Richard Jones and John O’Connor from Ireland recently visited southern Spain and decided to try out some of the superb scrambles that Andalucia has to offer. This is their report. All photos by Richard Jones and/or John O’Connor “After our three day ski touring adventure our plan was to have three days scrambling around Granada ……….. Day [...]
Read More andalucia, chamizo, cogollos vega, granada, rock scrambling
Yesterday we continued our development of this quiet area with 3 more scrambling routes in this fascinating mountain area just north of Granada and the Sierra Nevada. Approach is via Cogollas Vega just off the A92 north of Granada. We have climbed and scrambled on the Peñon de la Mata for some time now and [...]
Read More new routes, scrambling
Clive Fenn recently gave his son an incredible 18th birthday present by taking him along the Raspones ridge in Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountains. We described the Raspones as “the best ridge scramble in Spain“. We have much fun here in the past, including some incredible winter mountaineering adventures. It is alpine in nature at or [...]
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Describes an wonderful mountain day scrambling and climbing on the west ridge of the Peñón de la Mata in the Sierra de Huetor, N of Granada and the more popular Sierra Nevada. We had seen this ridge on our last visit to the Peñón de la Mata when we did a scramble on the north eastern [...]
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Sometimes, quite by chance one comes across a gem. I had been on the summit of the Peñon de la Mata (1669m) before, but had failed to recognise the scrambling possibilities. This time there was to be no mistake. The 5 of us parked as close to the peak as we could get, which left [...]
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The jagged ridge of the Raspones provides a high class scramble and mountaineering route to the main ridge line of the Sierra Nevada. It is not done very often, so we decided to check it out. The Raspones emerges from the upper reaches of the Poqueira gorge, just west of the Rio Seco. It is [...]
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Sometimes you need to do a bit of lateral thinking for your mountain adventures. We might be only two hours from the sun drenched beaches of the Costa del Sol, but there is still some good mountaineering sport to be found. An early alpine start is the chief requirement. The snows are still quite plentiful [...]
Read More Badaje, Elorrieta, granada, ridge, scramble, Sierra Nevada
Just a kilometre away from the plastic greenhouses and rubbish tips that makes up lower Albuñol in Andalucia, lies the start of a dramatic and entertaining gorge walk cum scramble, leading to the prehistoric settlement called Cueva de Los Murciélagos (literally “Bats’ Cave”). Kiersten, myself, and our dogs, Bruno and Khumbu went to investigate. Firstly let [...]
Read More albuñol, andalucia, cave, gorge, las alpujarras, murtas, prehistoric settlement, scrambling
The highest mountains sometimes fail to live up to their status, whilst some relatively unknown peaks turn out to be lesser in height only. Here in southern Spain’s Alpujarras, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, we have for some years now been enjoying the delights of an fascinating little peak called Giralda. I learned [...]
Read More Albunuelas, Alpujarras, Giralda, Guajares, highest mountains, Lanjaron, Muhacen, scrambling, Sierra Nevada, southern spainThat grey area between scrambling and rock climbing, over relatively easy but exposed terrain, provides perfect ground for enjoying quick and efficient movement safeguarded by a rope and appropriate techniques. Here in the Alpujarras we have an abundance of crags (mostly loose) and these have given us some interesting and entertaining exploratory excursions over the [...]
Read More Abseiling, alpine style, Alpujarras, climbing, instruction, Ropework, scramblers