DWS in Mallorca

The weather in south Wales has been absolutely rubbish if you're a climber with the forecast being wet, wet and wet oh yeah and really wet on occasions! But I've been away to the Spanish island of Mallorca and they are currently in the middle of a heat wave woo hoo! Sorry not meaning to rub it in.

The Island is famous for many reasons including drunken antics around Palma, hard core road cycling and sport climbing, and is justifiably famous for all, good and bad! The island has been a sport climbing winter sun destination for many a year with great conditions late in the season when the UK is wet and miserable (like now I guess) and with a wide variety of cragging destinations for climbers of all grades. It is possible to get great deals on flights and villas outside of the main holiday season which has added to the popularity of climbing here.

But as I pointed out earlier I went last week, July, and it was very hot 37 degrees most days. After one day of attempting to climb at an inland venue we discovered that the heat was just to much to bear making climbing almost impossible, so as far as a climbing holiday goes it was not looking good but luckily we had a back up plan.

The island has also become very famous for its deep water soloing with world class venues doted along its south east coast. There are many reasons that DWS is great here, the main one being that there is very little tide around 40cm so you can climb pretty much any time at most venues, unlike Pembroke with its huge tidal swings of over 10m!

So with guide book in hand we headed of to CALA BARQUES and after an interesting walk in, through several 'Private! Keep Out' signs we arrived at an idyllic beach with a rocky coast line leading out to sea. 5 minutes later and we were awe struck at the most amazing sight, a perfect cave set above crystal clear blue water. On closer inspection it just got better and better as the cave is dripping with stalactites, and covered in big pockets giving many amazing possibilities of grossly overhanging lines leading out over the big roofs!

The first climb attempted was graded 6b locally, but overhung its entire 15m in length,  and for the majority it was almost horizontal! The Rock Fax guide give a grade of 7a but grades here just don't matter as a mixture of fun and fear take over not matter what the grade is. The route mentioned was brilliant! The holds were all huge and it is just so much fun that you wish you could climb this route every day.

The day carried on and eventually I fell in and discovered the next best thing about DWS here, the water is about as warm as your bath so you can really go for it knowing that if you drop your not going to freeze your N*?ts off, and you dry out pretty quick too!

The week continued with many areas explored and tons of climbing and falling completed, but I will go as far as saying that it was one of the most fun climbing trips I have done in years and I will definitely be heading back later in the year as with late season water temps in the mid 20's there is no excuse not to go!

There are routes of most grades but to get the most form these venues you will want to be climbing at least F6b although there is probably enough scope around F5 if you search around, but like i said grades here are not what its all about as with a go for it attatude you could really surprise yourself!

So if your unsure where to go on a late season trip grab a cheep flight, leave your rope behind, and get to Mallorca!

Happy climbing

simon

If you fancy a go closer to home check out DYNAMICROCK DWS day in Pembroke, the next course is the 10th August.

Keep your eyes peeled for a possible DYNAMICROCK DWS Mallorca trip later in the year!