Costa Blanca

Access

There are a number of crags in the Costa Blanca region with delicate access.

Guadalest

We have had numerous reports of access problems at Guadalest (MiniGuide here). All these reports follow roughly the same pattern - climbers turn up, discover plenty of signs of climbing activity, then they are approached by a single guy who is wearing a jacket with a badge that looks vaguely official. He claims that climbing is banned due to environmental reasons, or "for protecting rare plants". Having contacted local climbers, they are of the opinion that this man has no authority to throw people off and they continue to climb there. We have had no reports of anyone other than this 'man' asking people to leave, also new routes are appearing from time to time. The best advice at present is to leave if you want to avoid an ugly confrontation and return another time.

Hidden Valley (Wild Side) - Sella

There have been various problems over the past couple of years with access to this crag following the purchase of the land surrounding the crag by the new owner. The owner of the land at the base of the crag and the access routes is Mr Sjaak (pron. Jack) Bleijlevens. He is a very reasonable person with a strong interest in ecological issues, which probably explains his position. He had become tired of all the littering, noise and defecation of the climbers using the crag which prompted his actions to RESTRICT access. However, if people want to climb at the crag it is still possible

You must ask permission of Sjaak before climbing. He lives in the house to the right of the caravan and drives a white Suzuki 4X4.
If he is NOT there do NOT climb, come back another day. If he finds you climbing there without permission he will ask you to leave.
Do NOT ask other climbers for permission, they are not in a position to say yes or no. Go and see Sjaak yourself.
When visiting the crag, park in the area just through the gates if they are unlocked, then WALK up to his house first.

Sax (Cabreras)

There is a restriction for nesting birds on the upper sector Cumbre at Sax - no climbing between 1 February and 31 May. This restriction sometimes starts on 1 December - check signs at the crag.

Salinas

There have been restrictions in the past with no climbing from 1 March to 1 July because of nesting birds. Check for signs on the approach to the cliff which are only posted if the birds are nesting. This restriction has been known to vary from year to year sometimes starting in February.

Peñón de Ifach - North Face Only

No climbing from 1 April to 30 June because of nesting birds.

Gandía

There have been problems at this crag in recent years with the landowner wanting to ban climbing altogether. However it is so popular that people just tend to ignore the ban. This can sometimes cause problems if the landowner turns up however this only seems to happen at weekends when the crag is full of locals anyway. For a quiet life it is probably best to keep away at weekends.

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