Winter bouldering in Madrid doesn't just give you many options for indoor gyms: there's no shortage of rock, either! With some of the largest bouldering areas in all of Spain, the surroundings of Madrid are a top destination for anyone who wants to spend unforgettable days out in nature.
We discover three of them together: the granite areas of La Pedriza and Zarzalejo (El Escorial is currently closed, and there is a climbing ban) and the limestone area of El Tamajón. If La Pedriza is a purely winter destination, Zarzalejo and El Tamajón are ideal forspring and fall: but let's get to know them more deeply.
The largest granite boulder area in Spain: La Pedriza
La Pedriza
La Pedriza is the largest granite bouldering area in the whole of Spain, with a staggering number of sectors: as many as seventy-eight, with a total of more than 3400 problems. A dream for lovers of a style of climbing where grip is everything, and the many different edges lead you to technical climbing from counted attempts. The granite of La Pedriza is known to be particularly abrasive, which is one of the reasons why boulderers try the most difficult passages in the middle of winter: without the grip of colder days, the skin could become the limit of your days on the rock.
If the immensity of the area isn't reason enough to plan a bouldering vacation in this area, the variety and quantity of problems probably will be, providing projects for skin climbers of all levels. The grain of the rock is one of the reasons why it does not get the best feedback, although the secret to appreciating it as much as possible is to see only the positive side of its abrasiveness: being a granite with a lot of concretions, as long as you have skin it will be easier to hold! Moreover, its solidity is unquestionable.
The boulders of La Pedriza have a reputation for being "difficult", although never as much as the routes that have been built over the decades in the neighboring rocks. The main reason for this reputation is, firstly, a style of climbing that is a little different from the classic one that we are used to in limestone cliffs, and a period of "breaking in" that you have to take into account when you arrive in this sea of granite.
The slabs are undoubtedly very technical and have little to do with the intuitive style of indoor boulders: but if we are ready to live this "process" of getting to know a demanding rock with a very constructive spirit, we can surely return home with some satisfaction in our pockets. One of the most spectacular areas for anyone who loves slab is Bosque de Cantocochino, an area not to be missed.
La Pedriza is a paradise for any rock climbing lover: if you are looking for a magical place, where you can spend days climbing in a beautiful environment, you are ready to travel to Madrid. Talo Martin, is one of the great experts in the area, as well as the author of the Guidebook that can be found at the Hostel de Manzanares el Real, a reference location for anyone who wants to come to the area to spend great days of adherence.
Winter friction for big satisfactions in La Pedriza
Zarzalejo
The Zarzalejo area is located about fifty kilometers northwest of Madrid, in a lovely natural setting. The seasonality is similar to that of La Pedriza and ranges from late fall to early spring, that is, following the good conditions of the adherence associated with colder days. Here, too, we find a fairly aggressive granite that creates indentations with tiny concretions, slopers, and rounded edges; there are more than twenty sectors with a number of boulders counting more than three hundred steps.
The technical style, the difficulty of reading the rock, and the complexity of the movements make Zarzalejo “a good school” to improve in many respects. Compared to La Pedriza, here we find a significantly higher concentration of intermediate and high-difficulty passages, a factor that attracts climbers of a certain level here.
The enchanting landscape around the boulders of Zarzalejo
El Tamajón
We change completely the climbing style with of El Tamajón, a limestone boulder area ideal in the mid-seasons, thus with milder temperatures than the other areas presented so far, namely autumn and spring. El Tamajón is located at an elevation of 1030 meters, which is why we advise against midwinter, about fifty kilometers northeast of Madrid, with a proximity between the different areas that makes moving between boulders pleasant and immediate.
Although it represents an area that received its first visits many decades ago, in recent years El Tamajón has been the subject of a great deal of enhancement work by a group of local boulderers who are responsible for cleaning new lines, as well as maintaining an optimal balance between climbers and the environment. You can find plenty of information on the dedicated Instagram page, where the latest news about new lines opened and different kinds of communications are available.
Following the most creative forms of limestone, at El Tamajón we will find passages with dynamic and aesthetic movements, lots of overhangs, and particularly varied inclines. As is often the case with this type of rock, in addition to the classic indentations and crimps, the most challenging passages are characterized by the presence of one-finger and two-fingers pockets, for which we suggest you do a specific warm-up (and also a specific training).
The typical overhanging conformations at El Tamajón
