The Mountains of Central Spain

Resumen del libro

Extensive guidebook of walks and scrambles in Spain's central mountains, the Sierras de Gredos and Guadarrama, which rise to 2600m and remain snow-capped for 5 months of the year. Over 70 routes and many options, plus Spain's GR10 that runs through the central spine of both mountain chains. The Sierras de Gredos and Guadarrama are the highest part of the long chain of hills and mountains which splits the big central tableland of Spain.

Popular from Madrid, they are rarely visited by foreigners except those en route to the coast or the medieval cities which surround the range. The two sierras form an impressive physical barrier, reaching a height of nearly 2600m and being snow-capped for five months of the year, and they have much to offer the walker, scrambler or climber. The Sierra de Gredos are the highest and most inaccessible mountains in Central Spain with many long approaches up wild valleys or spurs to spectacular corries backed by jagged aretes.

The Sierra de Guadarrama, nearer to Madrid and crossed by several high road passes, offer more intimate walking on a dense network of good footpaths and with a rich variety of scenery from rolling ridges to tightly packed granite towers. Lower than the better-known Spanish ranges, they offer an enjoyable mixture of open ridge walking and spectacular scrambling in a dry and sunny climate.