Climbing

Sierra de Guadarrama is an excellent place where rock climbing lovers find a large variety of options to practice this sport. Because of particularities, mainly its peaks and the type of rock present, this area has become one of the most important climbing and training schools in the centre part peninsula. A large part of the best mountaineers and climbers from the Madrid area have been trained here. Climbing can be practised in all its forms in the Sierra de Guadarrama thanks to the existence of walls, fissures, escarpments and crags. Some of them, such as La Pedriza de Manzanares, are well-known internationally. In this area, there are over 2,000 routes of all levels of difficulty. Various publications and climbing guides describe them in detail.

Main climbing areas

The National Park of the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Regional Park of Cuenca Alta del Manzanares have hundreds of walls on which to practice climbing, in all its forms.

La Pedriza

The multitude of granite domes, fissures, walls, collapses, etc. make of La Pedriza probably one the most famous and diverse area for practising both traditional and sport climbing, with difficulty levels of up to 8c +. There are more than 2,000 open routes and around 1,500 boulders, this being one of the most important slab climbing areas in the world.

The main sectors are El Indio, El Reloj, El Yelmo Cara Norte, El Yelmo Sur Sur, Kumbaya Wall, Butron Cancho, Cancho de los Brezos, Cancho de los Muertos, La Tortuga, La Muralla China, El Muro, La Tortuga Sector, Pan de Kilo, Peña Sirio, Risco de la Peseta, Risco del Euro and Tamboril.

La Peñota – Siete Picos – Cerro del Telégrafo

Rock climbing is practised in this area on a series of cliffs and escarpments scattered throughout various enclaves. The most interesting places for climbing are located in the vicinity of La Peñota, Siete Picos and Cerro del Telégrafo, and in some other isolated escarpment.

Almost all climbing routes are open on gneiss outcrops. Most of them are short, of a maximum of 40 m, and poorly equipped. Their number can be estimated at 20 or 30.

Cordal de las Cabrillas – La Barranca area

In the Navalmedio Valley and La Barranca area, there are sites such as Las Paredes, the channels in the south slope of La Maliciosa and El Peñotillo, Las Buitreras Crests, Risco de los Emburriaderos escarpment and the Cordal de Las Cabrillas. The geomorphology of the ridges and highlands makes rock and ice climbing possible, in good weather conditions. The number of classic-style trails is higher than the one of sport climbing trails, which has few equipped itineraries.

Compared to other more suitable climbing areas, this one is not very popular because the walls are pretty far from the access points and because of the rock quality.

La Maliciosa – Sierra de los Porrones

La Maliciosa has over sixty classic climbing trails, some very steep and long, cut off by overhangs. Under the right winter weather conditions, it is also possible to climb its southern slope using corridors with snow and ice. In the surrounding area, other smaller crags are suitable for climbing and even some lower slopes, La Encina, Los Asientos and Los Porrones, although these are less interesting due to their short length and small unevenness.