Read the blog at: http://kernowclimber.blogspot.ie/2015/06/mulhacen-king-of-mountains.html?spref=fb

A very long, but rewarding day’s hike to the summit of Mulhacén, the highest mountain in mainland Spain, in the beautiful Sierra Nevada in the south of the country. We climbed it from Hoya de la Mora, which is on the Granada side of the mountain range.

On the day we did it in mid-May 2015, large, deep patches of snow were encountered above 3,000m the majority of which were on the steeper slopes with potential slides of several hundred metres if you fell. Fortunately, we had brought half crampons which came in very useful especially when the snow started to become granular, sugary and unstable.

Despite there being snow on the ground, the day was unseasonably hot and the heat oppressive, caused by extensive Saharan dust in the atmosphere, which affected the Rayleigh scattering, making the barren landscape look even more like Mars than usual! However, despite the barrenness, we still managed to spot some interesting flora and fauna en route.

Music: Vuelvo Al Sur, Gotan Project

13 Comments

  1. Vuelvo al Sur,
    como se vuelve siempre al amor,
    vuelvo a vos,
    con mi deseo, con mi temor…
    Quiero al Sur
    Sur, te quiero…
    Nowhere on earth quite like Southern Spain 🙂

  2. Excellent. Hard to believe that there was still snow this far south in mid-May. Martin: a question – which travel tripod do you use?

  3. Awesome video. I found this in Aug 2022. I hiked Pico Veleta back 2017, and hiked and slept on the summit of Mulhacen in 2021 to see the sunrise. Thank you, brought back great memories.

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