Scrambling in the Mountains of Spain - El Chamizo

We offer scrambling courses in Spain for all levels of ability; we can teach you the rope work and movement techniques needed to climb your first grade 1 scrambles; we can give you the extra skills and confidence to tackle your own grade 3's or we can guide you up the classic scrambles that abound in Snowdonia and Spain.

Scrambling with an instructor will give you the experience to gauge the difficulty of a route and let you learn how to protect both yourself and your partner on steep ground. You will learn about all aspects of the rope work used on scrambles; running belays, moving together, direct belay techniques, abseiling & short roping.

Scrambling the great ridges of Spain is a perfect introduction to the world of mountaineering. The skills learnt from an instructor whilst scrambling in the mountains will give you the basics for moving competently and safely over steep, rocky terrain and allow you to enjoy some of the best mountain routes in the UK and Europe

We are based in a lovely mountain area that has excellent scrambling, climbing and trekking.

The El Jobo and Camarolos mountains are the background to our base in Spain, the village of Villanueva del Rosario. These hills are a wild, fertile region that is a natural playground for the adventurous.

These hills not only contain sites of great beauty, but also have the highest peaks in the area: El Chamizo (1,641 metres), Alto de Hondonero (1,420 metres) and El Pelao (1,387 metres)

The mountain range of Camarolos is part of the arc of limestone hills that divide the province of Malaga into two parts - from the Almijara mountain range, in the East, along the Tejeda and the Torcalto ranges to the Crestellina mountains in the West.

These peaks offer great scrambling with an alpine feel. The classic scramble to the summit of El Chamizo can be done via several variations to suit fitness and ability. The start of the scramble can also be varied to create shorter or longer days - on one hand you can hike from the village into the hills before reaching the limestone buttresses that protect the summit; this involves about 16km of hiking and 850m of height gain. On the other hand it is possible to access the base of El Chamizo by dirt track for a shorter day that concentrates on the scrambling.

The summit of El Chamizo has an alpine-style log book for the successful to sign for posterity and has great views across the whole region.

The purpose of this course is to provide participants with the technical skills and knowledge to tackle adventurous routes in the mountains via classic scrambling/easy rock climbing routes and know how to safeguard themselves using  a rope on harder scrambles.

We will concentrate on helping you to move safely and confidently over rocky terrain, gradually building up the seriousness of the days and the routes to correspond with your growing technical ability.

The course will normally try to cover:

• Guidebook interpretation and assessing the inherent risk of scrambles
• Route choice, route finding and navigation.
• How to travel light and fast. The course will cover what to take on the longer routes such as lightweight equipment and gear choice plus what to eat and drink.
• When to use a rope and basic rope work
• Belaying (Classic, Italian Hitch + belay devices), direct and indirect belays and anchor selection
• Running belays, moving together, short roping.
• Protecting nervous partners on easier ground.
• Abseiling
• Mountain weather
• Emergency procedures

If appropriate students may have an opportunity to lead scrambles/climbs up to about Diff standard (or scrambling Grade III).

Booking Form

Useful Information on our Courses

 

Booking Information

 

 

.