kirklees climbing
LOS VADOS
Just Another Roadside crag?
The Good News and the Bad?
An hour east of Malaga, the road heads inland from the coastal lowland at Motril, leaving behind a dubious vista of sugar
cane, the occasional wild banana and a monoculture seemingly devoted to producing very very large sheets of plastic. It's
not a particularly large road, the N 323, or a particularly nice road as it heads pointlessly towards a very solid line
of coastal hills, and beyond to the snow-capped ghosts of the Sierra Nevada. But after a handful of miles, the crag–sensitive
eye of the climber soon spots the telltale signs of respectable gorge.
Seems like everyone else from the Moors to modern-day Spanish hauliers all had that same eye, because every wagon, every
beat-up truck carrying clementines, satsumas or chirimoya, every weekend-driver on the way back from their mother-in-law is using
this road to vent their frustration. You can hear it in the tyres. Until that motorway link is finished (and it’s only 12
miles away now, up valley) then every bit of traffic between Granada and the sea is going to be there sharing it with you.
When it is complete, then this gorge is going to return to a deserved calm. You’ll then notice the wild goats responsible
for the odd stone fall, and the vulture, disturbed only by the occasional farmer tootling along the old highway to the
bamboo-lined fields on the gorge floor. It is then, in this sense, a crag-in-waiting.
So what is it about this place that, despite the constant hammer of traffic, Desnivel magazine awards it a five “krab”
rating? Maybe the quality of the climbing? Actually, although there a lot of rock here, there aren’t that many developed
sectors as rock quality shifts rapidly from superb to shite, from warm ochres to cold coffee mudstone (see photo above:
unknown Swiss climber of the long and very steep Dr Jekyll F8a at Sector Berrios). At best there are
slabby-to-oververtical faces of interesting, hold-rich rock with some very consoling lumps of tufa but elsewhere the
rock turns a little soapy, rounded and insecure. These very long single-pitch routes are perfect for the deepest of winter
days… and even then it may be too hot as this is about as far towards the sub-tropical that Europe gets.
Or maybe it’s that shadowy face on the far side of the gorge, the Pared de la Virgin (see photo to the right), where six-pitch routes lead to the
very rim. If anything, the rock over there looks even better. But no attraction on a December day; it’s for the hotter
seasons only apparently.
The routes?
The single-pitch routes are all found on the first (true-left bank) horseshoe of the gorge, approaching from the coast.
There are four crags on this side. Sector Carreterra tries to hide itself in the trees right next to the highway (and is
surprisingly popular despite the bedlam). Two sectors on the same level but a hundred metres up the hillside via an easy
ramp/path are Sector La Canal to the right, above a conveniently flat concreted-over waterway heading for the coast, and
the excellent Sector Berrios to the left. The fourth sector is found higher again and to the left of Berrios; this is the
steep. tall but narrow Sector Limbico.
Photos below: (left) Climbing on the slabs of Sector Canal; (centre) Vieja Pellaja, F6c, on Sector Carratera; (right) High up on Dr Jekyll F8a on Sector Berrios
Carreterra is useful for a warm-up though as the routes are better than one might expect from a Stoney clone, some people
seem to spend all day on the 6a/6a+s which line the main face. Leave a little time however for the slightly stiffer routes
in the left-hand bay, particularly the excellent line of Vieja pelleja (easy 6c) which is the second route left of the
obvious deep crack line of Fisura con anchura (6a but don’t go too direct at the top!).
La Canal has a selection of very long slabby pitches, starting with a blank looking bunch of 7c+-8b+s over the overlap at
the left-hand edge. Things ease as you go rightwards with a good selection of routes from 6a to 7a but watch the length of
your rope. The central weakness, La Canal at 6b+ is a bit spooky in both its moves, its runouts and some of the old
(original?) hardware! Some shorter new pitches not in the guidebook have been added to the right-hand end of the crag;
mainly in the 6s.
The superb Sector Berrios (see photo above) is also deceptively tall and this is primarily the results of nature having tacked on an evil
grey technical slab for just when you thought it was all over – especially bad news if you were expecting nothing more
than a macho swarm up steep crimps with chunky selections of tufa. So make sure you’ve got 70m, you’ll need it all. The
left-hand cave contains a couple of short steep hard swarms with a pleasant-looking line of Cuentos Corrientes curving
around its right-hand edge at 7a+. Immediately right is Amantis Religiosa 7b which follows somewhat polished slots before
improving steadily on crimps to an exciting crux rightwards up to the tufa. Its neighbour to the right, the classic
Menopausia, easy 7b+, takes similar climbing to the right to reach the very same chunk of tufa before a rightward finish.
The next line to the right, a rather blank 8a, is followed by the classic of the crag, Malditos Berrios, 7c, which starts
immediately awkwardly out of the left-edge of a shallow cave and heads into the prominent V-cleft above. The quality
partly comes from the fact that this route does take the easiest line up this section of face. To the right of this the
routes are harder, 7c+ to 8a+, but unfortunately as the rock gets steeper the colour and character changes to something a
lot more soapy. Two new routes, not in the guidebook are to be found here at around 8a and look amazing stamina trips.
Photos below: Rhian Cross at the crux of Menopausia F7b+ and Dave Cross getting into the groove on
Malditos Berrios F7c, Sector Berrios.
The final area, Limbico, only has three routes and looks insignificant in the guidebook. Not so. The central tufa,
Sistema Limbico, 7c is identifiable from anywhere in the gorge and there is a fabuluous photo of Marione Marti on its
right-hand neighbour,Mutant 8a+.
Guidebook:
Guia de escalada granadina: 3 zonas 3 by Pablo Gomez 2002. This covers Los Cahorros, Diezma and Los Vados. Some topos
for Los Vados can be found at
here
as well as at
www.climbermania.com
The excellent 2005 guidebook to Andalucia by David Munilla now contains all the Los Vados routes (as well as a host of
other major venues. This can be ordered throught the Desnivel website.
Would you want to go?
When the motorway bypass is complete? Certainly, if you’re into medium-higher standard sport routes and don’t mind the
remains of a once busy highway beneath you. Get a cheap winter flight to Malaga (1 hour away) or Granada (45 minutes or
probably slightly less when the last bit of motorway is finished) and combine it with as trip to Loja (see Rockfax guide)
or the beautiful Cogollos (photo to the right). Some none too accurate topos for Cogollos can be
founds on www.climbermania.com) and use Los Vados as the escape plan for the colder days. (Even it’s
minus whatever at Granada, take suncream and bikini)
Other crags to visit in the immediate area?
Lagos, a series of small steep crags only a few miles distant, have featured in Escalar magazine. The two which can be
spotted easily from the road didn’t look like being visited from afar, the other which does sound interesting is
apparently much further up the barranco that the magazine map suggests (and it’s hard going!).
Some useful websites give on-line topos for other smaller crags in the area between Granada and the gorge. These are of
local interest. Try the very helpful
CDMS Activities website
which has a pretty comprehensive collection of pdf file topos for the smaller crags including Lanjaron, Orgiva, Capileira,
Niguelas, Pinos del Vale. Virtually all the routes at these crags are in the lower grades.
The Mountain Highs website provides a colour topo
guide to the crag at Orgiva.
Places to stay:
Either Granada (if you intend to combine your visit with other top crags and a bit of ‘culture’) or in the villas near the
coastal hill-top village of Salobrena (see photo below) which, being the Costa Tropical rather than Costa del Sol, is somewhat quieter than
back towards Malaga. A web search will also find you accommodation possibilities in the hill villages in Las Alpujarras (the southern flank
of the Sierra Nevada).
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