If you’ve been following the blog for the last couple of months, you’ll have visited almost 50 crags with us, the vast majority of which were “new this year” to RockAroundTheWorld. There have been some stand-out finds like Bovesponja, L’Amagatall, Ròtova, Moclín and Teba, (amongst the inevitable duds) but one crag stands clear at the top of the “crag of the trip” leaderboard: Torrechiva.
We were struck by the quality and extent of the climbing, and the obvious care for the place that is taken by the local community, but it was the feeling of peace and remoteness that really made it special. Suffice to say, we were determined to try to fit in another visit on the return loop of our trip. That required a bit of juggling in a seesawing and fickle forecast, but we manged to get three sunny and memorable days back in this special place. The logistics and headlines are well covered in the blog post above, so here are just a few pics and a selection of recommended routes.
The leftmost extent of our previous visit had been Apnea, 6c, on the central Cableados section, leaving a bunch of sectors beyond that we hadn’t previously explored…
Immediately left, I had a huge battle with El Primo (and a dodgy ankle) for the hardest-won 6c of the trip.
… and Helen did Requiem por un Amigo, 6a
Sector Rastafaris and Carambola sit at a slightly higher level and are accessed by some iron rungs and fixed ropes, and showed signs of less traffic. Still some decent routes including La Union Hace la Fuerza and La Piedra Bautisma, a couple of 6as, but I wouldn’t recommend El Desplome de Onda la Clave, 6c.
Left again, the final sectors of Pandemia and Balcon de Muchachos have a fine bunch of mostly 6as and bs including Sibete Sandwich and El Circo de los Muchachos, both 6a+ of around 30m, and very good.
We shared the crag with a visiting Czech team on one of the days, and here’s a shot of one of them on El Donante de Amigdala, 6b, which looked like a “one to come back for”.
As a final route of this visit, Helen did…
… a 6a up a traddy corner she’d had an eye on from our first visit, but which had been too damp to try.
With a cold front moving across the country we tore ourselves away (wanting to leave enough to come back for a different time).
Albarracín
We had one more day’s chink in the weather before it got properly cold, and wanted a stopover on our route northwards, and came up with an off-the-wall idea. We could finally get around to visiting the fabled bouldering at Albarracín.
Readers who are bouldering afficianados will be startled (horrified!) to learn that having spent the best part of a cumulative couple of years climbing in Spain over the last decade, we’ve never visited one of its genuinely world renowned venues. We could make excuses about not usually passing in season, or it being out-of-the-way (it’s actually super handy off the A#), but we’re basically just not really into bouldering. But it’s never too late…
Arriving after dark at the excellent Camping Albarracín…
… we baggsied a primo spot with views across to the historical village and its fortifications on a spectacularly clear night.
We were even fashionably late enough to not be the only people eating in the restaurant! The stars really had aligned…
Next morning we could survey the ancient walls more clearly…
The campsite clientele are an interesting mix of the giant white Motorhome brigade, here for the antiquities; and a puffa-jacketed, beanie-wearing tribe. These are housed in smaller vans, bulked up beneath a mountain of bouldering pads.
We were a bit deficient in the sponge department, but fear not – a few hundred metres from the campsite is Sofa Boulder which does pad rental alongside meeting any of your other equipment needs (especially if those needs are over-priced boutique brands!)
Equipped with a mat and an interactive map and some topos from Thecrag.com (limited reception so worth downloading these before you leave the campsite) we set off for the parking. You’ve never seen so much sponge in your life!
There are a couple of boulders with amenable problems immediately adjacent in Sector Parking, and we achieved the day’s primary objective of getting both of us to the top of a bloc (avoiding the beginner error of not checking there’s a way down beforehand!)
Heading over the other side of the road to the Arrastradero Sector, we found a few more substantial chunks of rock with routes we could do…
This boulder (they have numbers but these seem to vary depending on the source – very confusing!) was possibly the highlight, with huge hueco holds on some very steep terrain.
Of course, the big attraction of lugging your mat about is to have a comfy, sunny butty spot (I certainly didn’t have any intention of actually jumping off onto it!)
A few more problems on the back of this boulder (maybe #9?) had us both achieving our high points, with Helen on this 5A and me sketching my way up the adjacent 6A.
That was a clear sign to quit whilst we were ahead!
The other attraction hereabouts, beyond the blocs and the fortifications, is some very well-preserved rock art, easily combined with a tour of the climbing.
These have been dated to around 7,000 years old.
… and include a number of depictions of hunters that have been used as the signature logos for the area.
We woke up to snow on the ground and howling winds the next morning – no doubt “great connies” for the true cognescenti but definitely “time to move on” for us part-timers.
Despite expectations, I really enjoyed our brief taster of “how the other half lives”. The rock (a hardish sandstone, with remarkable friction and brilliant texture at the micro and macro level) is the stuff of folklore; the setting is sublime; and there’s enough of it so that the huge throngs at the carpark were soon dispersed. Our fellow boulderers were very friendly, despite us obviously being newbies (albeit geriatric ones) and there was a nice vibe to the place.
We won’t be swapping our rope and draws for a mountain of sponge any time soon, but I’d certainly stop off for another quick hit sometime – ideally when my frail frame might be up for testing out the absorptive capacity of our rental mat.
RockAroundTheWorld 