Pico El Almanzor 2152m -- Plataforma, Laguna Grande y Circo de Gredos 18km -1200m
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 10.31 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,049 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 4,373 ft
- Max elevation
- 8,698 ft
- TrailRank
- 41
- Min elevation
- 5,955 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 11 hours 2 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1562
- Uploaded
- March 12, 2017
- Recorded
- March 2017
near Navacepeda de Tormes, Castilla y León (España)
Viewed 1062 times, downloaded 31 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Pico El Almanzor 2152m Gredos en Invierno - Plataforma, Laguna Grande y Circo de Gredos
English Version:
El Almanzor, the Highest Peak in Central Spain (Sierra de Gredos)
On Sunday (March 12th 2017) we hiked and climbed our way to the top of the highest peak in central Spain: El Almanzor +2152m. El Almanzor is in the center of Sierra de Gredos mountains, South of Avilla and about two hour drive from Madrid.
This was the first time for me doing this climb in winter with crampons and an ice-axe. It was hard, but a great experience! My two mountaineer mates were Oscar Nicolas and Alfredo.
We left Madrid at 5:15 am and we were at the Plataforma parking in Gredos to start hiking before 8am. It was wonderful being in the snowy mountains watching the sunrise!
After a 400 meter climb and a 200 meter descent we made it to the frozen Laguna Grande and the "Elola" mountain lodge (albergue) with great views of the snow-covered Circo de Gredos. After a break, and putting on our crampons (about 11:00am) we began the second part of our climb which got steeper and steeper as we got closer to the top.
When we got to the top of the Crampons mountain pass (Portillo del crampon) it was about 13:30 and the weather was still great and the views of the two Castillas was great! Many people turn around at this point because the last part is steep, sometimes dangerous and it is narrow so there are often times traffic jams.
We then went along the horizontal snow/ice ledge to the last part of the climb. This last section should be done with rope, crampons and ice-axe in winter...not for the faint of heart! The last climb leads to a narrow pass and then an easy 2.5m climb up some boulders to the summit marker. There is only space for a few people at a time on the peak.
After some pictures and a sandwich we wanted to go down, but there was a traffic jam since the pace is slow with ropes and ice. As soon as a fellow mountaineer set up the rope for us to go back down (Thanks guys!) the weather changed to 80km/h wind gusts, snow and hail! This slowed us down and froze us which slowed down the return to the mountain pass.
The hike back down the steep slope of snow was an adventure. We could not see almost anything and there was as much sliding as walking :-)
The mountain lodge was closed by the time we got back down to the Laguna Grande, but we stopped for a break before the last 6km back to the car.
The return was tough (I was out of gas ;-) and the strong winds and hard snow was pelting us all the way back to the Plataforma.
All in All, a long hard day that was equalled in beauty and adventure!
A short video of the day: https://youtu.be/Jvv0TVj8_r0
Music Credits:::::::::::::::
Gunnar Olsen, First song to last.
YouTube audio library: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
English Version:
El Almanzor, the Highest Peak in Central Spain (Sierra de Gredos)
On Sunday (March 12th 2017) we hiked and climbed our way to the top of the highest peak in central Spain: El Almanzor +2152m. El Almanzor is in the center of Sierra de Gredos mountains, South of Avilla and about two hour drive from Madrid.
This was the first time for me doing this climb in winter with crampons and an ice-axe. It was hard, but a great experience! My two mountaineer mates were Oscar Nicolas and Alfredo.
We left Madrid at 5:15 am and we were at the Plataforma parking in Gredos to start hiking before 8am. It was wonderful being in the snowy mountains watching the sunrise!
After a 400 meter climb and a 200 meter descent we made it to the frozen Laguna Grande and the "Elola" mountain lodge (albergue) with great views of the snow-covered Circo de Gredos. After a break, and putting on our crampons (about 11:00am) we began the second part of our climb which got steeper and steeper as we got closer to the top.
When we got to the top of the Crampons mountain pass (Portillo del crampon) it was about 13:30 and the weather was still great and the views of the two Castillas was great! Many people turn around at this point because the last part is steep, sometimes dangerous and it is narrow so there are often times traffic jams.
We then went along the horizontal snow/ice ledge to the last part of the climb. This last section should be done with rope, crampons and ice-axe in winter...not for the faint of heart! The last climb leads to a narrow pass and then an easy 2.5m climb up some boulders to the summit marker. There is only space for a few people at a time on the peak.
After some pictures and a sandwich we wanted to go down, but there was a traffic jam since the pace is slow with ropes and ice. As soon as a fellow mountaineer set up the rope for us to go back down (Thanks guys!) the weather changed to 80km/h wind gusts, snow and hail! This slowed us down and froze us which slowed down the return to the mountain pass.
The hike back down the steep slope of snow was an adventure. We could not see almost anything and there was as much sliding as walking :-)
The mountain lodge was closed by the time we got back down to the Laguna Grande, but we stopped for a break before the last 6km back to the car.
The return was tough (I was out of gas ;-) and the strong winds and hard snow was pelting us all the way back to the Plataforma.
All in All, a long hard day that was equalled in beauty and adventure!
A short video of the day: https://youtu.be/Jvv0TVj8_r0
Music Credits:::::::::::::::
Gunnar Olsen, First song to last.
YouTube audio library: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
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