Location: North 43:11.953, West 004:50.393 (GPS at the summit)
Location: Picos de Europa, North-West Spain
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed: October 5, 2008
Information:
How to get there:
See the description under Torre de Cerredo. Route description:
From the refugio de Vega Urriellu, proceed west, then a bit north of west as you
climb the slopes below Neveron de Urriellu (2559m).
The view back to the 500 meter vertical wall
of Picu Urriellu stays with you as you get higher.
This trail enters a nice ramp going more north and, surprisingly,
at the very top of this ramp where everything appears to dead end, there is a narrow crack ascending
to the top of the ridge (easy YDS class 3).
Follow the ridge west (left) a short stretch, then continue along the trail as it traverses the
slopes on the north side of Neveron de Urriellu before reaching the very distinct col named
Hda L'Arenera. This col has location N43:12.550, W004:50.329, elevation 2283 m.
From here, the ocean view is very nice.
Descend slightly,
then proceed south (into the small valley) before arriving at a new (smaller) col at location
N43:12.325, W004:50.428, elevation 2294 meter. From here, there are two (minor) trails forking
left providing access to the two peaks Neveron de Urriellu (2559m) and its higher neigbor
Torre de la Pardida (2596m).
Take the rightmost of the two (minor) trails and follow it as it contours around and
enters the small valley below the peak. Looking uphill, you will observe a very
characteristic "triangular" rock near the ridgeline (left of the main summit). Continue
towards this rock and gradually gain your elevation as you follow some shallow gullies
gaining the ridge above the rock formation.
From here, the route is fairly obvious, there is
a smaller pit
higher up that can be bypassed on the right side. From here, climb the slope above you as you
again traverse gradually left until you
regain the main ridge shortly below the summit. Follow the
top ridge the last few meter to the summit.
The summit is marked by an old ice axe. Comments:
I did this climb with my friend Geir Åke Dahlen. We started
out from the Refugio de Vega Urriellu at 1300 and arrived at the summit at 1530.
The landscape is incredibly rugged, the peaks
are almost all steep, in between you find
these "inverted peaks" (Read: pits), unusually challenging terrain for good trails.
After spending 30 very nice minutes at the
summit, we returned along the same route
and arrived back at the refugio
about 10 minutes before 1800. The sun was active melting
snow all day and we hoped that our next day attempt on Torre de Cerredo. would
be successful. There is a more comprehensive trip report under that entry.