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The coast and much of the interior of the island of Mallorca is covered in gorgeous limestone cliffs- paradise for those who enjoy the Mediterranean culture combined with sea and climbing.
mallorca
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Mallorca, Spain
January 2009
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Did we travel all this
way from the United States just to gain this view from Es
Pontas of the famous arch?
No, actually we stumbled upon on it while vaguely searching
for a cliff sometimes called Santana, who is one of my favorite
musicians and then voile', there we were on a misty morning in a quiet
neighborhood looking over the edge of a big cliff down to
the Mediterranean below.
If you haven't seen the BigUp trailer of Chris Sharma
climbing on the underside, check it out here.
or view the longer trailer here.
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Click photos to enlarge)
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We
did find Santanyi and one of the more beautiful seaside climbing
locations that I have ever visited, just around the corner from the
arch. There were more than a few inspiring lines, mostly
bolted with some newer staples but some with older bolts and mostly
rusty anchors due to the salty location. Route difficulties
ranged from 5.7 to 5.13 on these very featured and relatively solid
limestone escarpments, which cover hundreds of miles of this small
island's coastline. This is also a very popular spot for deep
water soloing (DWS) known locally as Psiclobloc.
Santanyi is one of hundreds of 'Calas' or coves that flank
the island and it is easily found on the southeast corner of this
roughly 70 x70 miles square Mediterranean island that is part of the
Illes Balears (that include Ibiza, Menorca, and Formentara). These touristed islands all lay close together just off the
eastern coast of Spain and the south of France with cheap flights offered
daily from most of Europe.
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Eli on a juggy
5.10 bolted route and a German woman on the stout start to a 25m tall
5.12
With
only a few days to visit this magical island we played like tourists
and visited many spots to see as much as possible in a very short time. And we found where we would want to return for a
longer visit which will ideally have lots of deep water soloing involved. This place is not a summer destination for most climbers as it is too hot, horribly crowded, and expensive to be worth
the effort, but spring, winter, and fall can be fantastic and we had
climbable weather every day with too many high quality climbs and areas
to satisfy a mid-winter thirst for adventure.
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On
the very opposite end of the island from Santanyi on the northern most
peninsula of the island, Cap de Formentor is a breathtaking landscape
of large cliffs looming high over a turquoise green sea.
There is some great climbing in this area and enough rugged
coastline with many hidden and difficult to reach coves, cliffs, and
boulders that entire trip could be done just exploring the mountain and
ocean landscapes.
The nearby resort town of Port de Pollenca has many hotels, rentals,
and enough restaurants (and Germans in the summer) plus sailing and
scuba through protected reef areas make for a complete climbing and
ocean dream vacation.
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Click Photos to Enlarge
We
found the large city of Palma to be very charming and with their Christmas
celebrations culminating on Dec. 6th, we were in the city to witness a
huge parade of floats and traditionally dressed horseman and
festivities that lasted in typical Mallorcan fashion way into the
night. Palma is known for its raging club scene and many Euro
climber have found themselves spending more time in the raves then at
the crags. There are apparently many benefits to this
cross-training program.
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An
unexpected road closure brought us to this remote cove named Sa Calobra
where all of the restaurants and hotels were closed and it was very
quiet here for our views of the sunset over the Mediterranean.
The drive down to Calobra was outrageous with an elevation
change of at least 3,000 feet in only a few miles on a road barely wide
enough for two small cars- it was nice to be almost the only ones on
this road which went over a mountain pass where recent snows
covered the flanks of some more big limestone escarpments.
The volume of rock on this island is so high that it has probably only been 3% touched by climbers and in all my
travels, I've never seen more concentrated and high quality climbable
limestone of all heights, types, and angles. A sailing ship would be
helpful as well as a drill that can be used on lead for new routing.
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The largest of the four escarpments we had time to visit on our
short three day tour was the canyon of Sa Gubia, which is
less than 30 minutes from Palma and just off the main roadway (MA-11)
to the city of Soller which is flanked by olive orchards,
orange groves, and small estates. This is the most developed
climbing area in the country containing routes up to 300m in length
from grades of 5.8 to 5.14.
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Click photo to enlarge
The
Sa Gubia parking area is next to a very good restaurant (recommended) off
a busy road and it has been problematic with break-ins and so it's a good
idea to park near the restaurant, pay the guard, and leave no
valuables in your car.
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The mountain capitol of
Mallorca is the city of Soller, and it is hard to believe that the
ocean is just 15 minutes away when you are surrounded by snow covered
limestone peaks, large unclimbed escarpments, olive groves in every
direction along with a beautiful downtown district that seems to
metropolitan to be so close to a rugged and isolated coastline.
We'll be back to
Mallorca for sure and for a much longer visit the next time. |
The limestone paradise of Mallorca was a treat to experience and the
local cuisine which is international but also proudly Mallorcan was
excellt. The most interesting culinary treat we experienced was the 'Black
Paella', a seafood mixture which was coloured by it's main ingredient
of squid.
For anyone who worships fresh baked bread, olives, oranges,
lemons, local wines, mediterranean style pizzas, and seafood
(roasted meat and sausages are also Mallorcan favorites) then this is
the place to spend some Euros on comida rica! Buen provecho!
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