My body has been struggling this year, my shoulders are paying the cost for 50+ years of constant climbing, despite daily stretching and regular rotator cuff exercises. After a visit to the hospital for an ultrasound examination, it was obvious that I needed a long rest before it became too late. Luckily, nothing has torn yet, and I really don't want to have surgery again. Hopefully, it won't take too long to recover this time. Besides, it's got unpleasantly hot and sweaty here in the south of France, so climbing is probably out of the question for me this summer. I might as well write something about our last trip in May.
We didn't want to drive far, but wanted to go somewhere new. Then we remembered La Reserva in Mallorca and booked the ferry from Toulon, a mere hour and 40 minutes drive away. We have very fond memories of Mallorca after spending our honeymoon there, way back in 1981, and 2 climbing trips: Sa Gubia in '91 with Jo and Geoff Turner, and Fraguel in '97 with Tim Hatch. It would be lovely to return.
It was raining when we drove off the ferry at Alcudia, 16 hours later, armed with the latest Rockfax. Somewhere with a short walk in was needed. Port de Soller looked perfect. The rain stopped and there was plenty to do. However, the routes turned out to be very polished and there were only a few that had new glue-in bolts; most of the other bolts and belays looked badly corroded. I had to redpoint in extremis the classic 6c Blobland, which has a desperate move low down if you're short. The direct 7b version was easier! Phantomas, another 7b coming out of the cave further right, had a desperate sequence and clip on the vertical upper wall. We left the crag muttering about stiff grades and bad bolts, yet feeling optimistic about the rest of the trip.
The next day we headed to Capdella, as we weren't ready to try La Reserva. La Puta del Pueblo provided a stiff 6a+. Total Pro proved to be very reachy in between the glued on blobs, very polished too and with some more bad bolts, I had to really try hard 2nd go, especially clipping the belay! After that, I thought I might as well try Memento (7c+). However, by the time I'd arrived at the double dyno move I'd had enough and decided that the crag wasn't for me. Nice place and friendly locals, but too slick and reachy for my liking.
We'd found a really nice place to park up in the mountains above Port de Soller. On a rest day, we went exploring the crags at Gorg Blau, Es Grau des Rucs and La Reserva. Driving along the M10 was a big test of patience and took ages due to all the cyclists, honestly I've never seen so many. We discovered that Gorg Blau looked amazing but is officially banned, so we didn't want to risk it. The descent to Es Grau des Rucs is impossible with a dog (but the crag looks really good). La Reserva is located in a private nature reserve, you have to pay 6€ per person and dogs are strictly forbidden. We were gutted, having gone all that way to find out that we couldn't take Ruff.
We considered going back home but decided to rent a studio at the excellent Finca Can Sec (in between Alora and Llosetta) owned by lovely French couple, Alex and Gini, with the possibility of leaving Ruff there while we climbed at La Reserva.
We finally made it to La Reserva. The crags looked awesome and I could hardly wait to get stuck in. However, we were very sad about leaving Ruff behind, she wasn't happy and it didn't feel right without her. Furthermore, it was very difficult identifying the routes, and once again there were lots of old, corroded bolts. Also, Elaine's hand and foot syndrome (a side effect of her treatment) meant that she couldn't manage the long walk in on consecutive days. So, we had lots of rest days.
Stand out routes were:
Family Man, 6c+
Los Ilegales, 7a
Chicken and China, 7a+
Qatar Air, 7a+
Air Berlin, 7b
Copenhague, 7c
Vicios Franceses, 7c
Lux Air, 7c+
Capita Maria, 8a
Antoine Rolle on Capita Maria (thanks for the photo). |
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7a+ at El Perchero |
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Left side of El Perchero at Caimari |
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Sector Xulita at La Reserva |
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Our studio at Finca Can Sec |
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Access to Es Grau des Rucs |
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Gorg Blau |
Friendly locals gave us info for two other unknown crags. Firstly, El Perchero at Caimari was well worth the long uphill walk and, perhaps, the best crag of the trip being unpolished and most of the bolts were fine. El Canto del Santo (7b) and No Saps que Menges (7c+) were my favourite routes of the trip. Secondly, Tossals Verds was very close to where we were staying, so we eventually braved the awful track. New Old School (7a+) and the 50 metre Boixos Nois (7c+) provided the thrills.
We wanted to go to an awesome looking steep tufa covered cave called Museo but had no idea where it was. Unfortunately, my local contact went AWOL when I sent him a message asking for info. It seems that most crags are located on private land so the local climbers are reluctant to share info and jeopardise access. Fair enough.
To briefly sum up.
Good points:
Beautiful scenery, some amazing crags, some fantastic climbing, very handy access on the ferry from Toulon, friendly locals and quiet crags.
Not so good points:
Some naff crags, lots of dangerous corroded bolts, too many cyclists everywhere, not a single campsite on the island makes it tricky in a van without toilet and shower, stiff grades, difficult to get info on the newer crags, lots of access problems.
It was wonderful to return to Mallorca but we're not in a hurry to go back. However, that could change if we can find out about Museo.