Pete_H

Trip: Spain - Costa Blanca - Multiple Date: 3/18/2013 Trip Report: “There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day." -Ernest Hemingway My wife and I took her spring break in Espana this year. As you all know, Europe has experienced a cold wet and long winter. Good for skiing, but not so good for the rock climbing. Hence, we chose to visit the Costa Blanca region, which purportedly has the warmest, driest weather in Spain and, fortunately, lifetimes of good rock. After flying into Madrid and securing our rental car we somehow managed to end up on the right Autopista towards Valencia. We stayed for the first three nights in Finestrat, a picturesque village about an hour south of Valencia and 20 minutes from Benidorm, "the Las Vegas" of Spain. The local crag is Sella, near a village of the same name. We cragged two days there and went for a couple runs on the local trails. The view from the crag was not so bad. Some big limestone in the area, the Divino. With routes about ten pitches long The beautiful town of Sella My wife had trouble getting used to the eating schedule in Spain. We would typically climb until 6 or so then head out to dinner around 8 or 8:30. Lots of times restaurants were just opening or not open yet. If they were, we'd typically be the first ones there. Checking out the nightlife in Finestrat on the local playground. After Finestrat, we headed up the coast to a small city called Culp, home of the Pinon D'Ifach, a plug of limestone which rises right out of the blue sea. Spanish parking job in Culp. We jumped on a 8 pitch 10a called the Diedre USBA. Despite being a bit polished, the route was a lot of fun with some decent pitches and some great positions. And fully bolted, of course. The descent was brutal though. After Culp, we climbed a day at a fun crag called Gandia with some steep routes then headed inland to check out a town called Xativa and a castle. It was a little off the beaten path and kind of weird, but the castle was cool. We liked Finestrat so much we decided to go back for our last few days in the country. On the way we stumbled upon a very cool town called Guadalest. Its a really small town but it literally sits on top of the climbing. After climbing we hung out at the local refugio and drank beer with the stewards Marysoll and Miguel. Miguel was excited to tell us that he was friends with and had climbed a lot with "Joan Basher." After shaking our heads for a while, we laughed when we realized he meant John Bachar. At the refugio The town, the climbing. We tried to climb as close as possible to the castle via a fun 3-pitch 10d. At the top, eyeing the castle. Looking out to the ocean from with the refugio in the lower right hand corner. Some of the cool cragging at Guadalest In case you forget what route you just climbed Other than climbing we ate and drank quite well. A few Euros will get you a nice bottle of Rioja Crianza and for a couple more a Reserva. The most suprising culinary experience we had was stopping at a random truck stop off the Autopista on our way back to Madrid. Inside was a bar that ran the length of the restaurant where people were ordering sandwiches made from meat cooked in a wood-fire oven. We had some sort of pork chop and pepper one that was amazing. If this place was in Seattle it would be a hip successfull lunch spot. In Spain, just a random truck stop off the highway. There is an unreal amount of rock in just the Costa Blanca region alone. Tons of easily accessible sport crags but also a plethora of long traditional routes. Definitly stoked to go back!

Looks fun. I sure like the Zion.

Classic college spring break trip to the desert. Nice!

Unless you do it to show how cool you think you are.

x2 You could have left it at that Frieh.......thanks for the reminder of your trip. Some things just don't change. ... Nice work Dan! Looking forward to getting after it with you soon!

Outdoor gear costs too much to actually wear it climbing or skiing where it gets ruined. I wear it around town for good looks and wear cheap shit out doing stuff.

Well supposed to be sunny this weekend so GGK should have splitter weather for chasing sheep.

That's normal. I just think you're weird cause you aid climb.

That's fucking psychotic. Maybe they were Polish.

Must suck to be a weekend warrior.

Looks like "fun"

its too bad there aren't any rope tows or ski areas in the alpine in Washington. Or hut systems for that matter.

Good stuff. Is this original work?

An oldy but a goody. Tom Smith and I on the Girth Piller Direct

I bet most of us here could improve our own health outlook by changing something about our lifestyle. For example, I could probably eat less ice cream; and Pink could probably suck less cocks of random dudes at his "health club."

Of course. There's also a huge difference between the overweight person who is aware of their situation and at least trying to do something about it and the chronically slothfull tub of shit. I just don't have a lot of sympathy for those on the extreme end of the shitbag scale.

but, given that assuring access to healthcare is a fundemental requirement for a civilized nation, aren't you going to be the first to shit kittens when nefarious government agents call for "social engineering" by demanding excercise, control over diets, and the right to deny care to those deemed "unfit?" you sure ever phatty out there just "doesn't care" about his health? no role for genetics? where they live (christ, good luck staying in shape in alabama in the middle of summer!)? their job? access to whole-foods n' la fitnesses? i mean i like to hate a man as much as the next guy, and fatties can't hardly chase you down, but seeing as how skinny folks drop dead of cancer n' heart problems too, i'm not sure that these guys should be public enemeies #1... Now THAT is a pile of crap. So let's start with genetics. I am sure the genetics in Africa and African Americans aren't so different, same with population originating from Europe. While you'll have maybe 5-7% obesity due to genetic or other disorders outside of the US, why are African Americans obese at the same rate, which is about 70%. Stop with these excuses- there are NONE. The fact of the matter is in 2003 Group Health study found teenagers consuming 1800 calories per day in the form of soft drinks and an average calorie intake of 3900 for adults. Simple math shows- too much too eat and not enough energy output. People are free to choose whatever fucking lifestyle they want. But if you decide to be fat, you lose your right to bitch about healthcare cost. Unless you sign DNR and that is fine. So no healthy food in places- again it's simple. If people demand it, they will start selling better food. Don't like Wallmart- don't go and buy there- IT IS THAT SIMPLE!. And contrary to your ignorant statement skinny people are way less likely to develop cardio-vascular disease or cancer. There are statistics to back up my statement. I suppose you think homeless people want to be homeless, too The fatties are victims! Poor fatties.

Its not just fatties, but anyone with perpetual shitbag syndrome. I'm pretty sure the people who have so many chronic illnesses caused by extreme poor lifestyle choices they are "disabled," are a huge drag on the health care system. I have no statistics, just my experience as a health care provider. But we as a society aren't going to ignore these people, so finding a way to care for them efficiently is in the best interest of all.

I think we should render the fatties down for their blubber and turn it into biofuel. That way we could solve the health care issue and the energy crisis.

Sure. Financial incentives are indeed a big factor in inefficiencies. Unnecessary technology is yet another. Obamacare doesn't address any of these issues. I would also argue that the cost of liability management is much greater than you acknowledge. CYA (Cover Your Ass) is endemic in health care. For example, a doc may be 98% sure of a certain patient diagnosis based on a physical exam, patient history / interview, etc. But the doc is going to order extensive blood work, scans, and perhaps even invasive procedures because there's no downside for them; and they can show they covered all their basis if they ever get hauled into court. In looking at other countries that don't have such legal concerns hanging over the heads of health care providers, there is absolutely no ststistical reduction in recovery or diagnosis rates.

Yeah. I just think its way outside the role of government to require businesses to provide healthcare; and it doesn't seem very efficient or make much sense. There's no way that could be correct. A very high percentage of patient treatment decisions are motivated by liability concerns (lots of unnecessary tests, treatments, procedures). Tort reform is really only going to damage one interest group and that's the aggressive, profit-driven plaintiffs' attorney industry. By capping damages, perhaps a very occasional deserving party won't get as much remuneration as they deserve, but so goes the interest of public policy. Sorry. Not so much a study, but more like Dartmouth researcher John Wennberg's life work. Please look him up on wikipedia. A great book that covers a lot of Wennberg's research and the inefficencies of our health care system is "Overtreated" by Shannon Brownlee. Finally, the book "Confidence Men" by Ron Suskind, is great. More about the financial crisis, but Suskind covers how the Obama admin was aware of Wennberg's highly credible research, but chose to ignore it in developing their health care policy.

Huh?

I think doing nothing would have been better than passing bad policy. I don't think Obama could have passed universal health care legislation. However he may have been able to reduce health care cost by focusing on reducing health care providers' exposure to med mal liability. Also could have pushed for more standardization of health care delivery, which reduces unnecessary procedures. In formulating policy, he completely ignored the most interesting and relevent studies coming out of the University of New Hampshire that proves there is no static demand for health care; that it is the same as any other product on the free market. I'll try and find a link / citation for you.

Citation, please. Just my simple opinion. Though I would have to say the preschool policy the administration is pushing right now is a good example. And while I'm on my soapbox, I'll opine how Obama really shit the bed on the health care thing - and I'm totally in favor of socialized health care.

Are these the only "liberals" you have for a frame of reference? No wonder. It must be a simple world you live in. Well I try to keep my world simple. But then again, I don't have to spend most of my time at work, so I've got that luxury. Obama fundamentally believes that more government involvement is the answer to all of our problems and that our collective debt and the productive / successfull members of our society should pay for it. That paradigm indeed falls on the liberal end of the American policy spectrum. To be equitable, I think most Republicans are dumbfucks too.