Members who attended

• Alistair Brash
• Simon Partridge
• Tom Coyne
• Brigette Atkins
• Joergen Myrtroeen
• Ed Poore
• Charlene Lawton
• Lizzie Wilkins
• Jacob Dean
• Jonathan Hazell

Day 1

Despite the 10 tour members departing from different airports throughout the country everyone arrived in Alicante Airport, Spain at roughly the same time (varying between 09:30am and 11am local time). The first port of call was the car rental station where two hire cars were collected. One being upgraded two stages for free because they didn’t have the booked car, thus providing us with a 7-seater, dubbed the “win-car” for the rest of the tour.

A (theoretical) hour later with some exploration of the Spanish coast led to everyone arriving in the first villa of the stay, graciously provided by Joergen. Unloading and lunch ensued then reloading into the cars and off to the beach to find one of the deep-water-soloing crags mentioned in the guide-books. After some non-existent right-turns eventually an alternative was found and the fun began.

For many of our members this was the first time they had been deep-water-soloing, climbing without ropes above the sea, the day ended with a spot of tombstoning from the top of the cliff.

Day 2

We traveled the short journey down the coast to Sierra de Toix to climb at a place called Toix TV. After spending thirty minutes driving around the maze of holiday homes, we finally reached the crag as it began to pour with rain. Climbing began, regardless, with several routes being lead including a 7a (very hard!) lead by Joergen. After this, Tom set off on a route –accessed via a dodgy rope bridge - but ended up climbing past the lower-off, resulting in a run out traverse and a scramble to safety!

Day 3

We set off to Forrada in search of some quality climbing. Four hours later, after driving through continuous hairpins, we reached a track described in the guide book as “rough in places”. This was discovered to be something of an understatement!

The climbing at Forrada was fantastic and turned out to be well worth the journey. At least it was until the monsoon arrived and forced us to shelter in a cave for the next hour, waiting for the rock to dry. The heavy downpour turned out to be a daily occurrence and always coincided with Brigette being stranded halfway up a lead. Joergen and Jacob managed to find some more difficult climbing in an area sheltered from the storm. One particular route (Starman, 7a+) provided them with conversation for the rest of the week. The journey back to the villa that evening was considerably shorter due to the saturated soil which allowed us to ‘mud-plane’ back down the track from the crag.

Day 4

We headed back to the Sierra de Toix region but this time to Toix Ouest. Once again it rained in the afternoon (there is a theme here) so we went back to the villa for lunch. The plan for the afternoon was to head a short distance from the villa to Echo Valley. Unfortunately we got lost and drove half an hour into the valleys, ending up at a place that wasn’t in the guide book but did come recommended by a woman in stripy yellow trousers (clearly a climber). The boulderers among the group made friends with a local man-of -the-crag who showed them the best traverse in the area whilst chain smoking.

Day 5

After the antics of the previous three days, it was decided we should take a rest day. We had a lazy morning by the pool followed by some deep water soloing in the afternoon. It was warmer in the sea than out, so we swam about before coming home.

Day 6

This was our first trip to Sella (the biggest crag in the area) and we were not disappointed. The routes were amazing. Tom and Brigette started a multipitch but true to form, when Brigette’s involved, it began to rain as soon as they had both reached the first belay. After much commotion and a variety of problems, they both abseiled down to safety. Meanwhile, diehard boulderer, Jacob gets his head for heights as he takes his first fall whilst leading (after much bullying from Alistair and Joergen).

Fresher took a less active approach to the day and made a hammock at the base of the crag. His creativity got the better of him later in the day when he attempted to make a zip line into the swimming pool back at the villa. Fail.

Day 7

We went to Echo Playa and for the first time since the first day, the sun was out. Quickly, we realized that it was too hot and hoped for mild temperatures once again!

Some of us went off to do ‘traditional’ climbing, whilst the others climbed sport routes. By lunch time everyone was far too hot, so we decided to go back to the villa for a siesta.

In the afternoon, Fresher had a brilliant idea: He built a raft from water bottles and set sail in the swimming pool. However, his success was short lived as Tom and Jacob bombed him, sinking his raft!

That night, we moved to a villa in the mountains. Whilst everyone was packing, Fresher managed to put a large dent in the car. However, he did fix it with his trusty plunger.

Day 8

Jacob, Alistair and Joergen climbed a three pitch route. Joergen, however, left his shoes at home, so they ended up sharing two pairs between three people, swapping shoes for each pitch. In the meantime, Charlene and Simon completed their first lead.

That evening ICMC stormed Benidom! We saw the delights that were on offer, Sticky Vicki, The Mediteraneun Bar to name but two… We opted for the beach. Simon and the girls somehow ended up in the sea, partly clothed and Fresher got buried. ICMC returned home, distinctly weter and sandier than before and settled down for a nice bowl of carrot curry.

Day 9

Back to Sierra de Toix again! Spurred on by the previous days multipitch, Fresher, Simon and Brigette set off on a three pitch excursion. Charlene climbed a route with a rope that was too short to be lowered off, so had to do some imaginative maneuvers to get down!

By this stage everyone else was bored with Toix and decided to do some more deep-water-soloing, leaving Fresher and co halfway up their multipitch.

Day 10

This was our last full day of climbing, so we decided to go back to Sella as it was so good before. Tom and Ed managed to complete the multipitch that they got rained off last time. Charlene and Simon continued to tick off a number of lead climbs.

During late afternoon, there was a massive downpour which resulted in half the group running for cover and leaving everyone else to pack up all the gear.

Day 11

The last day! The weather was worse than ever, it was raining when we woke up! We packed and cleaned the house before driving towards Alicante. When we got there it was far too wet to sit on the beach, so what would a group of university students do in Alicante for a day? Obviously we found the nearest Toys ’R’Us and set about trying to play with every toy in the shop!

In conclusion, the tour went very well. I would not have made any fundamental changes to the way it ran, things that could be improved in the future are small organizational things such as being better at buying the correct amount of food for a large number of people. Financially, the tour broke even. And a good time was had by all! The only thing that did not go as planned was the fact that it rained so often! But that being said, we went climbing every day and still had an amazing time.