Via Ferrata

Believe it or not there are now several Via Ferratas on the Costa Blanca.

The Orange house has produced a free mini guide to three of these. A copy of this can be obtained simply by emailing Sam. Details can be found on the Orange House Blog site.

Ferrata del Cid

	The largest of the via ferrata routes has been put up a mountain called El Cid, just North of the main Alicante - Madrid motorway and the town of Elda. I climbed this route with David Mora Garcia acting as guide in October ('04) and have written an article about it that has been published on the UKClimbing website. Check out the article, here. Another article was written for the newsletter published by the Mountain Federation of Valencia. Check out the North of El Cid page for a translation of this article very kindly done by Gary Watson. Another write up of the route can also be found on this page and an auto-translation on this link. This has some interesting details and some exciting looking pictures.
Rob Whitmore scrambling up the slab on the first half of the route.		The author © Chris Lilley

Ferrata de Ponoch

A new via ferrata has been created straight up the face of the huge Ponoch. This is a very vertical undertaking, in fact some of it overhangs. However it is extremely well equipped with every step of the way marked by the standard large metal staples so it is easy enough even for beginners. The only thing they may struggle with is the exposure which is considerable.

Richard Orange near the start
© Rob Lillywhite

Richard climbing a vertical bit.
© Rob Lillywhite

It currently does not reach the very top of the mountain but stops at a major saddle in the mountain some way short. From here a reasonably easy path is followed right to two long abseils (so don't forget the rope.)

There are some useful details on Ryan Glass' website. This includes approach details and a basic photo topo that may help you locate the route.

Chris Craggs has also climbed it and started this post on the Rocktalk forum which contains some nice pictures as well as an interesting debate on the nature of modern via ferratas.

Talisman Activites has made a video of the Via Ferrata:

Ferrata de Villena

A much smaller via ferrata exists at Villena and is called The Castle of Salvatierra.

Its only a short ferrata, a couple of hours at the most, yet boasts a monkey bridge and overhanging rock. We combined it with a half days walk around the area. - Thanks to Trevor Allen for these details

There is a local guide to the via ferrata that contains a full description of the route as well as approach information with maps and photo topos. It appears to have all the information that you could possible require to climb this route so its well worth checking out.

A write up of this route can be found on this page and an auto-translation on this link.

Another short write and a good selection of photos can be found on this page of the Paco Flor website.