Rock Climbing Around Madrid

Around 50 miles to the north of Madrid there are 2 excellent rock climbing areas; the granite slabs at La Pedriza; and the steep limestone at Patones. Further west of Madrid are the excellent granite towers of the Gredos mountain range where there are many multi-pitch routes, plus the bouldering at Navalosa.

Patones is one of Madrid’s premier sport climbing areas, and is located 70km north of Madrid, near Torrelaguna and the historic village of Patones de Arrib.

The rock climbing at Patones is all about steep single pitch sport routes on excellent limestone rock. The style of the rock climbing is everything from pocketed vertical walls to huge roofs. Here there are over 960 routes, with the majority of these in the F6a to F7c grade range. The largest crag is called Ponton de la Oliva that accounts for well over 50% of the routes, along with 4 smaller crags, called Penarrubia, Los Alcores, Patones Pueblo and Canon de Uceda.

The definitive guidebook is called Patones Sport Climbing Guidebook, which is available to buy from our shop.

La Pedriza is located just north of the village of Manzanares El Real, inside the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park. Here the rock climbing is all about long granite slabs and domes, which requires precise footwork and balance.

The granite rock is fine-grained and is perfect for friction climbing. The majority of the routes are sport routes, and historically it’s had a reputation for long runouts, though many routes are now better bolted. There is also a good mixture of single pitch routes to multi-pitch routes over 200m long across a wide range of grades. The walk-ins to the routes are anything from 30 minutes to several hours and often the climbing will be at an altitude of well over 1,000m. Hence the granite rock climbing around La Pedriza definitely has a great air of adventure about it.

There are over 1,500 sport routes at Pedriza, which are described in the Pedriza rock climbing guidebook called La Pedriza Escalada Deportiva, which can be bought from our shop.

There is also no shortage of bouldering to be found at La Pedriza, with 1,000’s of granite boulders spread across around 80 areas. This vast area is home to over 3,500 bouldering problems. The Bouldering in Spain guidebook provides an overview of the bouldering at Pedriza, including a boulder map for just under 100 problems.

The mountains of the Sierra de Gredos are a vast area stretching for around 140km to the west of Madrid. The climbing here is characterised by a maze of around 40 granite spires, providing alpine style multi-pitch climbing at altitudes of over 2,000m. The quality of the granite rock is excellent, with plenty of classic routes across a wide range of grades. The climbing style is pure trad climbing with the occasional belays equipped with bolts, slings or old pitons. The routes here can be up to 300m long, though many are between 100m and 200m long. The emphasis of rock climbing in the Gredos is all about adventure mountaineering where particularly during the week there is a very good chance of finding solitude. One of the more popular areas is called Galayos near the village of Guisando. There is a guidebook called “Sierra de Gredos” that describes the best 100 multi-pitch routes between grades IV and 6b, and is available to buy from our shop.

Whilst the Sierra de Gredos Mountains are famous for its trad and alpine multi-pitch routes, there are also a number of single pitch sport routes located in the valleys that surround these mountains, particularly around the town of Bejar. These granite routes feature slabs, vertical walls with crimps and perfect cracks for jamming, plus gruelling overhangs with good holds. The Gredos Sport Climbing Guidebook describes over 1,000 sport routes and is available to but from our shop.

In the Western Sierra de Gredos there is some World class bouldering at venues such as Hoyamoros, La Dehesa and Valdesangil. 

Madrid’s premier bouldering venue is at Zarzalejo. This tiny village is located to the west of Madrid, near San Lorenze de El Escorial. The style of bouldering at Zarzalejo is on weathered granite rock that offers everything from overhanging and vertical steep walls to slabs with lots of crimps and slopers. In general only 1 bouldering mat is required as the landing are usually very good. Currently there are around 650 problems across a wide range of grades that are documented. However, this only represents a small portion of what the area has to offer. If you prepared to clean the boulders there are literally thousands of problems to be developed.

Navalosa is the other major bouldering area near Madrid.  Navalosa is situated to the southwest of Ávila and is surrounded by countless excellent granite blocks, offering technical bouldering requiring good footwork. There are over 1,800 documented problems at Navalosa across a wide variety of grades from Fb3 to Fb8c, with scope for many more. The definitive guidebook is called “Boulder Navalosa Y Navarrevisca” that is available to buy from our shop.

The best time of the year to go rock climbing at La Pedriza and Patones is during the cooler months from October through to March, with the spring and autumn being especially good. At least a 60m rope is required for the sport routes, though twin ropes are a good idea for the multi-pitch routes at Pedriza.

For the Sierra de Gredos the best time is from late May through to early autumn. Here you will need a full trad rack such as nuts and cams, along with a pair of 50m ropes due to the route lengths and mountainous environment.