Helen and I first visited Chulilla almost 30 years ago – a sleepy village, encircled by stunning rock architecture, with a magical tranquility. As visiting foreign climbers, we were a curiosity for the locals, especially with our 3-month old baby Natasha in tow.
It was already a well-established venue, and had probably had its heyday in the 80s, leaving many of the established routes a bit worse for wear. Fast forward twenty years, and we rediscovered Chulilla in 2015, on the cusp of a “New Wave”. This renaissance was focused on new sectors a little more remote from the village, including the sunny Muro de las Lamentaciones and the shady tufa paradise of Oasis, and was no doubt helped by the accompanying more friendly approach to grading. A new guidebook, by the Rifugio owner Pedro Pons, documented these for the first time, and actually introduced a “walking stick” icon to highlight the long-established “Old School” sectors. We feasted on the great new routes, but we weren’t alone – word was spreading fast and there was a growing encampment of international vans, and the new sectors were already becoming quite crowded.
A couple of rain-affected New Year visits with Jake saw me make my way through many of the best of the routes up to 7a/+s (and arguably it’s a place where the 7as are easier for the grade than the 6bs), and then for various reasons we hadn’t been back since.
A helpful weather window, and positive reports of Sector Cherales, a bit further out of town, encouraged our return. There’s a handy parking spot after 3.5 km of off-tarmac driving down a narrow but well-groomed track, with the crags clearly visible.
The sectors at the left hand end, Alta Tension and Datil, get the sun earliest, but we weren’t hugely impressed with the climbing.
Watch out for a missing bolt on El Ofidio Trepador (L1+L2), 6a+
The main event is definitely the well-named Sector Grande – routes up to 40m with grades from 4s to 7a+, and quality across the range. We spent a couple of days there and there’s more to come back for.
Perhaps the pick of the routes we did was Los Cuatro Paganos, 6a – no idea how it only gets one star.
Another fun route in the central area is La Bruja PiƱones, a cruxy 6b, plus an undocumented extension through a little roof.
Over on the right of the crag, (the rightmost route on the arete in the shot below) Y un Cacau Mas is a fairly straightforward but run-out 7a (I wimped out of the lead until I could put the clip in above the crux). I made a better job of Mikel, 7a+, which has a thin crux around halfway and another tricky section just below the chain. The guy in the background in the shot below is nearing the first crux.
Fab vista over endless orange orchards.
Leafing through the guidebook, there are a few more sectors that we haven’t explored, including Fantasia, and we’ll be sure not to leave another 6 years before our next visit.
One downside of the Cherales parking is that there’s no mobile reception, so we left without a forecast or very clear plan, apart from drifting gently southwards.
We stumbled across Tollo Pillete, a modest couple of crags around a charming zona de acampada.
Zona de acampada libre Tollo Pillete
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MRFME48f3orbEEsf6
Topos on the ever reliable Enlavertical https://www.enlavertical.com/escuelas/view/229
Most of the climbing is on east-facing walls (too chilly for our afternoon arrival) with a small west-facing buttress – just 8 routes from IV+ to 6a+ (stiff for the grade). We shared it with a bunch of friendly young lads – a couple of obviously inexperienced climbers taking their non-climbing mates for a Saturday play about, with a couple of shared spliffs to add to the buzz.
Here’s Helen on the leftmost route:
Not a destination crag, but a pleasant stop-over and one where you could pass a peaceful night (completel with toilets, picnic tables, BBQs and even hot showers allegedly!)
RockAroundTheWorld 