An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 33 pitch routes; using carabineers, slings and protection; abseiling practice and set up; safety and double checking all systems. We also discussed Alpine-style abseils for longer routes and pos- sible scenarios that might occur, such as passing anchors and the possibility of running out of rope between pitches and making alternative anchors. During the day we moved on to higher grades as we be- came more confident on the rock. The weather was quite good and there was only a scattering of climbers coming and going throughout the day. On day two we started on the Toix Osete crag, which is an im- pressive rock face that offers some lovely, if often sketchy, climb- ing, with some long run outs between bolts. Some of our racks were used on these routes in between the bolts, especially on the harder moves. We climbed multi pitch routes, mostly of two long pitches and abseiled off – the views from the belay stances are spectacular. The next day we decided to move further up the Toix cliffs to the Toix Placa crag. This involved a steep twenty-minute scramble in the cold morning air up to the higher crag. However, the sun came out and warmed us up when we settled down to pick out climbs. The climbs up here are made more dramatic by the higher starting point, with fantastic views all round. The protection on some of these climbs is rather sparse and consists more of rope threads which, to be honest some were quite unusable, so we used trad protection on some of these routes; mainly slings for threads. There is also an impressive amphitheatre of rock next to this crag called Toix TV, which is a huge tufa-laced amphitheatre perched at the very top of the Toix ridge. The amphitheatre is a great sun-trap and is an ideal venue for cooler days when you can stop and watch the sun set over Benidorm. Some of the climbs here have great views and are spicy. For our last day of climbing we had intended to do the longest multi-pitch climb on the Toix ridge, called Cilber, which leads to the summit of the Toix ridge, but we had to call this off as the winds had picked up that day and we deemed it a bit risky after taking advice from a local climber. Instead, we decided to go to the far end of the Sierra de Toix, which involved a seven-minute car journey to the Toix Este crag, which faces straight out onto the Mediterranean, with great views of Calpe and the Ifach rock. The walk in is about ten minutes but very pleasant. The routes are mainly four to five pitches of climbing on limestone but at a lower grade to the previous crags. Nevertheless, we spent the whole day here in the sun, shielded from the winds, climbing the routes. These routes have great views out over the sea and are ideal for long multi-abseil practice. The trip was immensely successful from start to finish, with most things going as planned. Most of our equipment was drawn from the DFAM stores in Athlone, and Sgt Dave Nordon (EMT), who dealt with a few cuts and bruises but nothing too serious, provided our medical cover. All the aims of the trip were met and we all agreed it had been a very successful CPD exercise, enhancing climbing skills and technique, rope work and systems, and climbing long multi-pitch routes on limestone. These are essential skills for instructors and will be added to the armoury for future training in the Defence Forces. Most importantly of all, we had a great, and safe, time climbing, with no injuries. We would also like to thank DFAM's chairman, Comdt J O'Brien, and association members for sup- porting this trip. We plan to organise a similar CPD in Spain later in the year. Dave Nordon and John Sharkey finishing out on Toix Este John Sharkey and Dave Nordon prepping an abseil on Toix Osete John Sharkey on the steep wall at Toix placa Tom Everard at the amphitheatre Topping out Ned Flood and Tom Everard

• Cover