Peak Bagging and Long Distance Walking in the UK and Spain: Lobo

Walk Summary

Sight of the days task in hand.
Lobo from the SG114 out of Riaza

Lobo or Pico de Lobo is a relatively isolated summit needing only an overnight stop and early start from Camping Riaza before driving on to Camping el Acueducto ready for Pico de Peñalara another day.
I have looked longingly over to my left many times on the drive south towards Madrid along the A1 - Autovila del Norte from Burgos towards Lobo, sometimes in April still wearing its winter coat of snow around it's summit wandering what it would be like at the top. Well now I know.
No problem parking during the summer months in La Pinilli Ski Resort, though judging by the facilities I suspect it is a different story in winter months with Skiing season in full flow. The map shows a forest track off the SG-114 main road in to La Pinilli about 100m before the car park. Undrivable by anything other than a tracked vehicle it is easy to follow all the way up to the 2000m col between Cerro del Aventeadero and Las Peñuelas. From here turn right for Lobo though as Cerro del Aventeadero is on peakbagger I chose to turn left and follow the ridge to this peak. It was worth the effort as well since it afforded a fine view north over the Central Plateau and back along the path giving an excellent vista of the days main summit - Lobo.

Excellent viewpoint of Lobo from Cerro del Aventeadero

Returning to the col the main ascent path continues close to the line of the province boundary and takes you within a few tens of metres within Las Peñuelas spot height and the second peakbagger summit of the day. Next is Lobo which you can see clearly from Las Peñuelas along with a structure that I thought was either military or meteorlogical. Descending to the main path and following it to the col before heading for the summit it gradually becomes clear the building is derelict, no doubt as part of the ski resort, whatever its former use it just seems wrong that it has been abandoned in this state as a permanent scar on what otherwise is a fine summit area requiring a minor scramble from the back of the building to the trig pillar.

Looking down at Pinilla Ski Resort
and as it happens the descent route

After summit pictures, including being photo-bombed by a fly, time to head for the final peak of Alto de las Mesas. You could miss this out as the path contours around the summit to the north but opportunities for an extra log on peakbagger for me is too much to resist. Coming off the summit looked quite rugged needing some down scrambling but there is an easy route off to the left down to the main path and back up onto the main ridge where the ski resort can be seen and descent started.

From here there is not an obvious path and where one does appear it does not go in required direction for long. So I simply headed for the main ski lift descending gradually and traversing down what looked like the best line. Once at the top of the ski lift I had planned to follow it down through the trees east of Estación de Esqui de la Pinilla, but heavy plant machinery was in action so I continued down to El Testero and followed the service track down to the main ski resort. Somewhere during the descent I passed through beautiful flowers carpeting the hillside, if only I could get that variation and preponderance in my own garden.

Beautiful Flowers carpeting the hillside on way down
Alto de las Mesas

Back at the van before 1pm thinking I had avoided the effects of hot sun. However although it felt pleasantly cool the sun seems to maintain it's intensity. I don't think I had fully recovered from the heat exhaustion from earlier in the trip and had lost a lot of fluid through perspiration feeling the impact of this over the next couple of days. I do prefer walking in this weather though it has become increasingly clear that walking in heat is much harder to mitigate than walking in winter conditions. Cold can be dealt with by not over layering, changing into dry lays when they do get wet through sweat and puting on extra layers when cold. In the heat once you have taken off all layers the only other recourse is to stay out of the direct sun which is not always possible, keep hydrated with adequate levels of water (not too much, but enough) and more importantly maintain and replenish the electrolyte balance.

Walk Statistics

Walk Date - 09 July 2018
Walkers - Steve Smith

Accommodation - Camping Riaza, Riaza

Start Point - La Pinilli Ski Resort car park (N41°12'19.315" W3°28'16.541")

Start Time - 08:52

Finish Point - La Pinilli Ski Resort car park (N41°12'19.315" W3°28'16.541")

Finish Time- 12:55

Total Duration - 4hrs 03mins
Overall Average pace - 1.57mph
Total Distance Walked - 6.36 miles
Total Height Ascended - 877.50metres

Peaks visited
Spain/Portugal 600m Prominence Peaks (168S - 185S&P - 2165E)

Lobo (13S - 14S&P - 41E)

Spain/Portugal 300m - 599m Prominence Peaks (1000+)

NONE

Spain/Portugal 150m - 299m Prominence Peaks (3000+)