Bernia Ridge and Sella

Day 6 of The Glasgow Academy's Costa Blanca trip and Sal was off to Sella with a team of 3 whilst Neal and I took Gavin and 9 students to the Bernia Ridge. This is like a limestone mini Cuillin with bolted anchors and one short section of Grade 4. It was warm and sunny and the team all worked on their tans as we made swift progress along the ridge. Getting off it was harder though- those in shorts lost the battle with the gorse bushes!

TGA Costa Blanca Days 5 and 6 from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

Via Ferrata

Neal Gwynne- looking 'heroic'

Will Leading his first 6a at Toix

Alison taking a break from feeding us all

My team high on the Ponoch Via Ferrata

I did the Ponoch Via Ferrata twice today. This morning I had 3 pupils from The Glasgow Academy and this afternoon I took Alison (our chef for the trip) up the same route. Meanwhile Sal had a team cranking out new hardest leads at Toix and Neal was exploring another canyon.
To all of my friends who have sent snide comments about this week- I know you are just jealous!

Espolon Central, Gandia and the Ponoch

Day 4 in Costa Blanca with staff and pupils from The Glasgow Academy. It was an early start for Gavin, Will, Bobby and I as we went to the Puig de Campana to climb Espolon Central. This Costa Blanca classic gives 13 pitches (by the shortest line) of climbing up to 4 on trad gear with the odd bolt and bolted belay. It was very cold and windy (rather like Glencoe in the Autumn) and there were numb fingers for more than half the route. Fortunately we moved quickly but we were still very pleased when the wind eased and we began descending on the sheltered side of the arete.

Meanwhile Sally took a team on a good quick ascent of the Via Ferrata on the Ponoch and Neal's team were cragging hard at Gandia (or playing in the Tube and other holes and sunbathing if you believe the rumours).

TGA Sport days 3 and 4 from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

Canyon D'Infierno

Day 3 of The Glasgow Academy's Costa Blanca trip and with rain forecast Sal and I took a team to the (mostly) dry Canyon D'Infierno. The rain made things quite slippery but we made good time for a team of 11 past various lowers, abseils, fixed lines and handrails. Gavin and I also ran a piggy back taxi service across the only unavoidable pool!
Neil was on the Ponoch Via Ferrata with a team of 4. This excellent wee route is good and steep- a grand wee outing.

Day 2 in Spain

Sunny but a very strong wind today on The Glasgow Academy's Costa Blanca sport climbing trip. We took a team to Salen for some easy sheltered sunny lead climbing (also a good deal of sunbathing and post climb paddling and ice cream eating on the beach). Meanwhile Neal was in the Canyon D'Inferno tackling the marmites and piggy backing his team over the only deep pool (he didn't drop any of them- he resisted the temptation)

TGA Costa Blanca Sport Climbing trip from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

First day in Spain.

Today was our first full day's climbing in Spain with The Glasgow Academy. Sally and I took a team to Montesa, possibly the busiest crag in Spain on a Sunday! We also had quite a job getting the people carriers through town as the normal access route is closed. There was a lot of dodging and weaving and Sally was up and down routes arranging ropes so that the group could get plenty of climbing in on topropes, and leading too. A fine sunny day and another one forecast for tomorrow.

Away to Spain for the week

Well the crutches are gone and I'm walking around again. Off on a week's work to Spain from tomorrow and back round Fort William sunday the 20th. That week and the weekend of the 25th and 26th I've availability for work. Then its 2 more weeks at Glenmore Lodge. In the meantime here is a quick film of images from the first part of this winter.

The first half of winter 2010-11 from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

Enjoy what has been and what is to come....

And many thanks for everyone who voted for us on the Berghaus Adventure Challenge- looks like we won some money and equipment towwards our Greenland Expedition in April!
Finally enjoy the Fort William Mountain Festival whilst I'm away.