UKC

Don't know this area very well but will have a car and two weeks to spare this month. Does anyone have any suggestions for must climb destinations with a good number of 6's and 7's. Keen to get to siruana and rodella, but they both sound a little tough for mid-grade climbing?

In reply to ScubaFairy:

Rodellar is an amazing place if you like steep, juggy limestone - but you're right there isn't much good climbing below 7a to go at.

Haven't actually climbed at Siurana, but if you like conglomorate I did two weeks just down the road in Margalef last year, and it was pretty awesome. Loads of great lines throughout the grades, and a variety of different shapes and angles of walls from slabs and vertical technical climbs through long stamina fests to short, super-steep bouldery routes.

In reply to ScubaFairy:
I visited Siurana easily, my top leading grade is F6a and seconding if I'm lucky F6c. I found it tough in Siurana itself though if you were pushing 7a's comfortably then it would be much more worthwhile (it was really good for friends who were redpointing 7a). It's definitely worth a visit, amazing place.

We also made a couple of day trips to Margalef. Extremely worthwhile for 6a's and up. The stuff in the valley is repetitive and not worth bothering with. Go up the small windy roads for the best stuff. The crags on the very tops of the hills were amazing. I bagged my first outdoors 6a lead there - 30m of amazing moves. Again, worth a visit for sure. For mid-grade, Margalef is a bit better than Siurana, though there is less there on the whole.
(For Margalef you can buy a guide in the village, for €10)

Hope this helps!

In reply to ScubaFairy:

Monseratt...

Amazing place, amazing rock.. You could climb for two years there and not repeat a route... All grades and types of route, from the very long to the very short, and from the very easy to the very hard.

About 20 min drive north from Barcelona.

In reply to John_Hat:

Montserrat is pretty old school with mainly fingery climbing on slab to vertical walls. Those looking for athletic climbing are better off going to Margalef. As said, Siurana and Rodellar are tough for those climbing below solid 7a. There's plenty of other places that are closer than those mentioned. The whole Lleida region offers a great variety of different types of climbing. For multi-pitches I would recommend Vilanova de Meia. For single pitch, maybe Camarasa.

Thanks folks, sounds like were going to have a bit of a road trip. we're hoping to camp, I'm assuming campsites are relatively easy to come accross, any top tips/ avoids?

In reply to ScubaFairy:
A bit further away than the others, but whilst you are out west it would be a shame not to spend a couple of days at Riglos. Unique !!

In reply to ScubaFairy:

There is a campsite at the top of the hill at Siurana just before you get to the village.

Margalef has a free campsite but as you'd expect for the price it has no facilities. There is a refugio in the village though (where you can buy the topo)

Rodellar has a campsite but is quite expensive I believe. Also a refugio in the village.

In reply to DaveR:


If you do use the free campsite, there's actually a cafe in the village where you can get a shower for a couple of euros.


If I remember rightly they charge you around 6 euros per night per person, per tent *and* per car... I parked the car outside and walked in.