Spain climbing trip in the spring

[Otis.]

Hello everyone, 

After collecting some useful feedback from friends and this board, we have decided on going to Spain in May for a 2.5 week climbing trip.  We are planning on starting in the Siurana/Margalef area, then head to Rodellar and finish the trip off on Mallorca.  We should have a dedicated four days of climbing in each area, plus a couple of flex/rest days that could add a day here or there if we're feeling strong.  

So now I'm looking for two types of beta.  First, any recommendations for MUST CLIMB routes in any of the three areas in the 5.11 to 5.14a range.  Anything from slightly overhanging to monster roof is the preferred style, after all the Red is my home crag  Everyone in my group can redpoint at least 12a, with our strongest climber climbing in the high 13/low 14 range.  Looking for personal favorites as I find them a bit more reliable than some of the general info you can find online.

Second, any recommendations for great places to eat while we're there.  Again, I find direct experiences to be more informative than the standard online info.  For example, Ma Finca is a great little Mexican restaurant down by the Red, but isn't publicized in any of the standard climbing sites/books.   

Thanks!

[iepsje]

Hi Otis,

cool trip! Have you booked everything already? I have to check at home the guidebooks of Mallorca and Siurana/Margalef(and your grades, here we work with the french system so take a chart with you! we use 6a, 7a, 8a etc). Mallorca is rather big, and depending on the weather; wind and sun, there are many many options. Be aware that some of the crags are very spread out, and driving over the narrow small mountain roads isn't appreciated by all Americans
Where do you stay in Mallorca? And I guess you have a car? Do you stay in Siurana or in Margalef (driving from one to the other takes about 1.5 hour) or in both?

[heelhook]

Hi Otis

I live in Margalef, so I know the area pretty well. Siurana and Margalef are not 1.5 hours apart, they are 0.5 hours apart, its actually a really short distance but its a winding road so you need to go slow. Still, definitely doable to do day, or even half day trips from one to the other. Specially in Margalef, approaches are usually <5m walks, most of them are road side actually

Climbing in May in SIurana might be a hit or miss, you'll need cold conditions to be able to do it. Margalef has actually amazing conditions in May, for some reason few people come here in May, thinking that it'll be too hot, so the crags are usually fairly empty (compared to the mayhem that it is during November and March).

As far as routes, I can recommend Draculin, graded at 7a+ (5.12a) (actually a 5.12b/c according to the people that write the guidebook but it was wrongly guess-graded by the guy that put the route up but never climbed it). There's also Chute Emocional, an amazing 7b+ (5.12c) that always has people working it during high season. That line is really not to be missed, there are two 5.13 routes next to it that are amazing too. Can dit xic and can dit gros both have cool 7b+ routes and can dit gros has a variety of 7cs that are worth checking out. I don't climb 5.13+, but if you do there's a very popular route that gets really good reviews and will be in perfect conditions in May called Dr. Feelgood, it's about 30 meters long and has 3 distinct boulder cruxes, climbing out of a cave. In that grade you'll have PLENTY of things to do in the Laboratory, a roadside crag that has short, bouldery, powerful routes (Sharma's First round first minute is one of them, very impressive 9b 7-bolts route). Also, in May, you shouldn't miss the Raco de la Finestra, a shady crag with outstanding 5.12/5.14 (and a few 5.15 if you want to try your luck). If you go or drive by the laboratori do stop by and checkout Demencia Senil's impressive line.



You'll also want to go to La Catedral for endurance routes 5.13s and 5.14s. The most popular 9a (5.14d) in the world is there. Era Vella. A very very impressive line, 145 feet of 45 degrees overhang.

As far as dining, Margalef is really small, with only a couple of dining options (Ca Calbet has really good homemade meals). Cornudella is much bigger but its also fairly small, so you won't have a lot of trouble figuring out the beta of where to dine, pretty much just pick the few available options From Margalef you can go to Lleida for city life/dining options. Its about 45 minutes away. From Cornudella (next to Siurana) you can go to Reus in about 40 minutes for more dining options.

Have fun!

[iepsje]

Dec 14, 2015 5:05:05 GMT -7 heelhook said:

Hi Otis

I live in Margalef, so I know the area pretty well. Siurana and Margalef are not 1.5 hours apart, they are 0.5 hours apart, its actually a really short distance but its a winding road so you need to go slow. Still, definitely doable to do day, or even half day trips from one to the other. Specially in Margalef, approaches are usually <5m walks, most of them are road side actually

Geheheh well, it did feel like an hour and a half Probably shorter if you now the road! Googlemaps, gives it 54min, depending how well you are used to small mountain roads, I think that half an hour is too optimistic. But more than doable for a day, but just not directly around the corner of Siurana.

[Otis.]

Thanks for the feedback so far. We will be staying in Siurana, but plan to drive to Margalef. I saw Google had it listed at 45 minutes from the house we are staying in. We figured anything under an hour was fine, as we've taken several other climbing trips with similar distances between hotels/camping/houses etc. and climbing. I drive the winding dirt roads of KY all of the time and have experience driving internationally as well, so don't mind a bit of adventure. We will have a rental car for both the mainland and Mallorca. As for our stay on Mallorca, we will be staying on the Northeast side of the island in between the best DWS and the northern sport climbing. We wanted to do both, so decided to split the difference, plus my wife really liked the house we are renting and the town that it's in.

I am familiar with the french grading system and can translate usually within a grade of our YDS system. Also, when in doubt, I know at least one of my guidebooks has the conversion chart if needed.

I'm really looking forward to this trip, and already have a mini-cycle and full cycle planned to prepare.

[heelhook]

That's awesome Otis! I stayed in Mallorca twice, both times close to the DWS crags; I ended up sport climbing more than DWS though since the sport climbing there was so amazing. Being on the opposite side of the island for sport climbing was a bit of a pain, we had to get up about 5am to do a 1+h drive to get to the crag soon enough; most of the good crags get the sun around noon or early afternoon. Still totally worth it, the DWS side of the island is much better and cheaper!

If you can at all go to the crag in Mallorca that has Buff, it's the best 7a you can possibly do and there are a number of amazing climbs near by. Long, endurance routes on perfect tufa systems. Felt a lot like Kalymnos (very similar to Odyssey in Kalymnos)!

Enjoy

[iepsje]

Oh yeah, buff is amazing, as well as the slightly harder routes on the right. At the end of the road towards the crags is a kind of mountain restaurant which should be very good, but with limited choice. Furthermore Colgao (7b) is really nice (other cragg in Mallorca, i do not know the names out of my mind). And the walk up to sa gubia is well worth it, great routes (especcialy the one between the willy's). Tijana is a cragg at sea, really nice if weather is bad around the maintain area. If you need a place to climb on a travel day (car full of stuff), valldemossa can be an excellent choice, you can climb next to the road side (and actually also above the road).
For the cragss at the formentor, be aware that some are closed due to new 'protect the nature' regulations, and the bolts at some other places were very old and rusty (coming off the rock) when we were there 2 years ago.

Enjoy your trip!

[heelhook]

Oh yeah, the bolts on the 7a+ to the left of buff were so sketchy, super rusty! Just scratching them with my nail they started coming apart. Definitely look at the bolts before getting on a route on some of the older crags!!!

[NaNaLa]

For me useful feedback was to rent a car if you go somewhere. And it's really great advice. You're free and more mobile in your movement. If you need this then I can recommend iversta.com/ for that. Just in case you need it.