I often mention El Chorro as a destination to my European friends, no-one has heard of it, even those who have lived not too far away. Mention it to a climber though, and they instantly know the location - like Yangshuo in China, or Krabi in Thailand. 45 minutes from Málaga, in the Andalucía region, it's one of the world most popular climbing regions.
My third trip here. By far the least climbing, we probably did 8+ climbs per day when we were here in 2013. Add 35 degree heat and we ended up doing 2 climbs a day, a grade or so below our usual max.
It was still a fun trip, with a nice small group of people, forced relaxation (in the Shade), and doing some things we wouldn't usually do on a climbing trip. (Touristy easy walks + water!)
Day 1- Valle de Abdalajis
The town here is slightly strange to visit. They aren't used to tourists, and have some animosity towards climbers. I imagine this is justified - I can imagine situations where disrespectful climbers have tresspassed land to reach a nice looking crag. It's never happen when a few individuals ruin the reputation for everybody. If you do visit this town, do be prepared for lots of stares. Be mindful of house boundaries, and as usual, don't leave any rubbish around. (Or speak Spanish, be friendly with the locals, and try to improve our reputation!)
There are some stores in town where you can grab some food and drinks, although we didn't see any Restaurants. There is also a gas station nearby for fuel + snacks.
Lesson of the day. Don't ever climb in the sun (when it's 34 degrees+) . We already knew this, but it ended up seeming necessary because we had a beginner in our group, all areas with shade/partial shade around El Chorro were graded 5+/6 etc. Never again though, I can deal with a 20min climb in the sun where there may be a bit of a breeze and the adrenein forces you to forget body comfort. However once you are on the ground, trying to belay, you become super sleepy, certainly not good when someone's life is on the other end of the rope.
Too hot to take proper pics. One by Lil with the town of Valle de Abdalajis in the background
Guidebook Location: Valle de Abdalajis - Sector Central.
- Er Suzuki (4+)
- Oso yogui (5)
- Fasi terinnal (5+)
The climbs here were ok. Lots of slabs, which my toes don't like. The biggest highlight for me was on Oso Yogui, half way up I thought I saw some movement, I nearly screamed thinking I saw a 5" spider in crack. This was followed up with "Why did someone leave a banana skin up here", followed by "It's a bat!!!". It looked like a baby bat, firmly wedged in the crack, not wanting anyone interrupting it. It was a good hold, but I managed to avoid it. Didn't want to traumatise the poor thing (or get bitten). I can't imagine it would have survived the day, if at any point the sunlight pointed directly into the crack. There were no other bats around (that we could see), so I can only imagine it had been separated.
On a subsequent climb, one of our friends did get bitten by the bat. It didn't break skin, so hopefully he won't get rabies. Apparently symptoms don't show for up to 7 weeks though, so I'm hoping some post-bite precautions were taken. (Speaking of which there are a number of wild dogs around the El Chorro area, they are mostly super cute, but perhaps a rabies shot before visiting this area would be an idea.
Day 2 - El Caminto Del Rey
El Caminto Del Rey (English: The King's little pathway) - A super inspirational, challenging walk on a path in a precarious conditions, a true test of your mental strength.
The path was built in 1901, it's primary purpose was to allow workers to move between two hydroelectric dams in the region. 100 years later, it had obviously fallen into a state of disrepair, however it was still used by adventurous tourists and climbers. People would often attach themselves to a metal guide-wire (of dubious quality), and then walk along the crumbling concrete paths.
It had been named 'The Words most Dangerous walk', with good reason. Apparently 5 people died here in 1999-2000, leading to it's closure. Some of those who died were reasonably stupid however, 2 tried using an overhead cable as a zip-line. Despite the entrance being bulldozed, many people still made it past, for what would have been a stunning walk.
An insane individual doing the walk in 2008 without any safety gear. (Credit to YouTube user danielahnen)
So everything has changed now - the walk was rebuilt in 2013-15, it's as safe as walking down a sidewalk (probably much safer, there are occasional falling rocks, but no drunk drivers). One of our friends with us described the walk he did in 2013. (You used to be able to pay local guides to take you up this path, unofficially).
It was still a wonderful walk to do, a must do for anyone in the region, knowing what it was like a couple of years ago did make it feel somewhat boring for me. This is an unfair thing to say though. It's nice that now anyone can access the route and re-trace the steps which workers took 100 ago. Still a stunning walk, with a nice rewards at the end as you exit the canyon into the El Chorro dam. The refurbishment is still reasonably subtle (i.e. they didn't build a Starbucks stop at the half way point), so it's a good compromise into accessibility and preservation.
The sad thing though is the new (very solid) pathway now cuts across a few beautiful multi-pitch routes which exist in the valley. And with the area actively patrolled, it might no longer be possible to do these climbs. I'm planning on doing more research into this however, a life goal is to do a multi-pitch up this canyon.
The walk is a 5km one way walk. You can do it in 1-2 hours. The walk pops you out at the El Chorro end, where you can take a bus back to the carpark at the start. The bus runs every 30 minutes and costs ~€1.50.
Day 3 - Turon
After the horror of Day 1 climbing in the unavoidable sun, Charm ensured we had some shade for Day 3. We headed to Turon, far away over the hills. They had both an East and West facing crags, so in theory we could switch crags as the sun moved overhead.
We ended up doing the East Butress and remaining there all day. This was the hottest day of our trip 39°C. Great thing about this spot is that you park your car above the crag, and the walk down is < 5 minutes. Good variety of climbs here too. The rock was sharp however, most people came away with scratches and blood.
Si te quieres comer un higo (5+) (20m)
Nice long climb. Some of was slab like, other parts required some use of a crack. The crux is the second last bolt. Through the day we probably had people stuck there for ~2 hours in total. The final climber used a beta-stick to finish it off so that we could go home with all our gear.
Al filo del escualo (6a+)
Probably the most entertaining outdoor climb I've done. It starts off with a couple of boulder moves. Nice big grips, but still required some nerves. The first boulder move is doable, but hard, Just learn the sequence and try it 5 times. The second bolt is scary. You are far enough above the first bolt here, that if you fall, you will certainly hit the ground.
Charm climbing after the crux. Did someone say good views? (Photo Credit Lil)
Climbing with this crew is super fun. I would still classify us as "beginners" as far as outdoor climbing goes. But we are all pretty safe, and we are good at pushing each other. First trip for one of our friends, and she went insanely well. At our technical level, outdoor climbing is about head game rather than strength or technical ability. Our friend was able to catch up to our outdoor level of ability pretty quickly, pretty much based on the fact that she doesn't get scared. Well I'm sure she does, but her nerves are much better than mine. She managed to gain 3 climbing trips worth of ability on me in around 2 days.
Day 4 - Mijas
Our climbs were again dictated by "Where is shade", and this area proved to be a wonderful way to end the trip. It wasn't El Chorro, but it was a town up a hill. near the cost, and only 20 minutes from Málaga airport!
Mijas is located 430m above sea level. It's primarily a tourist town, you notice that when you arrive when you look at the number of little electric buggies working their way up the hills, with 4 tourists in the back. It's one of those classic Spanish all white towns.
SECTOR PIRE SIN MANGOS: Caligula (5+) (18m)
At this location you could actually belay out of your car if you somehow wanted to (ok I'm not sure how that works technically). We had around 30 minutes before the sunlight hit this rock. The view and convenience could't be beaten though.
Location: The Ravine
The guidebook contained many warnings about this place. Very unpleasant, damp, smells, avoid at all costs. The redeeming feature was the fact that being a Ravine, there would be plenty of shade. It's located next to a stable full of houses, and the rocks are inhabited by pigeons, hence the smell. It would get quite damp in Winter. On super hot day where we were generally dying from sun exposure, this place was perfect. There was a welcoming sign at the front, the place was well bolted. There was even a bench to put your bag on. This place really felt like an indoor climbing gym.
The pigeons were distracting, and there were pigeon droppings everywhere, there were also plenty of tourists walking around nearby as well. They would often stop and take photos of the crazy people climbing below, you tend to ignore the though, if you are stuck on a hard move, it's quite an added motivation to have people starring at you, you tend to get back on the rock pretty fast.
We completed Via de Jesus (5+) and Fuerza, voluntad y huevos (6a) here. Both easy climbs since we had the excuse of being at the end of our trip, with a plane to catch.
Further down the Ravine, it splits into 4. One path is too dark to climb (probably some weird mutant pigeon bats in there). One is short, but another had more overhangs visible.
I can imagine doing another Spain climbing trip where we leave El Chorro on the previous night. Found a hotel in Mijas, and did a few hours of climbing before a flight out. I imagine you could quite easily do night climbing here, although I'm not sure if that's something the locals are happy with.