Segaria

Segaria South Face
Barranco Buttresses

This may sound like a silly question but how does a 4km long virtually undeveloped crag sound to you? If this is your idea of paradise then Segaria is the place for you.


	This gives some idea of the scale of the south side of the ridge. However, even this only shows a small part of it. Thanks to Trent Rosenbaum for the photos and Chris Lilley for the stitching work.

If you have ever driven North up the motorway to Gandia then you have driven directly past Segaria. If you have looked up and wondered why that much rock is not in any guidebooks well the simple answer is that it is not yet climbed.

I was privileged enough to be invited along by Al Evans, who lives on the Costa Blanca just below the mountain. He is currently working on developing the ridge and is very open to people going along to help out. This crag is in the very early stages of development. There were 9 routes before we went along and still less than a few dozen.

If you want to help develop this crag then contact Al Evans. If you don't have a RockFax login then probably your best bet is to contact him through the Orange House. Al is currently driving the development and knows what has been climbed and what hasn't. If you don't feel up to new routing then contact him anyway he loves to share the crag and you could do some 2nd ascents.

Areas

There are currently 3 main areas of development on the Segaria ridge:

	The main south face of the ridge with its long multi-pitch routes,
	the Barranco Buttresses at the bottom of the far Western end of the ridge with its single pitch trad.
	and the Autopista crag, overlooking the main A7 at the far right hand end of the ridge, has bolted routes.

Character

	South facing - The areas currently being developed are south facing however there is other rock facing both east and north not yet developed.
	Anything from single pitch routes, in the Barranco, up to 120m on the main South Face. Possibility for longer routes to follow.
	There is not a huge amount of shade at the base of the rock.
	These are very new routes and none of them have been climbed very often. All routes should be tackled with this in mind as there is still some loose rock.

Tips

This is a new crag and as such still has loose rock. Always wear a helmet and test the holds before weighting them. I very nearly ended up in a rather prickly thorn bush when a sound looking hold exploded in my hand. Having said that on the whole the rock is pretty sound and should clean up nicely once each of the routes has seen some traffic.

Al Evans and Rob Lillywhite on the first ascents of Peter Pan and Wendy

Routes Descriptions

Check out the Segaria South Face page for descriptions of the multi-pitch, trad routes of the large South facing main wall.

Check out the Segaria Barranco Buttresses page for the trad routes on the various walls in the barranco at the bottom of the Western end of the ridge.

There is a pdf guide for the bolted routes over on the Costa Blanca Rock site on the Calpe page.

My Favourite Route

Kate (VS 4c / F5)

Hey, I'm a bit biased here. How often have you had the chance to pick a line and then lead both pitches of it. This one will stay in my heart for a very long time. Well, forever really. And not only that but I managed to name it after my wife while still staying in theme with the area (Black Adder - you know, the girl that dressed up as Bob in Black Adder 2).

Peter Pan ** (E1 5b / F6a)

Hey, I'm allowed 2 routes, its my website after all. This is the classic of the crag so far and I was privileged enough to be able to help Al Evans establish it. The last pitch in particular is an absolute classic from the very first move, a really hard looking step out round a roof in to exposure land that actually turns out to have the perfect two holds required. It then proceeds up through awe inspiring bulges and roofs continually finding a relatively easy path and the good holds required.

Vote for own Favourite

Vote for your own favourite routes on this ridge by using this page: Favourite Routes.

Al Evans on the first ascent of 'Time Team'

Rob Lillywhite (left) on the first ascent of 'Bob' and Chris Lilley on 'I Have a Cunning Plan'