An hour’s drive south east took us to the tiny town of Torla-Ordesa, and the launch point for exploration of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park – home to our second Parois de Légende objective, the iconic Tozal del Mallo.

Rockaroundtheworld has driven past countless signs to Ordesa y Monte Perdido during Spanish winter sun-rocking tours, but November through February would be very much out of season for the big routes on the Tozal, so it was interesting to finally visit. However, a Sunday in the middle of August probably wasn’t ideal to sample the ambience.

Torla was absolutely rammed, with an hour of (increasingly im-) patient waiting finally yielding a parking spot in the enormous free carpark, by which time any enthusiasm for a recce was entirely exhausted (not helped by the 36C heat). During the summer, access to the Ordesa valley itself is by a shuttle bus, and we confined our ambition to buying tickets (5 euro return) and retreating to our temporary base at the Albergue Pirenarium, in Sabiñánigo, there being absolutely no availability for camping or budget rooms in Torla itself. Actually, we landed on our feet, with a private twin en-suite room for €19 each including breakfast!

Next morning we were in good time for the second shuttle of the day (6.30am) and queuing with a light sack of gear and ropes around shoulders. Most of the other earlybirds were walkers, but we struck up a conversation with the other similarly equipped team (at least partly motivated by concern that they were after the same route). It turned out they were climbing a little further up the valley, but in any event we wouldn’t have been kept waiting – by coincidence this was the team who’d done the triple enchainment on the Pic du Midi the day before. Strong boys!

The shuttle bus ride itself, through very impressive territory, brought back memories of our visit to Zion National Park the previous year, although without the attendant commentary. By 7am we off the bus and taking the well-marked path to Tozal del Mallo. This yields an early glimpse of the Tozal…

… and after an hour of toil you are more or less level with the base of the crag.

A good path (still the main walking route “around the back” to the summit) heads left to within a few hundred metres of the lower rock walls before zagging up and right signposted for the Tozal and a couple of crags.

Don’t take this, but instead continue leftwards on a faint trod to the foot of the crag. Our route is around on the south face, beyond a huge, crumbling “flying buttress” feature. Avoid the temptation to scramble upwards (as we did) but instead stay at the same level to hopefully find yourself on a trod taking a natural line of weakness around this buttress and onto the south face. Here are the GPS coordinates for the place that you head around the buttress: 42.660493° N 00.073164° W

Once on the right (correct) side of the hill, again resist the temptation to bushwack straight up to the crag (vicious gorse!) but instead keep at the same level for a couple of hundred metres. The start of Las Brujas – Franco-Espagnol is up a small pillar just right of the long black streak at the left of the photo below.

Here’s Bill at the gearing up spot and you can see a helpful arrow scratched on the rock behind him.

Here he is on the first pitch, leading to the top of the small pinnacle…

The classic PdeL route is a great combination of the best bits of the Brujas route (Rabadá and Navarro) and the “Directa Española” (Anglada and Guillamón), and is pretty sustained at 6a-b with a 6b+ crux pitch. A knowledgeable local at the Pombie refuge acknowledged that the grading on Pic du Midi was tough, but advised that in Ordesa it was even tougher! There’s a very useful topo and trip report here: https://7paredes7jamadas.com/pirineos/

Pitch two only rates V+ but really sets the scene. It’s a wildly steep jug-fest on unusual sharply square-cut limestone, and after 60m you’re already starting to feel the exposure – a 3* E1 in its own right. P3 is the crux 6b+ pitch up a stunning overhanging corner crack system for 30m of pumpy Pembrokesque pleasure – E3 5c and comfortably “Top 50” quality.

This photo gives an impression of the general steepness of the wall and shows the “flying buttress” mentioned in the approach description (and you can see why you want to traverse under it!)

Things relent, but only a little, with three more pitches of sustained V+ to 6a, each 30-40m, and fully engaging!

That gets you to the mid-height ledge, at which point we leave the Brujas (Witches) route and wander right about 30m to finish up the “Directa Española” – but not before a well-deserved breather and a spot of lunch!

… and a vulture flypast!

The start of the second half of the route brings a change in character, and probably the crux. The unrelenting steepness below has at least been partly blunted by numerous pegs (of varying vintages) and options for cams and wires between, whereas P8 is pretty runout in places. It starts with a stiff, bouldery pull into a smooth sided chimney followed by a deep breath and some unprotected sketchiness. More involved climbing brings a roof at which point I discovered that the #3 Camalot we’d been advised to lug up the hill for (presumably) just this occasion, was safely on Bill’s harness. A bit of a faff with stuck ropes followed, and by the time I’d finally retrieved the “big bluey” the actual moves around the roof proved fairly innocuous. Another 100ft of 6b worthy of E3, and might come as a bit of a shock if you’re working on the assumption of an overall grade of 6b+ (6a obligatory).

We’re back to “good honest toil” for the next 6b pitch, and indeed for the reminder of the route, though there are a number of chimney pitches thrown in to “maintain interest!”

One of these was probably the cause of the only negative point of the day, as Bill’s chalkbag (containing his phone!) sadly became detached – just in case you were wondering why there are no “Dom pictures”. Regular followers of “Bill and Dom’s Excellent Adventures” will understand the cry of “Oh bu@@er, not again!”

The Scenic Cruise

Apart from that blip, every pitch is a winner apart from the last couple which get a bit rambling and loose.

The top-out is abrupt – all of a sudden you pull onto the summit of this remarkable piece of rock architecture (from one perspective, a trapezoidal tower, from another a fine, pointed peak) only to find that it is actually the end of a great sweeping cirque. The biggest surprise was that there wasn’t a single hiker up there (I’d expected a swarm of tourists on top, with the Spanish equivalent of “Hey Signor, didn’t you realise there’s a way round the back?”).

Obligatory summit selfie: #ClimbersAgainstCancer

The route down is convoluted but straightforward, with a couple of via ferrata sections with a few stainless steel rungs through some steep bits. Here’s a view of the approach taken at the end of the day – you keep level with the bottom of the orange wall on the skyline.

Back down in time for the 8pm return shuttle, after about 8hrs on the route. Despite the high temperatures in the valley, we hadn’t been too hot. The lower half of the route is shaded in the morning and the chimneys in the upper half offer a bit of shade.

Tozal del Mallo, Ordesa –
Las Brujas – Franco-Espagnol
350 m, 13 pitches, ED-, 6b+ (6a obl – another pinch of salt required!), and another tick in Parois de Légende.