Mountain es Vida: Penyagolosa's South Spur, IV, 125m: Preparing for Puig Campana

This past Friday night, experienced mountaineer Pacho Perini and I headed up to Castellon's Penyagolosa for an easy, 3 pitch trad climb to start preparing for an attack on Puig Campana's South Spur. We made dinner and opened a bottle of wine to settle in the van for the night.

After spending the night in the VW California, on Saturday morning we did the 1 hour hike to the base of the south ridge. The trail led us over the a pass called Portellas where the wind cooled us off and made for a few good pics.

Pacho and I on Portellas

We took advantage of the African winds that are making its way to producing Summer here in the Mediterranean. Took advantage we did! 18 degrees C. and little wind. It made for a great day climbing and I even got a little sunburn!

It was easy to miss the base of the climb as Pacho walked right by the gully that led to the first pitch. I called to him and said hey it's here!! We climbed up the gully just a bit to where there is an obvious balcony where the climb starts. There we found another pair on the first pitch.

So as the other pair make their way up to the first stance, our fun begins. The only real move on the whole route is the first one. An easy IV move up a few limestone cracks with ledges to place your feet. From there, the climb is super easy III that can easily be done without a rope. But since we are practicing placing pro, managing rope and moving quickly, we climb with a rope and I lead all 3 pitches as for Pacho enjoyed taking it extra easy going second, and checking my placements.

Coming out of the first stance.

On a huge ledge building an anchor with a single bolt already placed.

So we eventually reached the top stance where we made the short scramble to the top of Penyagolosa, disputed as the highest peak in the Valencian Community.

From the peak of Penyagolosa, you can see a two other shorter climbs (2 pitches) that are quite interesting. One that starts on the left and move on the right rated 6b, with bolts, called "La Mar de Calamar". Another starts on the right and goes left under two suspended blocks rated V+, without bolts, named "Carambano". Both routes share the anchor point and, according to one of the locals, there are bolts at the top of the route.

After hanging out at the top for a half hour, we hiked down the sloping north face of Penyagolosa and made a round trip to the van in a total of 3.5 hours, lots of rest stops included. After sorting out the gear, we were back at home with our loved ones by 5PM. I count it as a great climb for those learning to trad climb. It has all the proper dangers too, like falling, loose rock, which is common here on Valencian, limestone trad routes, so wear your helmet.