Roca Verde

Las mejores guías de Escalada Deportiva de la Cordillera Cantábrica. Sport climbing guides to north-west Spain: Asturias, Leon, Cantabria. Me contacten / Contact me: richie@rocaverdeclimbing.com

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New Bird Bans in Asturias May 2021 – Updated 19052021

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The Asturian goverment has just published a report which affects the access to a bunch of climbing areas in Asturias – including a load of the latest crags and some of the most popular crags in the region. And usefully they have done this just days after I published the latest version of Roca Verde – so it’s a total pain in the arse.

So on this page, which I’ll update everytime anything changes, is all the latest information about access and bird bans.

The good news is that according to many people there’s a big possibility that many of these restrictiones will change soon. However, the bad news is that at the moment, in theory, you can be fined for climbing at the areas affected.

Current Information May 2021

Here’s a list of the most important crags affected – or the crags in which the information in the book is now outdated:

Peña Miel – 1 Jan – 31 July – Whole crag banned.
Figares –  1 Jan – 31 July – Now only sector Abajo banned (it is possible that this will change very soon)
Caldueño –  1 Jan – 31 July – Whole crag banned – two months longer than in the book.
Cabeza Alta –  1 Jan – 31 July – Whole crag banned – two months longer than in the book.
Carbes – 1 Mar – 1 August . Sector Principal + Gardaleyu banned. (we are hoping that this will change very soon)
Cuevas – 15 Feb – 31 July – All sectors banned apart from La Fuente. (we are hoping that this will change very soon)
Villa de Sub –  1 Mar – 1 August . Whole crag banned.

And as ever if you arrive at a crag and there are signs regarding a bird ban please follow the instructions and do not climb.

Mergullo – PDF – Asturias Centro

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Mergullo PDF 08032021

Mergullo es una zona pequeña justo a las afueras de Oviedo, Asturias cerca de la “Senda Verde” – este PDF te da toda la información sobre las vías, los croquis y cómo llegar al la escuela.

Mergullo is a small venue that overlooks the ‘Senda Verde’ just outside Oviedo, Asturias – this PDF gives you all the information about the routes, a full colour topo and how to get to the crag.

Haz click aqui para ver un mapa / Click here for a map to the parking 

Quirós by drone – a visual guide to the ‘Queen of crags’

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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.

Quirós por dron!!

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Esta vez el dron ha visitado el entorno maravilloso de Quirós y espero que con estas imágenes es fácil entender porque es un destino magnífico.

Quirós es sin duda una de las mejores escuelas en la guía Roca Verde, con gran cantidad de vías de todos los grados distribuidas en más que veinte sectores. De gran importancia histórica en la evolución de la escalada en la Cordillera Cantábrica, su desarrollo empezó en los años 60 y es la cuna del primer 8ª Asturiano. Sin embargo, Quirós no se ha atascado en el pasado, es un destino vibrante y muy frecuentado, cuidado por un dedicado grupo de escaladores, incluyendo los trabajadores del refugio. La mayoría de los sectores se han reequipado con chapas y reuniones nuevas y se han abierto muchas vías nuevas incluso en los últimos años.

Es difícil resumir Quirós debido a la gran cantidad de escalada que encontraremos, pero podemos destacar algunas cosas. Lo primero es la inmejorable caliza, la cual, incluso después de más que 40 años, no está pulida. También destaca la variedad; aunque predomina la escalada de placa tumbada o vertical, con vías ejemplares de ambos estilos, también hay chorreras, desplomes e incluso unos pocos techos. Cabe agregar una selección excepcional de vías de uno o varios largos y el hecho de que muchos de los largos son de muchos metros.

Con esto es fácil entender porque es un destino magnífico y es importante saber que Quirós es una escuela para todos, con la mayoría de las vías orientadas al escalador intermedio, pero con mucho que hacer para el principiante, aunque no faltan las vías duras para poner a prueba a los más fuertes.

Finalmente, muchos de los mejores escaladores asturianos (y de otros lugares) han dejado su huella en Quirós y una lista se los más relevantes incluiría: Eduardo Velasco, Francisco Blanco, Tino González, Claudio Sánchez, Javier López, Mariluz Santacruz, José Manuel Suárez, Nacho Orviz, Carlos Vásquez, José A Margolles, Plácido Suarez, 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…

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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.

Josh Wharton on Samba pa ti, 8a, El covachon, Teverga

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!”

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