Classic Route: FIesta De Los Biceps (F7a), Riglos, Spain

Post by Jack Geldard:




In November I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks in Catalunya and the surrounding area in Northern Spain. After climbing in a host of areas such as Terradets, Rodellar, Margalef and Santa Linya I headed to the conglomerate of Riglos for a final route before heading back home.

Riglos is a tiny village fairly close to the town of Huesca and is home to the famous towers - Mallos de Riglos.

The towers are 300m high and made up of amazing pebble-conglomerate rock. They have loads of really famous routes, perhaps the most well known is the mega classic Fiesta De Los Biceps.

At only F7a, it isn't a super-hard route and we were in very good shape having spent the previous few weeks cranking on single pitch Spanish sport routes over a number grade harder! But the route was certainly the best one I did all trip and is worth a mention on this blog.

It's 8 pitches long and is fairly sustained at it's grade. The steepness of the wall would make abseil retreat not much fun, so it is best done on a good weather forecast. We had cold and breezy weather on the route, but moved very quickly and topped out in a short afternoon jaunt.


Gear Used:

As we were travelling fast and light for a quick afternoon ascent (after coffee and eggs!) we opted to take minimal kit.

Climbing Gear:

1 x 60m Beal Joker 9.1mm superlight single rope
14 x DMM Phantom super light quickdraws (various lengths)
2 x 8ft slings and biners
Petzl Tikka Headtorch
Marmot Kompressor Plus Backpack
Some nuts, dried fruits and a cheese butty
A small bottle of water

Clothing:

Marmot Lightweight Crew Baselayer
Marmot Vars Half Zip Top
Marmot Super Mica Jacket (carried in the backpack for an emergency shell)
A dodgy woolly hat I bought in Brazil 10 years ago.

When to go:

Spring and autumn are the best times of the year for Riglos. November was a bit too cold really. Mid-summer is too hot as the wall is in the sun.

How to get there/access info:

Riglos is about 4 hours drive from Barcelona Airport: Google Directions here

The village has a small refuge/hostel/bar and is tiny. The towers are obvious behind the village and are a simple 10min walk - there's a variety of paths - just head to the rock!

The descent from this particular tower is a walk off the back to the right down a fairly obvious path - 30mins.

Good luck! Jack