BULLETIN
Rock Climbing in Calpe, Spain 19 - 24 Nov 95
In September Chris Bate rang and asked whether I was able to get a week off to go with an HMS TEMERAIRE expedition to Spain. As it happened I was and on a gloriously hot Spanish Sunday in November I found myself with Chris, Louise Richardson, Gill Monnox and Chris Bairstow in Calpe.
The following day we set off" for Piug Campagna (1460 m) the dominant mountain in the area. It was about an hours drive away, through the village of Finestrat and close to the Font Di Moli, a popular natural spring. Chris Bate and 1 intended to climb the most popular route on the mountain, Espero Sur Central (*** Severe cl200ft) whilst the others made their way to the summit by the South Gully. The hour and a quarter walk-in was fairly arduous and involved the two Chrises and Louise in some fairly exciting scrambling whilst Gill and I took a slightly different approach to avoid a snake I had encountered. We arrived at the start of the two routes together and then parted company. Chris and I climbed about half of the route and then at about 1430 took the decision to abb off as neither of us had a head torch and I could see that we would not finish before it got dark at 1730. It took us until 1600 to return to the car where we met up with the others who had had a successful but very hot day.
The next day, Tuesday, we went to Sella where Chris and I climbed whilst the others went on a 10k trek around the moun­ tain. The climbing crag at Sella is also reached via Finestrat to Sella itself then take the first turn on the right, past the cemetery, just as you enter Sella from the East. There is a magnificent lime­ stone crag with 150+ bolted routes from Spanish Grade 4 to 8b + . There is a refugio, very much like an alpine hut, where you can stay for 600 pesetas or camp outside for less. The guardian sells topos, maps and drinks etc as well as Spanish rubber for your boots. The only drawback to the refugio is that it has no toilets and vou are issued with a shovel and sent into the adjacent field to commune with nature.
Anyway, the climbing was excellent and although there were a number ofclimbers around, mostly Brits and Germans, it was not
too crowded. Chris and I managed half a dozen routes and spent some time trying to climb one particular Grade 4 which for the life of us we couldn’t complete, reaching the next to last bolt on every attempt. Eventually, Chris managed to traverse, via Portugal, or so it seemed, to a point above the route and descend it to retrieve his gear. Then we discovered that the route had been upgraded !
The following day, Wednesday, Chris and I climbed the Penon De Ifach, the massive Limestone wall of rock over a thousand feet high, which dominates Calpe harbour by the Via Pany (** Severe 710ft). The others took the much longer walking route which meanders around the back of the mountain over some seriously slippery rock. Via Pany is an excellent route of seven pitches with some magnificent exposure. The last pitch was a bit excit­ ing and it is quite possible that we were a little off route but there is plenty of scope for making your own route up as you go along. That was my excuse anyway.
Unfortunately it threw it down with rain on Thursday. We went out to Sella in the vain hope that it might be dry, however a Salmon would have felt at home on the crag that day so we retired hurt to consider the options for Friday, our last day.
THE ROYAL NAVY & ROYAL MARINES MOUNTAINEERING CLUB
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