Pyrenees
Picos de Europa |
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Sierra
Nevada, Spain 28 May - 4 Jun 1995
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I crammed
this into a week on my own away on a late charter flight to Malaga.
One night in Malaga, with buses to Granada then Trevelez (1475m),
the highest village in Spain. 4 nights bivvying and one refuge.
I walked about 40 miles & 15000ft of ascent and descent. Map
sheet 20-42 1:50000 Guejar-Sierre. My route went north to Cerro
Pelado (3182m) and then followed the ridge to the south west, staying
above 3000m over several peaks until I was defeated by the NE ridge
of Alcazaba, where I dropped off to the South to bivvy for the night
by a small pool. Quite a scramble even up the SE ridge of Alcazaba
the next day. |
 
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Again forced to drop
off the ridge and ascend Mulhacen from the East. At 3482m, this
is the highest peak in the Sierra Nevada and mainland Spain. The
descent to the West was easy with a track and a road. |
The road is a welcome
break and I changed back into sandals for a while. |
On to
the peak of Veleta (3398m) with the ski tows and observatory. There
was also a bizarre film crew moving rocks around to produce the
backdrop that they required. I was forced to drop back just below
3000m to bivvy at Lagunillas de la Virgen. |
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From there it was a
case of following the correct ridge to the SW and I spent the night
alone in the refuge just below the summit of Caballo. Wore overtrousers
for a lot of the day to try and prevent sunburn on my legs. The
final day I headed south and was soon off my map. |
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With the best part
of 10,000ft to descend, it was just a case of continuing South to
civilization. |
A bus from there went back
to Granada in the morning.
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