December was a month of great weather contrast for me. The first half blessed with immaculate sunny conditions down in El Chorro, Andalucia, and the rest of the time cold and very wet back in England. El Chorro was a fantastic trip made even better by the find of some superb accommodation close to the busy little town of Alora at Finca Los Llanos. The English owners, Alan and Helen, made us extremely welcome and I am very much looking forward to a return visit in the very near future.

El Chorro itself was pretty busy with much of the accommodation full even though the rumour mill has written it down due to the access through the tunnels being policed. As it turns out access to all the climbing is still on and the free MicroGuide I have put together gives the latest state of affairs and some useful info on approaches. A vast amount of new climbs have been opened up since the last Rockfax came out in 2001 and we will have the new Rockfax book, dedicated solely to El Chorro and its surrounds, out for this coming xmas.

One of the better spots for new lines is at Sector Sombre at Desplomilandia which now sports a wall of 30m+ lines catering for all from 6a to 8a.

Back at home the motivation gained from the Spanish trip soon evaporated after a few soggy trips to Portland normally fairly reliable at this time of year. So it has been indoors for some training at Bristol and the newish wall - The Mill at South Molton in mid Devon.