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El Chorro, Mallorca

chris

27-Mar-2008
7:35:23 PM

My wife and baby and I are planning a trip to Spain or France later in the year. I had my mind set on climbing on the Makinodromo at El Chorro, or perhaps some sport climbing/DWS in Mallorca. My little boy will be a year old at the time, so we were hoping for somewhere family friendly. My wife and I both aim to climb around the 7a-7c level.
Anybody got any advice? We don't mind a reasonable length walk-in. We were hoping for a nice, flat, safe base of the crag, with some easy accommodation nearby.

maxdacat

27-Mar-2008
8:23:01 PM

get your hands on:

http://www.rockfax.com/publications/books/item.php?id=128

plus also check out the site for the DWC and El Chorro guides. i go to spain a fair bit but haven't made it to these places yet but have heard plenty of good things.

Also check out the route databases on the rockfax site....and you may also consider posting on ukclimbing for info.

Note: the base of crags may be considered "safe" but can you guarantee nobody will drop a quickdraw etc from height.....might be worth investing in some kind of covered baby carrier if not for projectiles then perhaps from the sun.

Shmalzy

27-Mar-2008
8:25:57 PM

On 27/03/2008 chris wrote:
>My wife and baby and I are planning a trip to Spain or France later in
>the year. I had my mind set on climbing on the Makinodromo at El Chorro,
>or perhaps some sport climbing/DWS in Mallorca. My little boy will be a
>year old at the time, so we were hoping for somewhere family friendly.
>My wife and I both aim to climb around the 7a-7c level.
>Anybody got any advice? We don't mind a reasonable length walk-in. We
>were hoping for a nice, flat, safe base of the crag, with some easy accommodation
>nearby.

My advice is to leave the kid at home - it doesn't work mate. it's over.

chris

27-Mar-2008
9:35:47 PM

Hi maxdacat! Thanks..... have you got any ideas of other kid friendly crags? We'd be pretty happy to take our little fella to the Bruixes, but haven't been to many other crags in spain.
Allready have a nice little covered portacot that we put up at the crag.....has been pretty successful so far at some of the Blue mtns crags.

climbingfool

27-Mar-2008
10:04:44 PM

El Chorro is pretty cool and easy going place to climb at. Well it was in 2002 anyway. Good job you want to climb at 7c grades cos everything under that is polished pretty heavy. The walk to Mak is alright but be prepared to walk through a few active train tunnels. There was new area being worked on when i was there called Las Nubes; on account of it being really high above the gorge itself on the way to Mak.

Camping is pretty cheap but gets quite busy on weekends with people just wanting to go camping and partying. There is a hostel as well which was nice and fairly cheap. I lived in an abandoned house for a couple nights, and there were lots of caves with long term resident climbers living in them too.

If you go make sure you venture out onto the El Camino Del Rey at least once, if the local gov't hasn't tried to prevent access. If they have climbers no doubt have found a way around it. Pretty exciting and potentially dangerous, but fun....some climbing sectors start from the camino, but by then your roped up anyway! Maybe not a suitable activity for your son, but that is up to you.

maxdacat

27-Mar-2008
10:22:40 PM

The other place worth considering is Rodellar:

http://www.planetmountain.com/English/rock/crags/falesia.html?stato=Spagna®ione=Aragon&idfalesia=090

again have heard loads of good stuff about it and will probably go there this aug/sep. the approach is easy, nearby camping is good so it might be child friendly too. and it has some canyoning as well for when it's too hot to climb.

Not been to Bruixes but have been to other parts of Terradets and can vouch for the quality....though mind the occasional loose hold at the newly developed crags.

Garrath

28-Mar-2008
7:51:11 AM

Sella in the Costa Blanca region might be worth considering. We spent a week at Sella with a 4 and 7 year old. Very child friendly with camping very close by.

dave

28-Mar-2008
7:53:06 AM

Yeah you should definitely go to El Chorro though I wouldnt say its very kid friendly- Makinodroma is either accessable via the tunnels (they have police guarding them 9-5pm on weekends, and there is a 6000Euro fine. Though i dont think a climber has ever been fined) Or you can get there via the Camino del Rey which is a must do, but a bit awkward in places.
Go to Siurana too- the refugio and campground are great and close.

ado_m

28-Mar-2008
11:05:53 AM

El Chorro is superb. Be sure to stay at the Finca, which is the hub for non-dirt bag climbers. When I was ther a few years ago there was another couple with a 6 month old baby staying there for a few months. Big dining room, hang out area, 7 euros or something a night for pitching the tent. Much better than the camp site (which is however a lot closer). I expect directions are in the rockfax guide...

Paulie

14-Apr-2008
5:30:08 PM

Lovely area but polished polished polished... get out to the surrounding crags - and for the love of your sanity avoid anything slabby, especially that awful place on the right between the tunnels. It makes routes like Buffalo's Glossop Skins look relatively sane!

I second Sella, it's much easier on the access for kids - walk in from the refugio, there're are a heap of great 6c+ routes and the trade routes (tend to be 6c and below) aren't all that polished - yet!

There are 10 messages in this topic.