[shark]

Just back from an 11 day trip on the recommendation of local resident Samr in this thread👍🏻🙏🏻

Some topos for the area can be viewed here https://escaladagranada.es/blog-zonas-escuelas-escalada

There is a very new and very large guide out for the area available to order from here: https://climb-europe.com/rockclimbingshop/granada-sport-climbing-guidebook-topo.html

We based ourselves at Cogollos to the east of Granada in an Airbnb that was walking distance from the crags. There is also a similarly handy hostel there with shared dorms but we thought was pricey at 20€pppn for what was on offer but if travelling solo probably a good option.

The Guidebook. Unfortunately this was a bit shit with poor quality topo photos and key crag info and no starring system for routes. Other mistakes included wrong pitch lengths, wrong crag orientation etc.

AFAIK the main single pitch crags in the area are Cogollos, Cahorros, Peloria and Darro.

Cogollos de la Vega. Two main sectors are Campana and Goteron. Samr prefers the former we preferred the latter. Neither comes into the shade till mid afternoon. The routes were particularly good around 7b at Goteron. Steve Mac got shut down on the hard 8’s which were disappointingly manufactured and not with the shorter gentleman in mind. For most climbers a week at Cogollos would be well worthwhile.

Los Cahorras. 40mins/35km from Cogollos. A deep and shady gorge and a tourist spot. The best sector is Diabolica Izquierda a gently overhanging wall with about 20 routes from 6c+ to 8b. The walkway below the crag is very narrow ie 1-2m wide from top of wall bounding the river to the crag base. This makes it awkward for tourists to pass to say the least! Conditions were also humid when we went. Certainly worth going to but not at weekends!

Darro 35mins/48km from Cogollos. Rated5 star on 8a.nu and looked very promising in the guide. What wasn’t apparent was there is a massive noisy working quarry at the base which covers the crag in a thin film of dust. The walk in is not nice and easy to lose the path. We didn’t stay long.

Poloria. 30mins 45k from Cogollos. A cave and the hard crag of the area and of no interest to me. However, Steve was put off by the description by a local who said the routes were manufactured and polished and it was located by a motorway and smelt of goat shit. We didn’t go

The above wasn’t a perfect match for our team but fortunately other world class crags were available to us en route to and from Malaga airport such as Rosario (includes Chilam Balam cave) Archidona Cave and Loja. Also Reguchillo and the other Jaen crags were a potential option just over an hour’s drive to the North.

If you do go then a rest day visit to the Alhambra is highly recommended though pricey. Beware if driving through the city though as it is a nightmare of hard to spot bus lanes with cameras and pedestrian areas that google maps doesn’t recognise.

[shark]

Re Chilam Balam cave and other Rosario crags this website is excellent but can be slow to load

https://www.cartowall.com/en/topo/chilam-balam

Topos also here: https://bernabefernandez.com/sector-chilam/

[shark]

Re Loja from what it says in the new guide the main sector Zorreros’Baja is deequipped but the rest is in so still quite a lot to go at and it gets shade. It is also covered in the old Rockfax El Chorro guide.

[steveri]

I’ve been to the Alhambra twice many years apart, agree it’s very impressive!

[Paul B]

What was the weather like?

[shark]

Sunny most days - usually we were after shade. Bit of clag one morning that burnt off at lunchtime. Bit cloudy another day. Rained on the last day.

[blaciqui]

Glad you enjoyed Andalucía! I was not sure about that when I read your report but I heard that you are planning to go back soon so I assumed that the goat shit didn’t push you back!

It’s funny what you said about the guidebook for Granada. The most recent one for Malaga is also fairly new and complete sheit. We need some foreigner to come a do a proper one… it’s sad but it’s true in El chorro since always the go-to  guidebook is the one from rockfax.

Also, if somebody is interested the rainy season in that area is normally from October to early December. In winter the weather is lovely.

[duncan]

Thanks Simon. Sounds worth a visit. Also keen on the Jaen area.

I've visited the Alhambra three times. It was a lot busier in February 2023 than December 2003 which was in turn a lot busier than July 1987. I'd still like to go again.

In my opinion, the cost of €19 to see most of the palace complex compares favourably with £33 for the Tower of London and very favourably with £21 for Stonehenge (especially when you get to within 50m of the latter for nothing). It's one of the great sights of the world and you can take most of a day over the visit if you like this kind of thing.

I'd second the comment about not driving around Grenada: you can walk to most places in the city in reasonable time.

[shark]

Goteron saved it. Next trip I think I’d base myself at Rosario (if fitter) or Jaen/Reguchillo.

[shark]

We paid 84€ (I think) for an audio tour including the main palace which is a must see.

ps “Broke” into Stonehenge in the early hours with a bunch of teenage friends in the early 80’s and was escorted off by security guards. No charge!

[abarro81]

If you're based near Rosario and don't mind a bit of a drive (and things are dry) then Muela (near Ronda) is worth a visit too

[stone]

Your Alhambra recommendation got me on wikipedia. This seemed poignant to me considering the seemingly intractable tragedy in Gaza etc at the moment.

Habbus bin Maksen al-Muzaffar (Arabic: حبوس بن ماكسن بن زيري), of the Zirid dynasty, was ruler of the Taifa of Granada from 1019 to 1038.[1] He was the successor to his uncle Zawi ben Ziri. His first Vizier was Samuel ibn Naghrillah, the renowned Jewish scholar and politician. Under his rule, the prestige of the taifa was greatly increased, and he carried out military campaigns against neighbor states, increasing Granada's territory. The Jewish population in the city increased to 5,000, and Lucena flourished as a Jewish scholarly site. [quote/]

[shark]

If you're based near Rosario and don't mind a bit of a drive (and things are dry) then Muela (near Ronda) is worth a visit too

Looks great

https://www.8a.nu/crags/sportclimbing/spain/la-muela/routes

Over 2 hours from Rosario by the look of it.

Is there much else around Muela if you based yourself there instead?

[abarro81]

Don't know, we just drove over from Antequera a couple of times

[shark]

Another crag I haven’t heard of!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/el_torcal_de_antequera-2500/

What’s that like ?

[galpinos]

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself Simon as, like blaciqui, from reading your report I assumed you'd had a s**t time!

[Offwidth]

Your Alhambra recommendation got me on wikipedia. This seemed poignant to me considering the seemingly intractable tragedy in Gaza etc at the moment.

Habbus bin Maksen al-Muzaffar (Arabic: حبوس بن ماكسن بن زيري), of the Zirid dynasty, was ruler of the Taifa of Granada from 1019 to 1038.[1] He was the successor to his uncle Zawi ben Ziri. His first Vizier was Samuel ibn Naghrillah, the renowned Jewish scholar and politician. Under his rule, the prestige of the taifa was greatly increased, and he carried out military campaigns against neighbor states, increasing Granada's territory. The Jewish population in the city increased to 5,000, and Lucena flourished as a Jewish scholarly site. [quote/]

Cordoba is even more interesting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate_of_C%C3%B3rdoba

[Mike Highbury]

Cordoba is even more interesting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate_of_C%C3%B3rdoba

It's not, you know? It's really not. The mosque in the cathedral is OK but only that; the Jew-stuff (the most important, natch) is really disappointing. Heaven knows how many times I read the 'thirteen articles of faith' and Maimonides' commentaries. So was excited to visit only to be met with that crap statue of Rambam. An hour would be stretching it.

Stick to Seville.

[shark]

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself Simon as, like blaciqui, from reading your report I assumed you'd had a s**t time!

Well it was a trip of two halves for me although the craic was good throughout. I struggled on the first few days falling off everything including the warm ups which was frustrating and upsetting but got it together in the last 4 climbing days.

Climbing highlihhts were flashing (yes flashing   ) the amazing 7a+ taking the right rib of the Chilam Balam cave and redpointing a brilliant but tough 7bat Cogollos. Still down a grade from this time last year when I flashed a soft 7b+ at Datca but then had the advantage of 3 weeks just spent and RRG and weighed lighter.

We went to one duff crag and got warned off another. Me and Ed probably would have been happy to climb the whole trip at Cogollos. Steve didn’t get on with the local hard routes because they were chipped. Overall I’d say that the crags local to Granada were below expectation but we were still only an hour or so from classier options.

[Offwidth]

It's not, you know? It's really not. The mosque in the cathedral is OK but only that; the Jew-stuff (the most important, natch) is really disappointing. Heaven knows how many times I read the 'thirteen articles of faith' and Maimonides' commentaries. So was excited to visit only to be met with that crap statue of Rambam. An hour would be stretching it.

Stick to Seville.

My apologies, I wasn't clear, I meant the history of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the way different religions got on well and how arts and science flourished under their Islamic rule....probably the greatest intellectual flourish of any medieval empire. There are also good talks on the subject from Jim Al Khalili  on YouTube (the Iplayer copies are sadly no longer available)

[abarro81]

Another crag I haven’t heard of!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/el_torcal_de_antequera-2500/

What’s that like ?

Ah, I meant the town (we stayed there while climbing at Rosario). From what I've heard, El Torcal is worth visit but is no Rosario. Supposed to be pretty though

[Teaboy]

Another crag I haven’t heard of!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/el_torcal_de_antequera-2500/

What’s that like ?

It's great in that its a forest of limestone tors in a great spot on a high plateau but probably not what you are looking for on a continental climbing holiday being short, bouldery routes on grey limestone. That said, it was 2007 when we went and they may have since developed some huge orange caves we didn't notice!

[blaciqui]

Another crag I haven’t heard of!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/el_torcal_de_antequera-2500/

What’s that like ?

See Teaboy's comment. Really nice area but short bouldery routes. It has a fame between locals that the grade is bit tight but that's because all of them are used to long endurance routes. There are some hard routes from Bernabe Fernandez (He did Chilam Balam! I want to believe! ) in there... first spanish 8c or something? If you go there allow some extra time, its hard to navigate and locate the tors the first time you are in there.

My hometown is really close to Antequera and my recommendation would be to stay there rather that in Villanueva del Rosario. Antequera is very well located with good roads that will take you fairly quick to lots of climbing places, including Villanueva, plus there will be more opportunities for food/stay.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of places in that area have ban between from 1st Jan to 1 Jul due to nesting. There are a lot of places that doesn't (most of them) but if you guys want to go to a specific place, take a look just in case!

[Steve R]

Any opinions on Villanueva del Cauche?  Has the benefit of being in the rockfax guide, looks good?
Considering heading to this area after Christmas for a bit but, having spent a lot of time in/around Chorro in the past, looking at staying Antequera-ish and focussing more on Rosario, Archidonna  and Loja.  Looks like there's still a decent section of Loja open (Perros de Presa in particular sounds great).  Where's best to check for bird ban status for these crags?

[abarro81]

We went to Cauche one day on a trip when Rosario was wet, thought it was a bit shit, drove 2hrs everyday to climb at Otinar (Jaen) which was dry instead... If you like vert maybe it's better?