[shark]

Planning to go away end of Oct 20- Nov 2 but a bit stuck on where.

Ideally looking for somewhere with cheap flights reliable weather that’s a bit different and not crowded with enough hard routes to keep Steve Mac content. Somewhere with some vert to keep Nick C happy also a bonus.

Ruled out Northern Spain re weather. Mallorca as been so often. Leonidio too popular. St Leger probably have to drive.

Kiparissi a possible.

Must be plenty of other options in France and Spain?

[mrjonathanr]

Les Alpilles? Cimaī, if weather is cool?

[shark]

Les Alpilles? Cimaī, if weather is cool?

Sounds old skool !

[mrjonathanr]

Well, you did say ‘vertical’ !

[jwi]

The no-driving rule makes it hard for me to suggest places. But I would think that St Leger is doable, if a bit expensive. There's a gîte down in the canyon? no?

With a car, St Antonin, if you also like to find sandbagged crags and holiday graded crags side by side. You have probably not been there, plenty to go at from vertical to steep, from short to long pitches, and all grades up to low 9s.

[shark]

Sorry - yes we would have a local hire car.

Re St Leger I meant we would probably be best driving from the uk as there are no cheap flights to airports in the vicinity

With a car, St Antonin, if you also like to find sandbagged crags and holiday graded crags side by side. You have probably not been there, plenty to go at from vertical to steep, from short to long pitches, and all grades up to low 9s.

Good shout. Will investigate

[remus]

Kyparissi a possible.

Take this with a pinch of salt as I've only been for an exploratory scope, but this might be a bit tricky with a mixed ability team. Babala is the big crag here, and it looks mint from 7b+ upwards but it's pretty much all tufa lines. The other crags in the area are cool but probably not two weeks worth.

[jwi]

Sorry - yes we would have a local hire car.

Re St Leger I meant we would probably be best driving from the uk as there are no cheap flights to airports in the vicinity

With a car, St Antonin, if you also like to find sandbagged crags and holiday graded crags side by side. You have probably not been there, plenty to go at from vertical to steep, from short to long pitches, and all grades up to low 9s.

Good shout. Will investigate

There are cheap easyjet flights to Toulouse from London. Don't know about other airports

[spidermonkey09]

Flew to grenoble when we went to St Leger. Imagine Lyon would also work, albeit a slightly longer drive. Can recommend a gite in the area.

[Paul B]

Ideally looking for somewhere with cheap flights reliable weather that’s a bit different and not crowded with enough hard routes to keep Steve Mac content. Somewhere with some vert to keep Nick C happy also a bonus.

It's possibly too early but Buoux? Nobody seems to go these days and it has plenty of hard stuff and plenty of not very steep stuff either. You've also got Lourmarin not far away for when your fingers/skin get a bit sick of pockets.

[seankenny]

There are cheap easyjet flights to Toulouse from London. Don't know about other airports

There’s also the Eurostar and TGV to Avignon which is very easy and quick.

[blaciqui]

Malaga province. El chorro is crowed (during the weekends) and polished (not everything), but there's been a lot of development in the province. It might need a little bit of driving between locations but good weather is guaranteed although rain is desperately needed and there are cheap flights to Malaga or Seville from everywhere in the UK. Also, Novembr is off season so it will be cheap to rent a car and accomodation.

Places like Teba, Cañete, Cuevas de San Marcos, Alfarnatejo, Ardales... Tons of new stuff that is not in the guidebooks the latest one is Climbing in Malaga province by Salvador Munilla (probably the worst guidebook in history: missing routes, routes that doesn't exist, not indicating that a route is longer than 40 metres... but it's the only one available and is good enough to locate the crags on a map)

And also you have a plan b with places like Archidona, El torcal, Villanueva del rosario or the hard crags in el chorro will suffice for a couple of weeks, I think.

It might require a little bit of research and knowing somebody from the area will be extremely helpful but I think it ticks all the boxes.  (I'm from Malaga province but living the UK, although at the grades you're talking about I cannot be very helpful, happy to help if I can) 

[shark]

Malaga province. El chorro is crowed (during the weekends) and polished (not everything), but there's been a lot of development in the province. It might need a little bit of driving between locations but good weather is guaranteed although rain is desperately needed and there are cheap flights to Malaga or Seville from everywhere in the UK. Also, Novembr is off season so it will be cheap to rent a car and accomodation.

Places like Teba, Cañete, Cuevas de San Marcos, Alfarnatejo, Ardales... Tons of new stuff that is not in the guidebooks the latest one is Climbing in Malaga province by Salvador Munilla (probably the worst guidebook in history: missing routes, routes that doesn't exist, not indicating that a route is longer than 40 metres... but it's the only one available and is good enough to locate the crags on a map)

And also you have a plan b with places like Archidona, El torcal, Villanueva del rosario or the hard crags in el chorro will suffice for a couple of weeks, I think.

It might require a little bit of research and knowing somebody from the area will be extremely helpful but I think it ticks all the boxes.  (I'm from Malaga province but living the UK, although at the grades you're talking about I cannot be very helpful, happy to help if I can)

Yes looked into the area before and like you say the info is sketchy which is probably a good thing from a popularity point of view.

[jwi]

There are cheap easyjet flights to Toulouse from London. Don't know about other airports

There’s also the Eurostar and TGV to Avignon which is very easy and quick.

True that. There's also the TGV to Bordeaux, then 2h in car. Or take the slow train from Bordeaux to Montauban, then a car for 30 m

[shark]

Thanks guys. Will do some more research next week and report back

[petejh]

Guyikibayiri and Citdibi (and other surrounding new crags), staying in Antalya.

Gorge du Tarn, Le Boffi, Gorge du Jonte. All easily doable from one base.

[Samr]

In a similar vain to the málaga recommendation, I will recommend Granada province. New guidebook just out (escalada deportiva Granada). Loads of crags full of 7s-8s (most popular ones being cogollos vega, poloria and cahorros). In your dates you are also just in time for Los Vados -  pared de la virgen for class multi pitches (bird banned from 15th November).
Unless you stay at the climbers hostel in cogollos, you'll probably want a rental care to visit all the crags though. 
I live in Granada so let me know if you want any more information.

[shark]

Guyikibayiri and Citdibi (and other surrounding new crags), staying in Antalya.

Gorge du Tarn, Le Boffi, Gorge du Jonte. All easily doable from one base.

Already mooted these but Steve has climbed these out

[shark]

In a similar vain to the málaga recommendation, I will recommend Granada province. New guidebook just out (escalada deportiva Granada). Loads of crags full of 7s-8s (most popular ones being cogollos vega, poloria and cahorros). In your dates you are also just in time for Los Vados -  pared de la virgen for class multi pitches (bird banned from 15th November).
Unless you stay at the climbers hostel in cogollos, you'll probably want a rental care to visit all the crags though. 
I live in Granada so let me know if you want any more information.

Oooh. Sounds interesting. Will have a look into it and may be in touch 👍🏻

[petejh]

Guyikibayiri and Citdibi (and other surrounding new crags), staying in Antalya.

Gorge du Tarn, Le Boffi, Gorge du Jonte. All easily doable from one base.

Already mooted these but Steve has climbed these out

Tough crowd!

[Muenchener]

Kiparissi a possible.

Only ever been there on a day trip from Leonidio. Very beautiful, and the village felt very out of season & quiet in November although there were one or two restaurants & cafes open.

At the grades I'm operating at - 6's & low 7's - the sectors around the village were pleasant enough but nowt special. But I've been told by people operating at higher grades that Babala is the best crag in the 8's in Greece.

Kapsala & Hideout, about halfway up the coast road towards Leonidio, are a bit easier again, very good, but crowded as they're an easy hour's drive from Leonidio.

[duncan]

In a similar vain to the málaga recommendation, I will recommend Granada province. New guidebook just out (escalada deportiva Granada). Loads of crags full of 7s-8s (most popular ones being cogollos vega, poloria and cahorros). In your dates you are also just in time for Los Vados -  pared de la virgen for class multi pitches (bird banned from 15th November).
Unless you stay at the climbers hostel in cogollos, you'll probably want a rental care to visit all the crags though. 
I live in Granada so let me know if you want any more information.

Reguchillo, near Jaén, is an hour north of Granada. I've not been but it is quite extensive and gets good reports from friends who climb in the high 7s and are reasonably tasteful about climbing. They recommended it as a warm and dry mid-winter venue so it might be hot in October?

Can also highly recommend the Eurostar/TGV option to Avignon or Marseilles: comfortable, unstressful, take as much kit as you like, and not so different in time when you factor in all the waiting around at airports. Booking with a week's notice is likely to be spendy.

Parenthetically, the forecasts for southern Spain and Dorset for the days you're considering look similarly showery, with Spain slightly warmer. Probably better redpointing conditions at Swanage...

[James Malloch]

Not sure on what the weather is like, but what about somewhere like arco or Finale?

[Muenchener]

Arco isn't really a winter venue unless you get lucky with the weather. Obviously the forecast can change a week out, but my local weather service (wetteronline) is currently saying low teens and cloudy/showery for shark's dates.

[petejh]

Forgot to mention earlier - what about Ulassai in Sardinia?

[IanP]

Forgot to mention earlier - what about Ulassai in Sardinia?

Visited Ulassai last year and though it was great, lots of varied climbing in a great setting mostly walkable from the town.

But it's high up with quite a lot of shady/breezy crags so could be risky weatherwise by late October and my impression was that it is best In the mid 6s to highs 7 so may not suit someone who is looking for ther 1000th 8a/higher!

[Samr]

In a similar vain to the málaga recommendation, I will recommend Granada province. New guidebook just out (escalada deportiva Granada). Loads of crags full of 7s-8s (most popular ones being cogollos vega, poloria and cahorros). In your dates you are also just in time for Los Vados -  pared de la virgen for class multi pitches (bird banned from 15th November).
Unless you stay at the climbers hostel in cogollos, you'll probably want a rental care to visit all the crags though. 
I live in Granada so let me know if you want any more information.

Reguchillo, near Jaén, is an hour north of Granada. I've not been but it is quite extensive and gets good reports from friends who climb in the high 7s and are reasonably tasteful about climbing. They recommended it as a warm and dry mid-winter venue so it might be hot in October?

Yeah reguchillo is class, but an absolute oven. I've been in November a few times and it was fine, but I always try to go on particularly cold days.

[Aussiegav]

I went here in May 2000. If you want long routes off the usual visited areas. Highly recommend.

There very cheap accommodation and great vineyards as well.

https://www.montpellier-france.com/discover/a-thousand-years-of-history/in-the-region/unesco-sites/saint-guilhem-le-desert/

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/saint-guilhem-le-desert-2069/#baume_ventee


There are a lot more routes than listed here.

If you want to seek adventures & Onsight here’s your chance.


There was a very active local community of climbers

[shark]

Thanks for all the recs. should be useful for the future.

Settled on Granada this time but one of the team has dropped out so if anyone is interested the dates are Tues 21st Nov to Fri 1st Dec with me, Steve Mcclure flying from Manchester to Malaga and if available probably staying at the climbers hostel at Cogollos mentioned by Samr which is 20€ a night

New guide doesn’t look to be available to buy in UK. If anyone in Sheffield happens to have a copy that I could borrow that’d be amazing

[Steve Crowe]

There's some good info online here https://escaladagranada.es/blog-zonas-escuelas-escalada

[Mark Lloyd]

so may not suit someone who is looking for ther 1000th 8a/higher!

Sharks been busy

[shark]

New guide doesn’t look to be available to buy in UK. If anyone in Sheffield happens to have a copy that I could borrow that’d be amazing

It is available!

https://climb-europe.com/rockclimbingshop/granada-sport-climbing-guidebook-topo.html

Just ordered 

[Stabbsy]

I noticed Loja is in that guide - don’t be tempted to drive that far without checking the access. The lower crag is amazing but was all fenced off when I last went and the upper crag isn’t worth the effort!

[shark]

I noticed Loja is in that guide - don’t be tempted to drive that far without checking the access. The lower crag is amazing but was all fenced off when I last went and the upper crag isn’t worth the effort!

Thanks for the heads up. Wasn’t on my radar. Cahorros, Cogollos, Peloria and Reguchillo (if cold)  seem to be the go-to crags.

[Steve Crowe]

Los Vados rescued a few very cold days for us.

[PeteHukb]

Thread hijack! I've booked a week in Jaén in the middle of Feb - keen to try a slightly different area, been to Chorro before etc. Reguchillo should be good at that time of year unless it's warmer than average, right? (Been advised to avoid if sunny and over 15 degrees.) We're close enough to Poloria and Cogollos if we need variety. Can anyone recommend wet weather or hot weather alternatives? Cuevas Negras, possibly? Any crags in the Jaen/Granada area to avoid?

There's a wall in Jaén so we'll pick up a guidebook there but if anyone (Shark?) could lend me a Granada guidebook that would be awesome, we might not even go that way but it would be good to have options.

Thanks people.

Addendum: strictly interested in routes between 6b and 7c really. Would be aiming for onsights or quick redpoints of 7b/+ if I'm going well.

[shark]

Hi Pete

Yes you’re welcome to the guide. I’ve got a bunch of info for Jaen so if you message me your number I’ll WhatsApp it to you.

[Stu Littlefair]

Hi Pete

Just got back from the Jaen area. Reguchillo is great, but a sun trap. Cuevas Negras is outstanding, but only up to 7c+ (the extensions in the 8s are crap).

We didn’t climb at Otiñar but it looks stunning.

Most of the other crags are locals only IMO, although the crags further afield (Cogollos, Moclin) look worthwhile. We didn’t bother travelling further as the ease of climbing around Jaén was great - we stayed in the city and the climbing was all 15 minutes drive from our flat.

[PeteHukb]

Thanks Shark and Stu. Stu, I might pester you with a few more questions by DM: on a short trip, reliable info can save a half-day or more of wasted travel/effort!