Trad and multi-pitch climbing in the Dolomites

As an intermediate climber with little outdoor experience, one day of climbing was perfect. My guide, Victor, was great. Fortunately I booked it at the beginning of my stay, because the conditions on the day I booked were not good. He still showed me around multiple climbing locations I could go back to trying to find a calmer area. When we couldn't safely climb that day, they added me to a group a few days later so I still got to climb. The climbing was a lot of fun, and the guide made sure we were prepared for everything we did. They really know the area, the climbs, and take safety seriously.

This trip was falsely advertised to a group of people who are not a group of climbers. The number of people to the number of guide was not proportion: 15 people to 2 guides. They did not take into consideration that everyone on the trip may not climb the same grades and picked cliffs that only contained advanced routes. As a fairly strong climber myself, I found it difficult to keep up with the rest of the group. And for accommodations, no company prepared us for what we were about to walk into. We understood the accommodations were not going to be luxurious, but we walked into essentially a camping trip without the proper gear. We were not prepared or told to bring camping gear or the basics like hand soap, bowls/plates/utensils. One of the most frustrating things about the trip was communication. There was not proper communication between the local guides and us on the kind of approaches and length and proper footwear. And while we understand that we are at the mercy of the weather for most of the DWS, plans were not expressed timely to our group so it often felt like a scramble to know where/when/what time things were to occur. Overall, poor planning and management. But as a fellow climber, I did enjoy myself and enjoyed trying DWS. I would go back to Mallorca for DWS, but would not book through Rockbusters and/or ExploreShare

Mallorca is beautiful but this trip is misadvertised and was poorly organized. The description says suitable for all skill levels and the FAQ says some climbing experience is beneficial but that there’s a wide range of routes suitable for beginners. This was untrue as the trip was heavily catered towards experienced climbers with essentially no beginner friendly routes. We also only had one local guide for 14 climbers, who was great, but unable to provide much individualized guidance as there were so many of us. In terms of trip organization and accommodations, Jany from Rockbusters was supposed to be in charge but provided few details. I asked if we needed to bring bedding and the response was “there should be some sheets.” In reality, the accommodations were at a campsite where you needed to bring everything you’d need for camping, yet we were not told this. It didn’t even have soap to wash your hands with. A group of us ended up scrambling and getting an Airbnb instead. We were not told any type of schedule ahead of time for climbing or that there’d be an off day where we could explore on our own. Would not recommend using Rockbusters.

I had an unforgettable women’s climbing week in Rodellar, Spain with Rockbusters. Our guides were knowledgeable and encouraging, and took extra time to work on specific skills of interest to the group. They were very patient and flexible, so we had input on where to climb each day and they were happy to stay out as late as we had the energy to go. It was an amazing group of people gathered in a beautiful location and my climbing skill + confidence took a huge leap in that week. I am truly grateful to Daila & Julieta for sharing their passion with us- they are kickass climbers without the ego.