Alpinism
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The Picos de Europa in northern Spain is one of the wildest mountain ranges in Europe, with limestone walls up to 700m high and caves and gorges a mile deep. The area is still largely untouched by mass tourism and being home to Spains' most famous mountain, the Naranjo de Bulnes, it has superb climbing of all standards. Our focus of the week is to make an ascent of El Naranjo. This remarkable limestone monolith - known as the Matterhorn of Spain - is a much sought after peak amongst alpinists. There is no straight forward route to the summit, as even the 'voie normale' on the south face involves technical VS rock climbing. Course Venue We base ourselves at the well known climbing village of Arenas, at the northern end of the Picos. This gives us easy access to the Naranjo de Bulnes and numerous other peaks and walls around the range. Sample Itinerary Subject to weather and conditions we follow the general format below: Day 0 Sat Days 1-6 Sun - Fri Climbing Days: Typically we do a good warm up route before heading up to the Ubeda Hut, magificantly situated beneath the W Face of the Naranja, from where we climb the Naranjo de Bulnes itself via the classic South Face route. The rest of the week is spent climbing other big classics around the range. There is a huge variety of climbing on offer - from long rock route day hits, to remote alpine summits climbed from other mountain huts. Days 7 Sat Return to airport. Flights back to the UK. Food and Accommodation The course price includes cost of guiding & instruction only, with all food and accommodation costs being paid for seperately. In Arenas, we usually stay at the very friendly Hotel El Ardinal - just let us know you'd like to stay here and we'll make the booking. You are however free to stay wherever you want during the trip (Arenas has a good variety of hotels and other accommodation options - we can supply furthur information if required). A number of nights are also spent in Alpine huts to maximise climbing time during the week. Your guide will book these as necessary & you simply pay for hut fees direct as you go along. Travel Full travel details are provided with your joining instructions. Easyjet run cheap flights from Stansted to Asturias (or Bilbao too if neccesary), Ryanair fly into Santander from Stansted as well. Our final choice of flights is decided nearer the time (everyone needs to travel on the same plane though, as the airlines land at different airports!) - either way, all flights to Northern Spain are cheap at this time of year. Your guide will have a hire car to travel around in during the week. Fitness You need good levels of climbing fitness for this week, as typical days involve 5-9 hours technical mountaineering and rock climbing (see fitness level 3) so we advise you to prepare well in advance with days out in the UK hills and regular climbing training. Experience You should have previous alpine experience and be capable of climbing grade V rock (British VS) or above to get the most from this week. Equipment All communal safety equipment (ropes etc) is provided by us. You are expected to come equiped with personal clothing and climbing equipment. For the more specialist items including harness and helmet, hire is available if needed. |
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Photos of the Picos:
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