The Raspones emerges from the upper reaches of the Poqueira gorge, just west of the Rio Seco. It is a long shark fin of a ridge. A serrated ridge with many turrets, twists and turns. Approach is normally made from two directions:

1. From the Refugio de Poqueira – head into the Rio Mulhacen, cross over immediately and begin a rising traverse across the hillside north west. The path emerges high above the Rio Seco. The right hand side off the valley is followed until a crossover to the foot of the Raspones can be made. The wonderful El Pulpito is to the left and the Rio Seco to the right.
2. From Pradollano in the summer use can be made of the bus or chairlifts to gain quick access. Follow the old road over the Cariguela until just past the small pass that marks the top end of the Raspones. Drop down to the lagunas de Rio Seco and follow the path of the east side of the valley to the base of the ridge.

Scrambling on the Raspones

We took option 2 but from the Cariguela tried to shortcut it by crossing pathless terrain below Paso de los Machos, near the Lagunas de las Cabras to the west of the ridge and then going north of El Pulpito. Bad move! Great scenery reminiscent of a lunar landscape, but difficult to cross. Suggest stick to options 1 or 2 above.

This is not intended or meant to be a climbing or mountaineering guide to the climb. The fun of the ridge is discovery of all the little nooks, crannies and secrets that it has to offer. Delightful scrambling. Mostly good rock although great care and judgement is sometimes necessary. Similar to many parts of the Skye ridge in Scotland.

Some parts are escapable but the most fun will be had by taking the rock steps direct. Mostly its engaging alpine mountaineering, with some route finding difficulty at times. Take some abseil gear for some apparent dead ends! Suggest a grade of at least 3S (scrambling) and British HVD  if the harder options taken. A group we supported during the first British winter ascent in March 2011 suggested a grade of alpine AD- (4a rock). They made 7 abseils.

Can be done in a long day with an early start from Hoya de la Mora, good weather and a fit and experienced party. Otherwise take 2 days, camp by the Lagunas de Rio Seco and enjoy 2 great days in incredible mountain scenery.

It’s a long route too. Just when you think you are at the end and the road is beckoning, an ultimate series of towers block the way. There is an escape to the left down an easy series of ledges and ramps but that would be cheating. And thats the fun. You never quite know whats round the next corner. Try it!

Climbing a tower on the Raspones

Steep scrambling

Downclimbing the final towers

Looking north to the end of the ridge

The northern pinnacles

Seen from Loma Pelada to the east

The centre section

Part of the centre section

Where do I go now!

The top half of the ridge from the road

The Geezers on the ridge crest

“We reached the crest of the ridge around the 2767m mark, just before the start of the rocky peaks, within 90 minutes of leaving the Poqueira Hut. In the interest of moving quickly we decided to proceed unroped, which was easy at first and mainly on snow, traversing the ridge avoiding the crests of some of the lower initial rock sections. Soon though we came upon the first awkward section, a rocky step down and across a gap with a steep drop on either side.

Then, from this point on, we enjoyed almost continuous scrambling on good featured rock although very loose in places, with the odd patch of snow. Because of the recent heavy snow fall we came across a mix of deep powder in places, a dusting of powder over loose rock in others and even some patches of excellent névé. The first major peak, we thought, appeared to be a considerable obstacle but as we neared it, and gained more height, found it to be an interesting mix of rock but mainly snow and ice all the way to the top. We reached the summit of this having been climbing for five hours so stopped for a snack.

Airy ridges

We pressed on to the next large peak, all on interesting ground, both rock and snow, with the only obstacles being large gaps where abseils had to be set up as we couldn’t exactly determine the terrain because of the heavy snow covering. Although it looked like the ridge reached an end after the next lesser summit, we felt the logical conclusion was at a point where we found a little col, at grid reference 30S 046887 4100587, between a rock wall and a gendarme.

In reality we could have easily down climbed, or even walked down facing out, but did not do so as again we couldn’t determine the true scale or angle of the snow slope because of the flat light. Instead we made what was our seventh abseil of the day, running out the full 60m to the rope ends. We were back at the Poqueira Hut almost exactly two hours from the bottom of that slope.

The day had taken exactly twelve hours, from the hut and back again. We felt that the nearest comparison we could draw would be the Cosmiques Ridge, which is now graded II AD 4a, but we felt that because the Raspones Ridge offered considerably more uninterrupted, interesting climbing it should be given a slightly harder grade.

Therefore, we settled for AD+ overall but nothing harder that 4a on rock. It should be said though that because of the nature of the light on that day, the drop down either side appeared considerably greater when looking down rather than up from the valley basin and that illusion would certainly add to any perceived difficulty. So, a second ascent would certainly be ideal in determining an accurate grade.”

With thanks to Gary Brown (and Barry, Colin and Dave) of the “Geezers of Croydon” MC…………..More photos from them below

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Gary Brown in the descent gully off the Raspones

Gary Brown and his friends from Croydon Mountaineering Club returned for the third visit to the Sierra Nevada last weekend. Previous visits have seen them climb the Corredor del Veleta and the north face of Mulhacen. This visit was supposed to have seen them polish off the impressive Espolon de Alcazaba on the NW side of the mountain but lack of time and access restrictions, due to landslides on the Verada del Estrella path, led to an exploratory look at the Raspones de Rio Seco.

Access to the Poqueira hut was via the “Alta Acequia” and was achieved in under 3 hours. The hut was full to the brim with hill goers enjoying a public holiday. Everybody except the Croydon group was intent on trekking up Mulhacen.  They preferred the quieter delights further to the west.

Heading down to the Rio Seco they then climbed the Terreras Azules face opposite the hut. There are some nice lines here, all relatively easy, but enjoyable nevertheless. Then then followed the ridge crest towards the highlight of the day, the Raspones ridge. This ridge has been overlooked. It is alpine in looks and difficult to grade. I have not found any information as to the true nature of the climbing. But, it does look good! The group traversed and explored it’s lower reaches before the onset of a poor weather front and nightfall led to a descent down a gully to the east.

The final, harder ridge wasnt completed, but I’m sure the group will return to the Sierras next year and tag it onto the back of the Espolon de Alcazaba.

Whilst the other 80 odd people from the hut huddled round Mulhacen’s summit cone, the group had enjoyed the peace and quiet of the winter mountains. Straightforward, exploratory mountaineering over new terrain, leaving you with an urge to return and do something harder. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Also see Chris Ritsons report of gully climbing on the east side of the Raspones at http://www.sierra-nevada-news.com/2009/03/trip-report-climbing-raspones-sierra-nevada/

All photos courtesy of group members……… Gary, Colin, Barry and Dave.

The Raspones ridge crest from the south

Traversing under the ridge crest

Down climbing an easy gully

Terreras Azules opposite the Poqueira hut

Gary, Colin and Barry from the Croydon MC

The southern Raspones ridge

Approaching the Poqueira hut

Within 2 hours of arrival at Malaga they were at 2500m, kitting up at the Hoya de la Mora above the Sierra Nevada ski station. The sudden transition from the lowlands of Lancashire to the snowy heights of the sierras was felt as they toiled up towards the 3400m summit of Veleta. According to Chris, “the remants of our flu bug left a green trail that could be seen from space!”

They stayed at the Cariguela hut on the first night. Skies were clear and great sunsets were enjoyed from the col by the hut.

The following day, Mike was feeling unwell and stayed at the hut. The remaining members spent the day climbing various short routes on or about the Tajos de la Virgen ridge.

Next day they made an early start to avoid the avalanche prone slopes below Cerro de los Machos. The snows lay deep and heavy. They left there gear at the col north of los Raspones and dropped down left to the foot of the first climbing area.

There is so much scope here for winter routes. They are only of 2 pitches, but the variety is staggering. The guys concentrated on the area to the right as you look at the face. A number of gullies were climbed between grade 2 and 3, although some harder stuff was attempted nearing grade 4.

Descent is normally by abseil down the ascent line or by traversing northwards along the ridge and down climbing followed by a short abseil off.

As can be seen from the photo below, there is still loads to do and the area deserves more recognition. The routes are objectively safe as long as avalanche conditions don’t prevail (unlike the north face of Mulhacen. See accident report which occurred the following day).

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The night was spent at the Viento hut. This hut is not used much as there is some damage to the roof, but the view is spectacular as the hut is situated on an open location on the southern ridge of Loma Pelada.

The last day the weather came in and the snow failed to freeze overnight. Hard going in the soft snow. The team decided to bail out and headed south to the welcoming bars of Capileira.

See the Photo Album below for more shots of the climbing.
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It is situated at the head of the Rio Seco. Access is either from the Hoya de la Mora (5hrs) or from the Poqueira hut (2.5hrs). Best stay overnight in either the Poqueira refugio or the Cariguela or Villavientos huts.

The climbs are now in condition and have been done by spanish climbers in the last few days. Care is needed on the approach from the Cariguela as this traverses potentially difficult ground. Climbers report the traverse of paso de los Machos as being a little difficult with varying snow and ice states but with out major problems. However ….. don’t get caught off guard as there is tranparent sheet ice in places!

Source: Nevasport and “El Moscatero Inh³spito”