The start
of the gorge offers the longest routes at El Chorro and is very
narrow. The routes here are accessed by a man-made walkway, called
"Camino Del Ray". This walkway runs the length of the
gorge and is suspended 100m above the valley floor. However it is
over 80 years old and is now sadly slowly crumbling away, especially
at both ends. However, this definitely adds to the "feel of
adventure" to the rock climbing at El Chorro and calls for
a high level of commitment in just getting to the start of some
of the routes! It is this area, which gives El Chorro its own unique
intimidating atmosphere, and not surprisingly this is where the
long multi-pitch routes are concentrated (up to 10-pitches long).
The majority of the routes here are 6b+ and above, and are either
above or below the Camino Del Ray walkway.
Further into the gorge it opens out and receives a lot more sun,
making it considerably less intimidating. The quickest way to access
these routes is through a series of railway tunnels (up to a 40
minute walk). At weekends however there are guards patrolling the
railway tunnels who will fine any climbers they catch. When this
happens it means a longer walk over the top is necessary to access
the routes. The majority of the rock climbing is single pitch along
with some multi-pitch routes, with a good range of grades from French
4 to 8c. This section of the gorge also includes; Makinodromo zone,
which offers many high quality single pitch routes, mainly at 6b+
and above on steep overhangs and tufas; and Los Cotos, which offers
some excellent technical slab climbing at the lower to mid grades.
In the upper gorge there is a climbing ban on certain areas of
this section due to a rare plant called "Ruphicapnus Africana"
that only grows here. The majority of the routes are single pitch
and the grades are mainly 6's and 7's.
Towering above El Chorro village and rising from the entrance of
the gorge is a knife-edge ridge, known as Las Frontales. Here the
rock climbing is less intimidating and there are a good selection
single and multi-pitch of climbs at all grades up to 150m long.
At the top of this ridge is another excellent crag called Escalera
Arabe, which has many excellent single pitch sports routes across
all grades. There have also been a lot of new routes established
in this area.
It is fair to say that the rock climbing at El Chorro
has everything climber could wish for; over 650 routes with a good
selection of bolted single and multi-pitch routes; excellent limestone
slabs, tufas and exceptionally steep walls; most of it within walking
distance of El Chorro village and available at all grades! The above
information has been extracted from the guidebook for the area called
Andalucia by David Munilla, and covers all
the sports climbing at El Chorro along with many other crags around
Malaga. Buy
this guidebook for El Chorro from our shop.
Within an easy drive of El Chorro there are several
other crags that are well worth visiting. The whole area around
Malaga and Marbella offers some excellent crags such as Desplomilandia,
Turón, Archidona and Torcal de Antequera. For more information
about rock climbing at these crags visit the Malaga
and Marbella page. Close by there is also an excellent
crag at Loja towards Granada.
For information about the best time of year to rock
climb at El Chorro, accommodation information, and gear required
etc, then please visit out logistics
page. |
