UKC

Hi all. Me and 2 friends are on a trip here in September and staying at the hut. The main goal is to climb as a 3 on Rabada-Navarro. A few things I'd like to know are.
What grade would u give this route as a UK grade.
What kind of rack would be ideal.
What's the aid like on p1 and p3. And how hard these 2 pitches are.
Is route finding a big problem.

This is by far the biggest test we are attempting and don't want to bite off more than we can chew. But still want to be on the edge of whether it's possible. Any advice would be great. Thanks
Luke.

In reply to luke glaister:

E3 free
HVS on aid
Aid easy when I did it and short lived, but on wooden wedges, which at a guess have now rotted.

I believe you can walk off from half way if you are running late. Or you could bivvi there - but check this

In reply to luke glaister:

From some notes I sent to a friend recently: There is no aid on it unless you can't freeclimb the 2 harder pitches.

We went to the Picos some years ago in July (see my UKC album). We caught the cable car up and then walked to the hut under the W face, but it's apparently *much* easier to drive closer and walk up. On the map the cable car approach looks easiest (and gains you height) but it's not even vaguely flat and there's a horrible scree descent involved with fixed ropes, Go the other way!

The hut is a nice big hut with multiple rooms on >1 floor. It's a short approach to the Navarro. The 1st pitch is the hardest (6c I think), followed by an awkward 6bish pitch. Take 60m ropes and in the hut there's a topo which tells you which pitches you can run together. This reduces the number of pitches by 4-5 from memory. The diagonal ab point is an obvious continue/escape off right point. It took us 1/2 the time to get there but it's only 1/3 of the way up. However the top 2/3 is easier so we continued. The descent is scrambling & abbing off the back, and then you walk all the way back round to the hut. We started at dawn and it started to get dark on the walk back round.

No special rack required (just a normal trad rack): there's a reasonable amount of fixed gear. We had no route finding problems.

In reply to luke glaister:

Thanks very much for your time guys. And the Pm from Mr coley. Much appreciated.
Luke.

In reply to David Barlow:



+1
I really like the walk via Bulnes village

In reply to David Coley:

We walked via the cable car, and yes there's a short nasty rope-protected bit but otherwise I think it's great - you get to see a lot of the area that you'd otherwise miss.

In reply to luke glaister:
Probs cruxy (not pumpy) E3. We bagged the first pitch in the evening sun, and left a rope in place. Got us off to a good start in the cold of the morning - makes sense! Other than that, I can't add much to the sound advice above.

In reply to luke glaister:

If you have a car take the road up to Sotres and then take a right up to Terenosa on a rough road - park at the road head and there is a good path up to the Terenosa hut and then onto the JDU hut below the route ( aboout 2.5 / 3hrs easy walk ) - now the most popular way up avoiding the trek / train up to Bulnes or the cable car / trek from Fuente De. Good luck.

In reply to bullybones:

Hi there. Yeh are plan is to go up direct route. To sus out the walk off and abseil chains. Then descend and go for a look at RN. That's a good idea about leaving a rope in place to. Cheers.
Luke.

In reply to alec roberts:

Hi Alec. Yeh we have a hire car and are going for the way u recommend. Cheers for advice.
Luke.

In reply to luke glaister:
+1 to reccing the ab, it would be quite difficult to find on your own in any bad weather. Dead easy when you know where it is.
We didnt do RN but mur 78, the climbing on west face can feel very airy for the grade but is actually relatively soft touch technically.
Worth knowing that the hut/campsite can be sat in clag but once you're up at the face/on it you can quickly get above it and in perfect conditions. A good trick is take some mini binoculars and study/memorise the route from the hut, its a big face and can be a little disorientating trying to route find when you're first in the middle of it.
We went light with 1-10 wires, 5 cams and 12 draws, and a few tat loops for threads. This was perfect.
It is also worth knowing that it is siht hot.

In reply to Paul Crusher R:

Thanks Paul. And a good shout on the binoculars. Starting to realise a lot of small ideas will go a long way. Thanks for the advice.
Luke.

In reply to luke glaister:

For getting to the refuge. Take the funicular to Bulnes village then walk is the easiest way and a nice enough walk. Have notdone the climb so cannot comment on that.

In reply to luke glaister:

Maybe I'm misremembering the route we did on Naranjo but I thought it was Rabbada Nabbaro and if it was it was about HVS and Camalots 2 and 3 were useful for the limestone tunnels. Of course I might be thinking of the wrong route - which face is it on ?

In reply to GrahamD:
It's on the west face Graham. I've heard big gear is useful especially cams. Cheers.
Luke.

In reply to luke glaister:

I went on a family trip to the area recently and so have no climbing experience in the area...however I picked up this book in Potes for 22 Euros:

http://www.edicionescordilleracantabrica.com/escalada-libre-en-el-picu-urri...

It has general descriptions in English that includes intro, walk ins, where to stay, where to get water, info on each of the faces including approach and descent. The route and pitch descriptions are in Spanish though but you can sort of guess the meaning and with minor research translate the important parts.

It also has 3 sport climbing topos in the area just north of the Picos. I certainly look forward to using this book another year.

In reply to luke glaister:

Gear: Depends. A set of cams from fingers to big hands, a set of nuts. A few more cams from big finger to tight hand if you're planning to aid/frigg pitch 3. (Pitch 1 is a one-move wonder at a bolt.) Two 50 m ropes.

Even if the route is on your limit you should probably try to simul climb a few pitches in the big chimneys after the traverse. It'll cut down the ascent time quite a bit. As someone said before, if your likely to end up on the top late in the day, maybe climb the mountain by a shorter route before to have the decent wired.

Route finding is uncommonly easy for such a big route.

Good luck!

In reply to luke glaister:

Not sure if its still there but if you walk up from Bulnes there is the Cheese Hut. High in the meadows, just before the walk in steepens, there is a little hut. The couple inside sell wonderful Cheese and beer which is kept cool in a stream. I guess they inhabit the hut in summer months only so might not be there in Sept. Anyone know if its still there? And while I am posting, the local Cidra served in Bulnes is potent. We thought a colleague had died from over consumption- she spent the night sleeping in the porch of her tent with one leg still outside. Happy days !

In reply to Lostsky:

Hahaha if it's cheese cider or beer. Then I'm there. Sod the climbing. Lol.
Luke.