Why: Rodellar village is situated above the beautiful Muscan gorge in the
Sierra de Guara National Park. This limestone gorge is one of Europe’s
famous climbing areas and provides plenty of steep hard routes. The climbing style is powerful and athletic, with plenty of overhanging caves, arches, roofs, tufas and pinnacles.
Where: Rodellar is at the end of a long, windy, rural road
leading up to the Pyrenees through beautiful olive groves and wheat
fields with snow capped mountains in the background. Before you reach
the Pyrenees you come to the end of the road with the small village of
Rodellar nestled in the foothills. Just outside of the village, a giant
gorge opens up and is filled with amazing caves, arches, spires and
walls with the beautiful but chilly Mascun river flowing (or rather
raging during our trip) at the bottom. The area is extremely popular for
canyonists and we saw many French and Spanish with their wet suits and
haul bags in the parking lot. You can fly into Barcelona, rent a car, and drive a few hours (2) west pretty easily. 
When: Not May. Well, supposedly May can be good, but when we went in May, the rain never stopped and it was cold!Summer is too hot, so probably another good place to go from Sept - November.
Accommodations: We
stayed in a bungalow at El Puente that
was cheap and decent and close to the climbing. Two bedrooms, kitchen/living room and a full bathroom
with shower. Fina, the campground owner is the nicest lady ever and kept
a warm fire going in the restaurant/bar/gear shop the whole time we were
there. Our bungalow was a bit cold, so we lit a fire (our stove) every
night to get a little warmth in the place as we huddled around in our
down coats with wet socks and shoes!
 |
| El Peunte (means bridge), right next to the campground |
Where to Climb: We spent most of our time in
Rodellar hiking and exploring, looking for dry climbing but in the end we did
end up actually getting quite a bit of good climbing in and had some
good weather, mostly at the El Camino wall. This wall is the closest approach from the trail, and is pretty decent for families with kids. Although, there is a drop off, and the hike in is not short. Other areas would be much harder for families with little ones (under the age of 5) and I'm not so sure I'd recommend it over all the other great, easier, family crags in Europe.
 |
| El Camino Wall |
 |
| The Landing/Drop off at El Camino |
 |
| Another crag that stays dry - Las Ventanas |
