There’s much more to Alicante climbing than the Costa Blanca, and the publication of a new guidebook to the hinterland region in the Vinalopó River valley presented a good excuse to explore.

Plans for our first day were rudely interrupted by the sound of warning sirens… emanating from our phones! After a bit of headscratching we realised that The National Disaster Warning System was broadcasting notification of extreme winds with advice to “stay indoors”.

Not easy to follow on a bluebird day, with a new guidebook full of temptation. We did the next best thing and went in search of the most sheltered crag in Alicante…

Caudete Caratera

… and one of the weirdest. There’s a huge, impressive escarpment of promising orange rock above the town of Caudete (see further down the post) but this isn’t it. It’s the scabby band at the foot of the escarpment, way over on the left hand side. Perfect for our purposes though, as it is literally one minute from the car and full on South facing.

The locals have really gone to town, and there are almost a hundred well-bolted routes with a good spread of grades (up to 20m) spread along this quarried cutting. The investment must have been huge! The good news stops there, as the rock-quality leaves quite a lot to be desired. Think McVities HobNob. It did mean that at least we managed to chalk up a YECTOYD (actually two for Helen).

Shema Israel, 4c

El Angel Sombrio, 5c

Marin

Still very windy the following day, but at least the sirens had stopped. We were in the market for another accessible, sheltered crag and Marin looked like a good option. Seasoned Costa Blanca veterans will immediately cry “that’s hardly a new find!” and yes, it’s been on the Rockfax radar for probably 20 years. This is true of about half the Vinalopó guide (not immediately obvious from the contents list as a number of crags appear under a different name).

A sunny Sunday, and the locals are out in force. Sunday climbing always has a fun vibe in Spain, as the families and weekend-warriors hit the crags and you appreciate that not every Spanish climber is a chiseled, bronzed crushing-machine. Toddler tantrums at the top of a 3 are so much more tolerable in a foreign language, and anyway most of the crag will clear by 2ish when people head off for a leisurely lunch. The remaining crew are “average Joes” (or Joses) like us, struggling up 6s and being challenged by the occasional dash of shiny polish.

I had a bloody battle with El Mono Mecanica, 6c, (simultaneously slippery as soap and sharp as a razor) which I’d done on my previous visit in 2011, with a 15 year old Jake.

Equipped with the new guide, we at least had the option of some new routes not recorded elsewhere, including Marselina, 6a/+

Onil Pared de la Sima

Above the pretty town of Onil lies another sunny and easy access crag – this one doesn’t feature in Rockfax, and wasn’t even on UKC until Helen added it:

It’s a pretty little crag and the rock is immaculate – high friction without being prickly.

… and the town of Onil makes for an attractive backdrop (if you ignore the sprawling industrial estate beyond)…

… and focus on the Castell de Castalla

Helen did Derecha, 5c, Sargantana, 6a and Trombocid, 6a

I did La Centrale, 6c, just to the right (steady as she goes to a l-ooo-ng  pull over the little roof, then a desperate smear for the chains – best to leave yourself a long sling off the anchor!)

Caudete – Antejos

The wind finally dropped enough to head up onto the Caudete escarpment. You could tell it was less windy as they’d allowed the line of windmills along the top of the hill to return to action!

The parking spot is as indicated in the guide and there’s a contender for the world’s best-marked crag path – if you can’t see a blob of blue paint within a couple of metres you’ve gone wrong!

It’s still about a 30mins schlep up to the crag. You can just about make out our truck parked on the nearest corner of the dirt track in the pic below.

You arrive at Sector Rebufat, which is bird banned Feb to June, but there’s a decent path both ways along the foot of the crag (green blobs now) to easily access the other sectors. We started off on Cabreros…

Most of the routes have a number scratched at the base, which presumably denotes the sequence it was first put up in (the more natural lines seem to be in the 100s and 200s whereas obscurities are in the 400s to 500s) These are higgledy piggledy across the 13 sectors (including the quarry from a few days ago), so leaves you constantly cross-referencing between the sequence number and the line on the topo. Anyway, you’ll get there in the end.

Helen did La Chiminera, 5+, and Sin Pena ni Gloria, 6a+

I had a zero cigar effort at Catarsis, 6b+/c (more DNS rather than DNF), but fared better on El Escribano del Alma (same grade – there is a jug over the roof if you reach far enough!)

Then headed rightwards to Sector Chisbania to do Juntos Entre las Naciones, 6c, albeit with a cheeky sidestep to outflank a final blank move for the chain.

That leaves another ten sectors which we haven’t even touched – that’s a tonne of climbing to come back for!