Map of the rock climbing, sport climbing and bouldering areas in Northern Spain

Rock Climbing and Bouldering Areas in Northern Spain
No	Crag Name	Type of Climbing	Type of Rock	Single or Multi-pitch
1	Valdehuesa	Sport Climbing	Limestone	Single
2	Picos de Europe	Trad and Sport Climbing	Limestone	Both
3	Las Tuerces	Bouldering	Limestone	N/A
4	Santa Gadea	Bouldering	Sandstone	N/A
5	Resconorio	Bouldering	Sandstone	N/A
6	Etxauri	Sport Climbing	Limestone	Single

Northern Spain rock climbing

The northern coast of Spain in the Bay of Biscay provides some excellent rock climbing, sports climbing and bouldering.

This area of Spain is know as the “Green Coast”, and rising from these green valleys between Santander and Gijon is the mountainous area of the Picos de Europe. The Picos de Europe are not that well known outside of Spain, which is surprising as they offer a wide range of climbing and the opportunity for claiming new routes. Here there are long Alpine style routes up to 500m long through to steep well bolted single pitch sports routes. The multi-pitch routes usually require natural protection using cams and nuts and are often long, such as the 300m+ walls of Cares Gorge.

The climbing is centred on the Cabrales valley and around the small town of Arenas de Cabrales, where plenty of accommodation, shops, bars and restaurants are found. The ideal time to climb in the Picos de Europe is from June to September when the weather is fairly stable.

To the south of Santander there are several bouldering areas that have recently been developed, with the largest being Santa Gadea. As shown on the above map there are 3 main areas, which are Santa Gadea, Las Tuerces, and Resconorio. All of these are sandstone boulders, except Las Tuerces, which is limestone. At Santa Gadea there are also some circuits marked, Fontainebleau style. The bouldering provides a good range of grades and the landings are generally very good. Resconorio lies at an altitude of 1200m and is therefore an ideal place to visit during the summer, where as Santa Gadea and Las Tuerces are ideal throughout the year with the exception of the hot summer months.

A guidebook called “Gadeay +” describes the bouldering to the south of Santander and is available from our shop. This guidebook describes the bouldering at Santa Gadea, Las Tuerces, and Resconorio as shown on the above map.