SELLA: IMAGES FROM A LIMESTONE NIRVANA

In comparison to our continental cousins, British climbers have the rough end of the stick when it comes to outdoor rock climbing between November and March. If you live in southern France or Spain, climbing is a year-round activity in a way that it can never be in Britain. The other side of this equation, however, is that when many of the best crags in southern Europe are impossibly hot during June, July and August, many of the best sea-cliffs and mountain crags in Britain are in perfect condition. None of us, it seems, can truly have it both ways. Or can we?

The new bastions of cost-effective European travel, Easyjet and Ryanair, have swung the cards dramatically in favour of those wishing to escape the incessant rain and wind of the British winter. Leaving the environmental questions of ultra-cheap air travel to one side, the fact that you can fly to southern Spain for considerably less than the cost of a return car journey from London to Scotland is of unquestionable benefit to  climbers in this country. Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps unsurprising that one of the best and most popular regions for ‘winter sun’ sport climbing in Europe is on Spain’s Costa Blanca, within easy reach of three major airports all with regular flights to and from the UK.

It has been a well known secret for more than a decade that Sella is one of Spain’s finest limestone sport climbing areas, and the first Rockfax guidebook to the region did much to consolidate its status among both Spanish and British climbers. The main climbing area is based around a long valley that stretches north east for over ten miles from Sella village, and eventually terminates in the impressive 500 metre wall of the Divino - a cliff that has most sport climbers grumbling about long approaches, big run-outs, and not having any trad gear, before scampering off to the next well-bolted roadside crag! Whether or not a crag like the Divino is up your street, it certainly completes the astounding diversity of rock climbing in this valley. Sella really does have something for everyone: from multi-pitch (and potentially multi-day!) big wall epics, to super-steep top level sport climbs, and to laid-back bolt clipping on sunny south faces, there will be a climb somewhere here with your name on it. So next time you feel the onset of seasonal affective disorder, book a flight to Alicante and spend a week exploring one of Spain’s finest climbing areas. The only downside is that, like numerous other climbers, you’ll probably want to stay for a month!

1)    Adam Mulholland warming up on Kasbah (6c+) – a superb 30 metre pitch at sector Techo Del Rino.

2)    Bob Hickish on the super-sustained an technical Watermark  (8a+) at sector Wild Side

3)    Chris Savage redpointing Septiembre (8b+) at Wild Side: this route is bolted in such a way that the crux clip is near-impossible, so a 25-foot runout through the hardest climbing is de-rigueur. Needless to say, Chris took a few monster falls off this line before his successful ascent in March 2008.

4)    Bob Hickish lowering off the Wild Side: the scale of the crag and its severe angle are clearly evident in the photograph, and this isn’t even the steepest bit!

5)    Adam Mulholland making a tense clip whilst redpointing Dimension Diamante (8a+) at sector Wild Side.

6)    Jo Stadden finding a technical solution to the steep and pumpy finish of Generacion Yogur (7a+) at sector VIP.

7)    Candyman (6b+) at L’Elephante is typical of the superb and often highly technical vertical face-climbing at Sella.

8)    Theo Elmer throwing a long span through the central crux of Ergometria (8a) at sector Wild Side. This route, one of Spain’s most classic 8a’s, features three separate cruxes: a boulder-problem start, a pumpy and tricky middle section, and a final move that sends many climbers flying out into space whilst staring at the chain!

9)    Kate Keltie solving the crux of Lupu (6c+) at L’Elefante with a high rockover, ignoring the snow-storm that is rapidly descending on the valley. Extreme variations in the weather are common here in late autumn and early spring, which also happen to be the two best climbing periods.

10)  Unknown Polish climber spotlit by the ten-minute break of evening sun on a redpoint attempt of the new variation (8c) on Docsis (8b+) at sector Wild Side.

11)   Jo Stadden on the steep tufas before the crux of Oceano, (7b) at sector Wild Side. The extension to this route goes the full height of the cliff at a tough 8a.

12)  Theo Elmer cranks the 45-degree pockets of Desert Storm (8a) at sector VIP under a darkening sky.

13)  An different view of Desert Storm, looking out to the route’s crux at the lip of the fifty-foot roof it crosses.

14)  The essence of Sella limestone: ultra-athletic limestone sport climbing in the modern idiom, set against a backdrop of beautiful Valencian countryside. Here, Adam Mulholland is captured pulling in extremis on an almost-successful onsight of Jumping Mecha Flash at sector VIP.

15)  A technicolour evening sky over the hills to the west of Sella. This photograph was taken from under the Divino, the awesome 500-metre adventure crag that provides the ‘other side’ of rock climbing at Sella.

Next week on planetFear, Mike Robertson gives us a glimpse of the stunning deep water soloing on the Costa Blanca’s sea cliffs. Don’t miss it!