Map of the Canary Islands

Rock climbing in the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a group of volcanic islands just off the African coast. These islands rise steeply out of the sea forming dramatic mountains, with Mount Teide on Tenerife being the highest mountain in Spain (3718m high). The spectacular rugged landscape has everything from vertical cliffs to deep canyons, creating an abundance of varied climbing. These islands provide everything from Trad climbing (including multi-pitch), sport climbing and bouldering. The pocketed volcanic rock means there are a good choice of routes right across the grade range. Tenerife and Gran Canary islands are the most developed in terms of sport climbing and guidebooks available.

Canary Island Logistics

Weather – The weather in the Canary Islands offers a constant warm climate that attracts visitors to the islands throughout the year. All year round the fresh trade winds keep the islands warm in the winter and cool in the summer, which means the temperature only varies between 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Therefore the Canary Islands are an excellent location for some winter sun and rock climbing with the best time to visit anywhere between October and May, though it is possible to climb throughout the year by choosing your crag carefully.

Gear required – For sport climbing at least a 60m rope is required though a 70m long rope is ideal, plus around 15 quickdraws. For Trad climbing twin ropes are recommended as many of the routes are multi-pitch, plus the usual protection such as cams and nuts.

Guidebooks – Currently only 2 guidebooks are available for the Canary Islands. These are as follows:

Tenerife Escalada deportiva is the rock climbing guidebook for Tenerife covering mainly sport climbing with some Trad climbing. This guidebook describes more than 900 routes in the best 10 rock climbing areas of Tenerife, including Arico, La Canada del Capricho (La Canadas) and Guaria. Published in 2010 this guidebook is written in Spanish and English text throughout. Buy this guidebook from our shop.

Gran Canary Sport Climbing guidebook covers all the major sport climbing on the island of Gran Canary. In total 14 separate rock climbing areas are documented detailing over 750 routes across a wide range of grades. The style of the rock climbing ranges from sea cliff climbing, low level crags to the nation park of Tamadaba at an altitude of well over 1000m. All the routes are illustrated on full colour photo-topos with French sport grades used throughout. Buy this guidebook from our shop.