Torre de la Pardida

  • Torre de la Pardida
  • 2596 m
  • Primary factor 174 m
  • 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.

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