Winter Climbing trip

[marcaucoin]

I'm planning a 2 or 3 week climbing trip in February or March of 2010. I'm strongly thinking about going to Spain. The problem is that I don't have a partner. So I'm looking for a partner for this trip of mine. Spain is only an idea, I would actually go anywheres cool. I'm willing to do any kind of travelling, dirt cheap, or not so cheap. I'm currently climbing 5.9, and starting slowly on 5.10. Anyone interested, let me know.

Marc Aucoin

[Stacey]

I'd love to join you Marc...but it's the length of time...can't you move it to July/August

Stace

[coryhal]

ill be heading somewhere in the soulth west for march break, hopefully indian creek, but that will only be one week

[Adam]

ill be heading somewhere in the soulth west for march break, hopefully indian creek, but that will only be one week

depending on time/cost i would love to go to indian creek for a week but 2-3 weeks anywhere this spring i cannot do.

[martha]

Depending where you are climbing in Spain, in my experience there, there are limited climbs in the 5.9 -5.10 range or easier... those that do exist are well travelled and polished. Most routes are harder... it is just what the rock lends itself to..... but that is based on the areas that I climbed in... La Musara and Arboli had a few more moderates, but Suriana and others were pretty tough grades... 5.12 and up.

There is a great Refugio at La Musara I think.... is that right Fred? that we stayed at for the last part of our climbing. It was really great in terms of dirt bagging. AVOID 'Climbing Planet' at all costs... LOL

Over all though, Fred and I wouldn't go back there to climb. We'd go to J-tree or Vegas or RRG in a heart beat over Europe especially when you factor in cost, quality of climbing, length of time required to travel etc.

Fred could certainly fill you in with more details.

[anderfo]

I'm pretty sure there's plenty of easy climbing in Spain. I know a lot of people that have been there. But since it's (probably) only limestone you should search for crags that are not polished.

The trick which always works, is to find a local climbing gear shop and ask them where to find the world's best non-polished crag with nice routes at your level. They will be happy to help you, especially if they think you might buy some gear if they're nice to you.

My experience from 1 year in Italy was that if you require the crag to be less than 100 meters from your car, it may be polished - but if you are able to walk for 5 minutes you will find crags that are very nice and still not polished, also for grades 5.6-5.10. The locals don't walk that far
If you want non-polished rock only 20-50m from where you parked your (rental) car, you might have to find a completely new crag or climb harder than 5.11.

I have the impression that this goes also for the limestone in Spain and France, although I haven't climbed there myself.

[Dom]

There are nice 5.9-5.10 unpolished routes in EL-Chorro in southern spain...the camping is free and the village is amazing. There are even fully bolted multi-pitch routes in the 5.9 range... If you want to get inspired look at my pics on Facebook Marc. Also, it'll be the warmer there than around the Barcelona crags (Margalef, Siurana, Rodellar, etc.)

But as Cara said Red River Gorge is a real good option when you factor in time/$... At the Red, even though most routes are in the 5.12 and up range, there are 230 WELL bolted routes from 5.6 to 5.10b (Here is my source http://www.redriverclimbing.com/RRCGuide/search.php ). The camping costs 2$ per night at Miguel's pizza and you have a place to chill inside with wifi if its cold out. If it's downpouring you can still climb dry sandstone because of the gargantuan roofs. I have climbed there shirtless at the end of February... Email me if you want more info... I might be biased since I spent last week there hehehe ...

[*Chris*]

Don't count out the Red. I've been in late March and it was great. There's piles of nice moderate climbs and lots of rain option crags. A 10 day trip cost me about $250... can't beat that. I've also been to Spain (although not for climbing). Anything Madrid and south gets pretty expensive but north is cheap. Don't get tricked by the chunky bits in the local soup that look like pepperoni and potatoes... they are actually pig ears and lard. If you go to the Red, ask the local drunken hick kids about 'biscuits-n'-gravy'. They'll hook you up.

[marcaucoin]

Couple good points here... Well first of all, how is the weather at Red in Feb/March? I know we can climb in 5 degre weather, but i'm going on vacation, so I want some heat. I said I was thinking of Spain, but I'm open to anything. Italy seems nice... And by the way, if anyone wants to do a week somewhere, I'm in. I don't need to do a 2 week strait vacation. I can split it up!

Marc

[Rosie]

Further to that thought Chris, I hear that squirrel is the proper meat to eat with your biscuits and gravy. The folks over in the NS forum may be able to fill you in more about that.

[Rosie]

The weather in the Red in late March/early April is variable. Some days it was as warm as 15 degrees C, but we also got a lot of rain and it was also quite cold at times. Hand warmers were necessary most days, but you didn't need a jacket.

[martha]

We have friends that went to Greece (Kalymnos) and had a blast. Warm, nice climbing and lots of great things to do on rest days. I don't know how much their trip was, except to say that they were not dirt bagging.

Lots of info on the WWW about it.

[Dom]

Italy seems nice... Marc

I also climbed in Finale (on the mediterranean close to the French border) and they have over 2000 bolted routes there...there is a free camping with toilets and showers. We climbed there 4 days last February and the weather was amazing around 20degrees everyday!! Some routes were polished but most were sharp limestone!! The village is also wonderful because it's fortified!!

If you do go, don't get the coronn topo osti de caliss de tabarnak...hehe that topo sucks for anyplace in Europe...

[Dom]

I don't need to do a 2 week strait vacation. I can split it up!

If you wanna do a week at the Red I'll probably go the first week of March. Spring break woohoo if you wanna get inspired look at my facebook pics from last week

[Fred]

Of all the places I've climbed, the Red is my favourite. However, I'm not sure February would be the best time of year to visit. Yes, you could be lucky and have great weather but the opposite is also very probable.

Red Rocks in Vegas would be nice and dry that time of year with lots of sport routes.

J-tree is equally nice and dry that time of year but limited sport routes. Camping is amazing.

Spain ranked low on my scale for climbing but we only climbed around Siurana (crags that Cara mentioned). There are alot more areas in Spain. Les Calanques in South of France was a beautiful spot but I found camping is almost impossible so accommodations are expensive or expensive campgrounds (20 Euros a night). Actually, Europe is expensive in general in my opinion. I usually put aside cash for twice as much as I think I'll need and it ends up being half as much as I would have wanted. Tolls$$, Gas$$$, Lodging$$$ There are other world class sport crags in the south of France such as Buoux but I didn't have time to check these out.

Kalymnos is on my radar for a trip. I've hear great things about this place. I'm not certain but I think it would be the good time of year for that area.

[anderfo]

If you ever start considering Italy then Sardinia is the place. The island is smaller than NB but has probably a thousand crags (?) and the guidebook is awesome. I often find myself lying in the sofa reading the Sardinia guidebook or just looking at the photos. Every 3rd or 4th page is filled with a great photo from one of the crags.
http://www.sardiniaclimb.com/NuovoScEng ... iluna.html

There's mainly limestone, but they also have granite and basalt (both of those are totally different from what you find here though).
Some examples of the rock types:
Basalt (South-west Sardinia): http://folk.ntnu.no/anderfo/pics/2006-0 ... a_0230.JPG
Granite (Northern Sardinia): http://folk.ntnu.no/anderfo/pics/2006-0 ... a_0052.JPG
Limestone (The rest of Sardinia): http://folk.ntnu.no/anderfo/pics/2008-0 ... a_0017.JPG or http://folk.ntnu.no/anderfo/pics/2008-0 ... a_0145.JPG

What I've heard is that Kalymnos is about the same as Sardinia, except they only have limestone. The prices are probably similar (Italy is way cheaper than France, for example) but I'm not sure about that. Free-camping is not allowed but if you don't put up a tent you can sleep more or less where you want. If you need a tent you'll find a cheap camping site. A bungalow for 2-4 persons should also be around 20-40€ ($30-$60).

My opinion might be affected by living one year in Italy and never having been in Greece, though. I'd like to go to Kalymnos - but it will not be this year since I'm over here...