After an absence of a few years it was decided to try a Spanish sport climbing meet for the club. Many members go to Spain or Italy sport climbing and so it was thought reasonable that an official meet would be well attended. However MMC'ers are nothing if not fickle and it was also perhaps the proximity to Easter that eventually meant only seven of us deigned to attend. Nevertheless we all tried to make up in enthusiasm what we possibly lacked in numbers.

Nick, Ricardo and Kate arrived first on the Friday night and so managed to get first dibs on the best bedrooms in the villa. After a late supper at the Moli 2 (there is a pun in the name if you know enough Spanish) bar in Finestrat they prepared themselves for a full climbing day on the Saturday.

Saturday was a sparkling sunny day and the threesome went straight off to Sella where they had arranged to meet Matt and Lou. Matt and Lou had been there for a week staying in Sella village and this was there last climbing day and hence the only day when the two trips overlapped. A pleasant and stress free day of typical Spanish sport climbing followed, the only incident of note being Nick taking a monstrous lob on El Pixoncet (6a+). The guidebook had said that the climb was a bit polished "polished on the crux moves". Nick had just about cracked the crux and was wobbling slightly while he had an arms's length of rope out at full stretch and suddenly his foot slipped. Normally on sport climbing falls you don't notice the fall before the rope goes tight but this time he definately saw a lot of Sella go past before we was ably held by Ricardo somewhere near the first clip. No injuries were sustained apart from a non life threatening rap to the ankle.

Eventually the day wore on and as the shadows lengthened the track up to Sectoe Final was interrupted by a nasty red hire car in a cloud of gravel and dust being piloted agressively by Rachel. She had failed to get into the villa and so had come up to join the party at the crag.

The group then retired to Matt and Lou's apartment before going back to Finestrat for dinner, the dining opportunities in Sella being somewhat limited. Later that evening Chuck and Wendy rolled up having got late flights out to Alicante.

The group now numbered a geometrically satisfactory 6 and so on Sunday sought out Reconco, a crag that had not been visited by any of the party before. Reconco was most satisfying and defintely worth the trip and a healthy crop of mid grade climbs were ticked off. Nick was visibly limping from his fall the previous day but apparently it did not let it affect his footwork. There were dark mutterings about him having the footwork of Douglas Bader anyway, so what would it matter.

Sadly the weather forecast had been worsening over the previous couple of days with an unseasonable wet front coming from the West so come Monday it was decided to go to Toix. This, being as far East as was possible to climb. One always feels a bit unimaginative visiting Toix as everyone seems to have been there before and it a very obvious place to go. However it is actually jolly good and the team had a great day romping up a load of 6as and even a couple of 6bs around Toix Placa. Mercifully the rain held off.

On Tuesday storm clouds were defintely gathering and wet fronts could be observed rolling down towards the coast. Determined to squeeze whatever climbing there was to be had out of the day another raid was made on Toix and several routes were ticked off in the Toix TV area before the rain hit. When this happened the traditional course of action followed and everyone met for coffee in Altea, after Nick and Chuck had popped into Calpe to find the climbing shop shut for lunch.

No climbing on Wednesday. The rain was heavy and persistent with angry swirling mists shrouding Puig Campana. So everyone jumped into the cars and rolled down to the Decathlon in Alicante for some retail therapy. It's quite amazing how long you can spend perusing the merchandise on display, not least because of the extraordinary range of goods stocked. Back to the villa with their purchases they then sat peering at the rain which was even heavier than before. Then Nick, Chuck and Rachel decided to go and recce the start of the routes on the Puig. This actually turned out to be just what the doctor ordered and a squelching tramp through the sodden forest was a welcome relied from the fuggy ennui of the villa. This was doubly enjoyable as it was hoped that some would be climbing the Puig later on and hence they were getting some value out of the day despite the rain. Returning rosey cheeked and flushed and happy Nick cooked a curry.

On Thursday the rain was still an unwelcome visitor though a more weclome one had arrived in the form of AG who was taking the place of Kate who had to go home early. Folk really were going a bit crazy at this stage and the day was spent/wasted playing poker in the morning and pool in the afternoon. All in all not much of a day to remember.

Finally on Friday the day was clear and sparkling at last. Not wishing to waste the day in fossicking out obscure crags everyone went to Sella. A great day was had there with several harder routes ticked such as El Vuelo de la Machina and Aqui Tampoco.

Saturday was the last day though some managed to squeeze in a few routes. Overall the trip had been significantly marred by the weather. One day of rain you can treat as a rest day but 2 1/2 is a bit much. Having said that it was still a worthwhile trip and it shows that even with some of the worst weather ever experienced for the time of year they still had 4 1/2 days of top quality cragging.

Loads more pictures available here Thanks to Ricardo for organising.

Nick