Walking in the Sierra Nevada - A Walker's and Trekker's Guide

The 45 walking routes (3km–56km) in this guidebook to the Sierra Nevada, Spain’s highest mountain range, provide tremendous scope for the adventurous mountain traveller. Covers the Alta Montana (3000m+), the lower Baja Montaña, the Alpajurras and Marquesado Forest. Mountain-bike routes also indicated.

Situated in the extreme south of the Iberian peninula and only 60–70km from the Costa del Sol, the mountains of Spain’s Sierra Nevada have been largely ignored by British mountaineers and walkers. With attractions such as the Alps and Pyrenees closer at hand, few have penetrated far enough south to discover these wild and barren peaks.

With massive overcrowding and exploitation of the Alps, and increasingly of the Pyrenees too, many walkers and climbers are eagerly searching out new stamping grounds. Areas in which to recapture the solitude and sense of adventure now found lacking among the more popular ranges. The Sierra Nevada can provide this experience.

It would be wrong to portray the range as a wilderness, however. On the north-western slopes, overlooking the city of Granada, there has been considerable development, with the building of a large ski-resort and all the gubbins which go with it. On these slopes also is a tarmac road to the summit of Pico del Veleta, the highest road in Europe but now closed to motorised traffic.

Despite this, it is still easy to find solitude among these mountains. Stray a kilometre or two from the Sierra Nevada road and other humans become a rare sight, even on the ‘frequented’ routes. On some of the more remote ridges it is not unusual to observe cabra montés (a relative of the Pyrenean ibex) at close quarters, but you would have to have your camera very handy to photograph them; their speed and agility over rough terrain is breathtaking.

The nature of these mountains is quite unlike the more famous ranges further north; there are no Matterhorns or Pic du Midis here. The striking thing about the high Sierrra Nevada is the sense of space and the impression of vast scale, something which is difficult to capture on a photograph and which really needs to be experienced first-hand. At first glance, the range could be compared to England’s Helvellyn range or Scotland’s Grey Corries, but closer acquaintance is more likely to remind one of the Cuillin of Skye without the mist! Comparisons are futile, though; these peaks have a unique character all their own. Although lacking the spectacular peaks of the Alps, there are profound corries (corrals) beneath the 600m north faces, jagged and pinnacled ridges, and tiny jewel-like tarns to please the most jaundiced eye.

This guide describes walking routes of various degrees of difficulty, from easy evening or half-day outings up to arduous multi-day mountain expeditions. Information on the road and track network is also included and this will be valuable to motorists, who wish to access the remote parts of the range, and mountain bikers who may wish to incorporate unsurfaced tracks and roads into their itineraries.

Topography

The Sierra Nevada takes the form of a long, curved ridge some 100km in length. Commencing in the east in the vicinity of Almería it gains height gradually, only attaining its culminating altitude of 3482m quite close to Granada, before subsiding relatively rapidly into the plains of La Vega, to the south-west of that city.

The eastern end of the range is mostly made up of unremarkable rounded hills, criss-crossed with four-wheel-drive (4WD) tracks. Most of the interesting peaks (and all the ‘3000-ers’) are concentrated in the 55km between the passes of La Ragua in the east and Suspiro del Moro in the west, the so-called High Sector. It is this section which is covered by this guide.

Walking west from the Puerto de la Ragua, the traveller first passes over an undulating section of a broad ridge, taking in the summits of Morron, San Juan, Peñon del Puerto and Cerro Trevélez, all these tops reaching an altitude of between 2700 and 2900m. The ridge then reaches the foot pass of Puerto de Trevélez (c.2800m) before rising to Cerro Pelao, the first of the 3000-ers, with 3000m spurs branching north and south.

The main ridge continues, curving gradually southwards and passes over a number of minor summits, all conflictingly labelled on various Spanish maps, before reaching the second major foot pass, the Cuneta de Vacares (2974m). The terrain, hitherto merely bouldery, now becomes craggy as the ridge narrows and rises abruptly to the sharp peaks of Vacares and Goterón. The ridge now makes two big climbs and descents, traversing Alcazaba and Mulhacén with the Cañada de las Siete Lagunas in between, before turning westwards across the jagged crests of Puntal de la Caldera and Crestones de Rio Seco.

Another pronounced rise leads to the summit of Los Machos, the shattered and pinnacled ridge. It proceeds via an abrupt rock step to the summit of Veleta, the second highest peak of the range. From here, a number of lesser ridges radiate north and north-west, carrying the peaks of Baja Montaña (or low mountains) along with the Sierra Nevada Road and ski-resort. The main ridge veers gradually south-west over the rocky summits of Virgen and Neveros to the Elorietta hut at the head of the Lanjarón valley.

The ridge now divides to embrace the valley, the eastern arm carrying only one further 3000m peak, Pico del Tajo de Los Machos, before descending gradually to the Alpujarras. The western arm continues over the rocky tops of Tosal de Cartujo and Tajos Altos to the final 3000-er (Cerro del Caballo), and then rapidly descends to the spa town of Lanjarón.

From this main spine, ridges (lomas) and valleys project like ribs, the northerly ones draining into the valley of the Genil, the southerly ones descending to the Alpujarras region, the streams feeding the Rio Guadalfeo. The southern valleys take the form of long, narrow ravines, the most famous being the Poqueira, which contains the enchanting moorish villages of Capileira, Bubión and Pampaneira. The northern valleys are much wilder, with no access by car, and culminate in the spectacular corrals beneath the towering crags of the north faces.

Thus, the area of the guide is conveniently bounded, in the west by the N323 road over the pass of Suspiro del Moro, in the east by the C331 over Puerto de la Ragua, to the north by the valley of the Rio Genil, and to the south by the Rio Guadalfeo.