Don’t Rush! Don’t Dawdle! A week of sport and multi pitch climbing on Mallorca

Bruised all over, hands raw and smiling from ear to ear
After having first met and shared a rope with Julia during a climbing trip to the Rosenheim alps in the summer we stayed in touch and she decided to visit Mallorca to see first hand how much of my praise for this place was just.

The day after Christmas she arrived at the airport and was greeted by myself and, more importantly, the warm winter sun. The timing was not chosen randomly as the two weeks after Christmas are often called „the little summer“ here, due to the typically solid warm, dry and calm weather.

To start things off the next day and give the local rock and Julia a chance to get to know each other we visited one of the most famous sport crags on the island: Cala Magraner. A very good first day with only us three (Brigitte had joined us as well) enjoying the rock, sun and general good vibes.

The Rosenheim trip was Julias with experience with multi pitch climbing and to freshen up her knowledge we climbed the Agulla de Boquer direct three pitch line in the stunning valley close to Port de Pollenca on day 2. Besides a big whipper by her and rope burn for both of us the climb went off without a hitch. We met up with Brigitte, who had (maybe wisely?) watched our shenanigans from a sunny spot in the valley, and amended the easy but beautiful hike towards the Cala de Boquer to our day's outing.

During the next morning's approach towards one of the bigger objectives (A variation of the Albahida classic on the main Sa Gubia pillar) we talked about what makes a good rope team and both agreed that you need to move fast and efficiently without forgetting to take in the views and the experience. So our small motto for the trip was born: „Don’t Rush! Don’t Dawdle!“. The climb of the day went very well even though we had to deal with strong winds in the shady part of the pillar. But true to our motto we moved up well and after three and a half hours had done the eight pitches and the ridge towards the summit.

With many pitches already climbed we decided on the next day to be sort of a rest day. Or in our case a five pitch (up to 5c) ascent of the South Ridge of Puig de ses Bruixes close to Randa. As we were already well adjusted to each other we made short work of the climb and fully enjoyed the great conditions of the day.

Next on the menu: Overhanging sport climbing at the Cala Bota crag. Most of the climbing up to now had been more or less vertical small hold wall climbing and the steep pumpy routes at this crag were a good palate cleanser.

On and on we go! Day 6 and the Estricnina multi pitch route on the Paret de Coloms awaits. In perfect conditions without any wind and the warm sun hitting the wall we more or less strolled up the wall. The Sa Gubia pillar on the other side was quite busy that day and seeing the other parties working their way up the routes we also knew was quite fun. We abseiled back down (though a group of slightly enjoying sport climbers) and closed the day with some single pitch climbing on the same wall.

Honestly after six straight days of climbing both Julia and I were feeling the toll (maybe some of us more than others) and to cap off the week we visited the Santanyi sport crag for a final three hour session.

So did we achieve our stated mission to have Julia get to know Mallorcas climbing and have tons of fun in the process? As I am writing this all three of us are sitting at the breakfast table on the day of Julias departure and the chorus is „Yes!“

And remember: Don’t Rush! Don’t Dawdle!

Adventurers: Julia, Brigitte and Bengt

PS: Thanks to Brigitte and Julia for the great week.