Peak Bagging and Long Distance Walking in the UK and Spain: ESP Com HP

Monday, 9 July 2018

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+)

NONE

Spain Autonomous Community High Points (19)

Lobo (2)

Spain Province High Points (52)

Lobo (2)

S: Spain
P: Portugal
E:Europe

Other walks on this trip

2018

June

26^th Ganekorgorta

28^th Eretza

29^th Mortillano

July

01^st Castro Valnera

02^nd La Tesla - Peña Corba

03^rd El Cueto

05^th La Cotorra
05^th Cerro San Lorenzo
06^th Campiña
09^th Lobo

12^th Pico de Peñalara

14^th Cerro del Cabezo

16^th Cruces
25^th La Rhune

Route

More Photographs

Looking down at Pinilla Ski Resort and as it happens the descent route
Click on photograph to view slide-show

Thursday, 5 July 2018

Cerro San Lorenzo

Walk Summary

At 2271m with a 1127m prominence Pico San Lorenzo is both the highest and most prominent point I have reached under my own steam to date. With not managing to fit in Almanzor later this trip Pico San Lorenzo will be the most prominent point reached although will manage to ascend to 2428m on Pico de Peñalara.

Driving up LR-416 towards Valdezcaray ski resort,
Pico San Lorenzo beyond

This being the case I was anticipating an element of adventure. Turns out I was not disappointed.
Not so much by the summit ascent. With a start at 1959m at Collado de San Lorenzo the walk start was already nearly 250m higher than the previous highest point reached on Castro Valnera only four days ago and a straight forward walk up clearly marked path, not shown on IGN, heading due north first around the east side of the 2056m spot height over Alto de Bogolrrucia then continuing up to Pico San Lorenzo summit. The return was by the same route so not much opportunity for adventure here
The adventure was first on the journey to the planned start point. The IGN showed the LR-415 then LR-416 all the way from Ezcaray passing Valdezcary ski resort then on to Collado de San Lorenzo.

Lorry waiting for me to move van. Exit route to the south
ascending left to right below Pico Salineros

However at Valdezcary the tarmac road ended continuing as a compressed stone track. As it turned out the track is suitable for a road vehicle all the way to the Collado and without any signs to the contrary assumed it was permissible for road vehicles. It was not until near the collado that I saw a sign prohibiting vehicular access 'excepto Vehiculos Autorizados'. It was facing the opposite way I had come so I continued to walk start point and parked in an unconspicuous spot behind some stacked logs. This ended up being the second cause for anxiety as on the descent I could see a lorry fully loaded lorry with logs waiting patiently near my van. I rushed the final part of the descent and apologised to the driver for blocking his access, but he did not seem too bothered giving the impression he was happy to wait.

Pleased to see Embalse de Mansilla from track
south of Pico San Lorenzo.
Still lots of careful driving ahad before reaching LR-113

Now comes the final and third cause for anxiety - the descent in the van. Respecting the sign not to go back the way I had come but using it as justification in my mind to continue south in the direction of any campsite near the next planned summits around Sierra de Neila I continued along the track around Pico Salineros rising to just over 200m before commencing the descent to the LR-113 on the north shore of Embalse de Mansilla. The track was heavily rutted in a number of places and it was this part of the journey that made it an adventure in the true sense of the word. I did drive over each one them very carefully and slowly not knowing if the next one would be the one to cause me to abandon the descent and return the much longer way round. Taking more than 30 minutes to cover the 8km from the Collado de San Lorenzo tp the LR-115 I was most relieved to be back on tarmac albeit in a very dusty van. Otherwise I would be returning the way I had come looking for camping near Ezcaray resulting in not making it to Camping Arlanza ready for next summits of Campiña and Pico de Urbión.
If you do not want to drive on the rough roads you can park at Valdezcary ski resort. Once again there is not a path marked on the map to the summit, but I can confirm there is a route. Exactly at the same time I approached the summit I saw another hiker approaching from the opposite direction. He was a local called Cesar who spoke very good English explained he had in fact come up via this route.
Walk Statistics

Walk Date - 05 July 2018
Walkers - Steve Smith

Accommodation - Camping Arlanza, Quintanar de la Sierra

Start Point - Collado de San Lorenzo (N42°13'26.675" W2°58'37.914")

Start Time - 16:30

Finish Point - Collado de San Lorenzo (N42°13'26.675" W2°58'37.914")

Finish Time- 17:43

Total Duration - 1hrs 12mins
Overall Average pace - 1.73mph
Total Distance Walked - 2.08 miles
Total Height Ascended - 292.40metres

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

Cerro San Lorenzo (11S - 12S&P - 40E)

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

NONE

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