Some 20 meters out I found it as I stepped across a groove and straddled a 300m m drop to the valley below. It seemed a long blank way to the bolt straight up so I followed the rotten groove, after all it was supposed to be a trad climb. A couple of quick pitches above and we were looking for the telltale red dots leading across the face. “Follow the dots, people have died up there” a local at Gandía had informed us, the descent proving to be more challenging than the climb.

Scrambling down the gully and on to the car I kept looking back at the Puig enamored with the pillars and the airy perches. Not long ago it had been just a spectacle, now it was full of possibilities, far beyond the sport crags of the multitudes that the Costa Blanca is so famous for.

Shawn Boye is a Canadian climber and filmmaker currently living in Sweden. Known as a big fan of Swedish Meatballs, his third film “The Sends”, featuring bouldering, sport, trad and DWS developments in Sweden will be released this fall. See more of his work at tielma.com