2. Europe

Spain 2007

I have spent the last 9 days in Mallorca and island off the Iberian Peninsula belonging to Spain. The island is considered a Mecca of deep water soloing which they call Psicobloc. Recently what is possibly one of the hardest routes in the world was put up by Chris Sharma on Es Pontas. It is considered to be 5.15a or 9a by Euro standards. Although he does not rate the climbs himself I'm sure the repeats will be few and far between.
I met up with Shasta in Wales and we tooled around that country for a while before deciding to head to warmer areas. Looking at tickets we decided to head to Spain for a week and a half and have some fun at deep water soloing, we had hoped to climb a 7 pitch route on a mountain called Sa Gubia but were set back by lack of gear.
We first arrived and found a bus to S. Arenal where we trying around for a hostel finding one for 30 Euros per night. The hostels here are not your normal hostel as they are bed and breakfasts and proper dorm hostels are pretty much non existent. The beach is 4 miles long and is sand all the way. Besides the sand is thousands of bodies lined on every little area. To me that is not a fun way to spend time so we decided to bail on the crowded beach scene and see if we couldn't find something a little more pleasant. We headed to town called Cala Dòr and had to settle on a an apartment style renting accommodation for the night which was 40 Euros, as cheap as any bed and breakfast was in the area. This was a really nice place with a kitchen and a living room! Still though we knew this was more then we wanted to spend and resolved the next day to finding some proper camping accommodation. We had however heard that it is illegal on the island so figured it could be tuff. We packed our bags for the walk to Cala Sa Nau. We walked to the beach to find a beautiful area surrounded by nice looking climbing. The cliffs got bigger as they went out and there were plenty of areas we could tent.
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We finally reached Sa Calobra. The sheer walls of rock rolled down the valley and towered over everything around. It seemed as though every wall was climbable and beckoned for an ascent, which could possibly be the first. We climbed and jumped a few times from this area and it is probably my biggest picture regret of the trip not to have had some pictures taken on the route which I climbed. It was a perfect opportunity with a walkway to the side and high up. A crowd had gathered by the time I took the approx 40 ft. leap off back into the water below. Unfortunately I had pushed it a little hard the last few days and one climb was enough to pump me out. So we decided to pack it up and head on to a new place.
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We finally reached Sa Calobra. The sheer walls of rock rolled down the valley and towered over everything around. It seemed as though every wall was climbable and beckoned for an ascent, which could possibly be the first. We climbed and jumped a few times from this area and it is probably my biggest picture regret of the trip not to have had some pictures taken on the route which I climbed. It was a perfect opportunity with a walkway to the side and high up. A crowd had gathered by the time I took the approx 40 ft. leap off back into the water below. Unfortunately I had pushed it a little hard the last few days and one climb was enough to pump me out. So we decided to pack it up and head on to a new place.

mallorcaspain2007mediterranean seaSa Colobra

  • We finally made it back to the castle and climbed into it and up onto the roof. Shasta ascending the metal ladder.
  • We were not disappointed. The sun lowered itself to another part of the Earth and we were fed with red tentacles that snaked over the sky. The beauty of a sunset always amazes me.
  • Shasta enjoying the last rays of the sun. We drove back to the lighthouse and slept under the lighthouse on the northermost tip of the island.
  • We knew that it would be tough to beat Formentor so we decided while we were up north we would go to the Eastern side of the island and settled on heading to Sa Calobra after seeing it in a post card. They seemed to be how we stumbled on everything, postcards were our guidebooks. The road to Sa Calobra surprised me; how could anything be more twisty and windy then the roads the previous day. Taking them in Little Red Devil was superb! Every corner was a new challenge and more then a few times could I feel the rubber slip from the road. Seeing a bus in the rocks that had obviously left the road previously had made me cautious.
  • We finally reached Sa Calobra. The sheer walls of rock rolled down the valley and towered over everything around. It seemed as though every wall was climbable and beckoned for an ascent, which could possibly be the first. We climbed and jumped a few times from this area and it is probably my biggest picture regret of the trip not to have had some pictures taken on the route which I climbed. It was a perfect opportunity with a walkway to the side and high up. A crowd had gathered by the time I took the approx 40 ft. leap off back into the water below. Unfortunately I had pushed it a little hard the last few days and one climb was enough to pump me out. So we decided to pack it up and head on to a new place.
  • Having a car was heaven! We drove around for a while and ended back at our original climbing spot Cala Sa Nau. We tried at Porto Cristo but the waves were growing and we didn´t like the way it looked like it was going to mash and then grate us against the rocks. Back at Cala Sa Nau it wasn´t going much better. We were to find extremely large waves turning the climbing area into a whirlpool of white. Today would not be a good day for climbing.
  • So when theres no climbing to do what else is there? It was time to lay down and enjoy the sun while laying on an overhanging section of rock 40 feet above the rampaging waves. We only had a day left, or so we thought, so we would camp there that night and head back the next day.
  • We decided to visit the southern most part of the island before heading through to Cala Dór and returning our car. We had now visited all aspects of the island. Possibly the best part about the day was the Japanese buffet we ate at to celebrate a great trip. It was time to part with Little Red Devil and catch our ride to the airport.<br /> Shasta and our trusty friend Little Red Devil.<br /> <br /> <br /> We caught the bus and made our way to the airport. Shasta was to leave at 12:25am and I was to leave at 7:45 am, both of us on the 22nd. Shasta went to the counter to check in her bag and came back and said she wasn´t checked on the flight. It was nice of them however to get her all set up and on her way. I took a nap and went to get on an Air Berlin flight for Berlin. After a while in the line I was directed to the counter where I was told that my flight was not booked for June but was in fact booked for July. To make it a little more of a oddity it was not actually the 22nd but was in fact the 21st. We had arrived a day early at the airport. I am attributing the messup of the month of Air Berlins site which is one of the worst I have used, they also charge you for lots of things automatically you have to deselect or else they will screw you. After submitting the booking 3 times it finally went through although it had auto reset the month for July each time I had tried to book. I caught it all but apparently the last time. Air Berlin was however nice enough to tell me I could another ticket for tomorrow for only 94€ more ontop of the 55€ I had already spent. Thanks alot. I settled with flying with Condor for 74€ and now am spending my day toasting around while I try to spend as little as possible to make up for the money I just lost in having to buy a second plane ticket with being able to get a refund on the first. Thanks again Air Berlin.<br /> Has that diminished this trip at all? Heck no. Its been an amazing 9 days and it is an incredible place. My definate note for anyone visiting is GET A RENTAL! Its worth every penny here.
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