Nuevas restricciones por nidificación en Asturias – Actualizado 19/05/2021
El Principado de Asturias acaba de publicar un informe que afecta al acceso a muchas escuelas – e incluso unas de las escuelas nuevas y mas populares de Asturias.
Según mis colegas hay una gran posibilidad que unas de las restricciones pueden cambiar muy pronto pero en estos momentos es imposible decir lo que va a pasar. Y en principio pueden multar cualquier escalador@ que pillen escalando en las escuelas que figuran en esta lista nueva. Aquí hay una lista de las restricciones que afectan a las escuelas más grandes o mas importantes
Peña Miel – 1 enero – 31 julio – Toda la escuela prohibida.
Figares – 1 enero – 31 julio – Solo el Sector Abajo. (esperemos que esta restricción va a cambiar muy pronto).
Caldueño – 1 enero – 31 julio – Toda la escuela prohibida.
Cabeza Alta – 1 enero – 31 julio – Toda la escuela prohibida.
Carbes – 1 Mar – 1 Agosto . Sectores Principal + Gardaleyu prohibida. (esperemos que esta restricción va a cambiar muy pronto).
Cuevas – 15 Feb – 31 Julio – Todos los sectores prohibida excepto de La Fuente. (esperemos que esta restricción va a cambiar muy pronto).
Villa de Sub – 1 Mar – 1 Agosto . Toda la escuela prohibida.
Y como siempre si hay carteles puestos en las escuelas hay que seguir las instrucciones.
Y si no quieres descargar el informe puedes consultarlo en las fotos abajo.
Quirós by drone – a visual guide to the ‘Queen of crags’
Set in a spectacular location, Quirós is unquestionably one of the best crags in the Roca Verde guidebook with a wealth of climbing across the grades on over twenty separate sectors. Historically important in the evolution of climbing in the Cordillera Cantábrica, its development goes back to the 60s and it is home to the first Asturian 8a. However, Quirós is not stuck in the past; it’s a vibrant, and very popular venue which is cared for by a dedicated crew of climbers including those from the refugio. Most of the sectors have been re-equipped with new bolts and chains and there has been plenty of new routing even in recent years.
Quirós is difficult to summarise due to the amount of climbing but several things stand out. Most prominent is the superb limestone, which, even after more than 40 years has hardly polished; then there is the variety, and although the climbing tends towards slabs or wall climbing, with fantastic examples of both, there are tufas, overhangs and even roofs! Add in a brilliant mix of multi-pitch and single pitch routes and the fact that a lot of the single pitches are of a good length and it’s easy to see why it’s a great destination.
Finally, Quirós is also very much an ‘everyman’ crag with the majority of the routes skewed towards the mid-grade climber as well as plenty for beginners and some superb, harder testpieces too.
Like Teverga many of the greatest Asturian climbers, as well as others, have left their mark at Quirós. Again the following list is probably not perfect but hopefully covers a lot of the main people: Eduardo Velasco, Francisco Blanco, Tino González, Claudio Sánchez, Javier López, Mariluz Santacruz, José Manuel Suarez, Nacho Orviz, Carlos Vásquez, José A Margolles, Plácido Suárez, José M Fernandez, Kike Oltra, Anselmo Menéndez, J Carreras, Jesús Martín, Roberto Magdalena.
Thinking of a Roca Verde – here’s what Josh Wharton had to say…
Here’s a review of the Roca Verde region from the renowned American alpinist Josh Wharton, who stayed at Casa Quiros with his family last year..
“I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot as a climber, and through all that travel I’ve learned that climbing areas, at least in part, live up to their reputations. Ceuse does have immaculate rock, and a big hike. Catalunya does have thousands of crags in every style, and generally soft grades. And Rifle does have enough hard routes to keep you occupied for a lifetime, and enough kneebars to justify shaving your thighs. Conversely, when breaking off the well trodden paths, you expect something to be a little lacking. The rock might be great, but it rains all the time. There are only ten routes actually worth doing. Or rest days consist of staring at your navel.
And that’s exactly why the Asturias region, and Teverga in particular, was so shockingly good. Since I’d never met anyone that had climbed in the area I expected something would be missing. The routes would be dirty, the approaches epically long, it would rain the entire trip, something was bound to be up. Instead it was one of, if not the best, family sport climbing trips I’ve ever been on. First off, the scenery was green and beautiful, with rolling green mountainsides that reminded me of Switzerland.
There were lovely bike paths on many of the approaches, which often allowed my daughter to ride her bike to the crag. And the climbing was amazing, varied, and never crowded. At the Entecampos I was delighted by 40 meter vision quest wall climbs, where one pitch felt like an entire days worth of climbing. At Bovedas, I was served a slice of humble pie on near horizontal tufas and pockets. And when it did rain there was the incredible, and completely protected Muro Techno stacked with even more routes. On rest days we drove an hour to the coast, and were treated to a beautiful rugged coastline with empty secluded beaches. My daughter splashed in the waves, and afterwards we feasted on four course seafood lunches for ten euro, and toured charming little cities.
But of course there are all sorts of reason you shouldn’t go too. Because of the lack of traffic there aren’t gobs of chalk and tick marks, so on sighting is a little tough. It certainly does rain a bit more than in southern Spain. The wifi is spotty, and the area is too sleepy to have developed its own hashtag. And the water at the beach was a bit chilly in June. Yeah, if fact, the place is total rubbish. Don’t go at all. But if you do bother, please leave your draws on Manumission, I’d like to have another go on that one!”
Crimpy winter wall climbing in Teverga
Despite the fact winter in Asturias can be a bit harsh (although nowhere near as bad as the Peak district where I lived for years LOL) it’s sometimes the best time to have a crimpy project as the conditions get pretty good for pulling on small edges.
And Teverga, which has got its fair share of technical wall climbing, has quite a lot of stuff which stays dry throughout the year and at Muro Techo (literally translated as Wall/Roof) we have a venue that good some of the best perma-dry routes from 6b to 8b that are maybe best enjoyed in cooler autumnal/winter conditions. I really like the climbing here (not having the big muscles you need for super steep caves) and have spent many a day on the brilliant routes.
Here’s one I did last year, and one of my faves, Escorpion, 7c+, (which I suggested the name for as it definitely has a sting in it’s tail) which gives you an idea of the style of the climbing here.
Get the guidebook here: buy Roca Verde
And you can check out our guest house for a great place to stay close to the crags of Teverga