Spanish Highs, Sierra Nevada

01/01/2025

Yesterday we came across an interesting and unusual feature that we've never encountered before in mountains (outside of Kamchatka in 2013). A deep crack/crevice was found near the summit of Morron de Enmedio at 1098m in the Sierra Elvira. The "Sima del Piornal". Coming up out of the crack was a constant strong blast of warm wind. This feature (the Raja Santa cavity) is just west of the summit if you want to experience this for yourselves. Natural warming for a cold winters day!

The first known explorations of the Raja Santa cavity date back to 1950 by a group of Granada cavers. The crack is a fracture of 160m depth and is quite wide. It reaches the phreatic and thermal level of the Sierra Elvira aquifer at 120m depth, containing slightly mineralized water and a temperature of 30º C. Upon reaching the end of the cave, there is an underground thermal water lagoon that "traditionally has transparent and crystalline water."

N.B Phreatic is a term used in hydrology to refer to aquifers, in speleology to refer to cave passages, and in volcanology to refer to a type of volcanic eruption.

31/12/2024

As we had never been to these mountains before we called this walk "The Sierras We've Never Heard Of"! The Sierra Elvira lie just north of Atafe outside the north western outskirts of Granada city. Good motorway connections mean the start is just 45 minutes drive from our home base in Lanjaron.

We started the walk at the large parking area at Collado de los Pinos and made our way up through pine forests and open slopes to the Collado del Morrón del Punta. The summit of Morrón de la Punta 1050m lies a short scramble to the north east but we chose instead to head west towards the reigning peak of Morrón de Enmedio 1098m.

There is some steep ground but there is a good path accompanied by chains in places to assist the ascent. From the summit we passed by the Raja Santa Crack, emitting hot thermal winds from 160m depth, and then easily onwards to the Cerro del Piorno 1083m. From there a steep, loose descent to the Peñon de los Conejos followed before contouring round and back to the car park.

A very interesting half day walk with superb views to the Sierra Nevada and the Vega de Granada. Especially great vistas to the Sierra de Huetor to the east. Lots of Lots of archeological & geological interest. Recommended. 7km, 3+ hours, 435m ascent/descent

30/12/2024

Beautiful winter sunset in the Alpujarra tonight

22/12/2024

Happy Christmas to all our friends

Not much snow around at the moment (in fact, not very "Chrismassy" at all), so thought we'd look forward to the start of winter snowshoeing season with a look back to last years fun and frolics!

Things have changed over the 20+ years we have been operating here. January can be a bit icy up high in the Sierra Nevada but we usually find good snowshoeing conditions from February until the end of May.

Let us know if you are interested in joining us.

20/12/2024

This week our group hiked up the Silleta de Padul from Padul (S of Granada). A nice 12km circular hike with 850m ascent/descent. Much of interest, including spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada mountains and the rock arch of "Piedra Ventana". A super route that is recommended when there are bad conditions in the high mountains. Give it a go!

Nearly Christmas and we were fortunate to be able to walk around in t-shirts and shorts!

11/12/2024

La consejera de Fomento, Rocío Díaz, ha destacado el esfuerzo de la plantilla para disponer de las primeras pistas para los esquiadores

06/12/2024

It's bank holiday here in Spain so we knew many of the popular walks would be busy. Instead we drove 15 minutes to a town called Chite, which we had never visited before. Had beautiful hike through lush forests and lakeside (Embalse de Beznar). A glorious 2 hour, 7km circular walk that ended at the bar in Chite.

Amazing what's on your doorstep that can sometimes get overlooked!

05/12/2024

This is fascinating. Spotted these walls half way up a vertical cliff in the Tajos de Bermejales. Who built them and why?

From Wikipedia ...

"Neolithic people lived in the canyon 5,000 years ago, sheltering under its overhanging walls and using the river as source of food. There are traces of these early settlers on the canyon walls about 10 metres above the present river level. Some of the walls they built to enclose the cavities in the canyon wall are still visible.

At that time the canyon was not so deep, and stairways and ladders were used to reach the dwellings, which were built high for defensive reasons. A clay vessel known as the Olla de Cacín (Cacín Pot) was found in the river bed and is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid. It is the most southern example of Cardium pottery in Europe."

05/12/2024

Some more photos from our trip this week down the Barranco de Tajos Bermejales. A very interesting hiking route with twists and turns, ups and downs and a few surprising features. Be prepared for some wobbly wire bridges, deep undergrowth, ladders, rungs and short sections of very easy scrambling safeguarded by fixed dodgy ropes. Great stuff and recommended that you visit.

04/12/2024

The lower section of the Tajos de Bermejales gorge. A magical place! Not far from Granada.

04/12/2024

Love this photo taken yesterday in the Tajos de Bermejales gorge near Granada. Lots of fun traversing down river, up and down short rock walls and crossing over rikkety wire bridges. Huge rock walls towering above and a very colorful scene upstream. Marvelous

More photos later

30/11/2024

Sometimes you forget what a marvelous venue the Sierra Nevada is for bird watching. Yesterday, we were very privileged as we were lucky enough to spend over an hour in the presence of two very rare Bearded Vultures (Quebrantahuesos/Lammengeier).

They rode the thermals, dropping bones to extract the marrow. The process repeated itself throughout the encounter. This mating pair from Cazorla seemed to be really enjoying themselves and certainly put on a display for us. A rare treat to see.

28/11/2024

We've travelled this road from the Sierra Nevada mountains down to the village of Nigüelas many times. The final kilometers enter a spectacular gorge, but the light has never been right for an image. Either no shadow in early morning or directly into the sun late afternoon. Frustrating.

Today though, we were lucky. Arriving, there with some beautiful light conditions. It's a dramatic place!

23/11/2024

Beautiful late afternoon hazy sunshine highlighting the rooftops of Lanjarón in Granada province

20/11/2024

Exploring the quiet Toril valley in the Sierra Nevada yesterday. A moody day with cloud over the snow covered peaks but some spells of sunshine pushing through during the afternoon.

The head of the Toril Valley is a magnificent and dramatic place presenting a wall of snow covered mountains disappearing into the clouds.

Access was via Capileira and Cebadilla. 13km and 700m ascent.

17/11/2024

Thanks to Spanish Highs friend Ian Tupman who, on the 10th anniversary of the trip, has just re-edited some footage from our Patagonia Expedition in 2014. Additional footage, photos and a new soundtrack.

He's probably just cost us upwards of €5000 as we shall have to return now 😂

Seriously, superb images that brought back some of the finest memories of our mountain life. Music combined nicely with the footage. Thanks for that Ian 👍

cap Hello, and welcome to this anniversary special.On the 13th of November 2014, our team of eight converged on Madrid Barajas airpor...

15/11/2024

View from this mornings walk. Snow from 2700 metres upwards on the south side of Cerro de Caballo, Sierra Nevada

10/11/2024

Glorious sunset tonight in Lanjarón, Alpujarras.