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Mulhacen – highest peak in Spain (excluding Las Canarias)
There are many routes up this mountain, but the one I took involved a degree of cheating - by driving up the dirt track from Caprileira, the second highest village in Spain.
The track actually runs almost to the top of Mulhacen (it used to be a popular route for motorists) but it has now thankfully been closed to vehicles from a point at about 2200m. So this is where I got out and started to walk.
After less than an hour, I tried to be clever and cut across some ground in between the twists in the zig-zag track, but obviously I made an error and ended up wandering around in the mist (and stumbling on some ibexes) whilst trying to find my way back to the track.
If you do stick to the track, most of the ascent of this mountain by this route is pretty easy. Despite being closed to vehicles from 2200m, it can still be walked or cycled up and is not very steep - just long.
When it runs out, the path which replaces it is wide and easy going, and also not steep. After an hour, you arrive at the start of the real climb, and only 400m from the top!
This last bit though, is hard. I had been feeling the altitude from about 2800, having had a constant headache and feeling slightly dizzy when I tried to go too fast. The final stretch is a slow, hard slog up an unrelenting steep path. It took me over an hour to cover one kilometre.
The top was….cold. If the air was still, it was almost warm, but any slight breath of wind and you were chilled instantly.
I took the customary photos, peered cautiously down the North face (which drops right off one side of the trig point), ate another cereal bar and headed off down the ridge to Mulhacen II, which is a bit lower down and has a slightly less glamorous trig point.
Seeing the clouds moving in I decided to drop down to the proper path sooner than I had planned, since walking down a pleasantly gradual slope would be little comfort if I was lost on the wrong side of the ridge. So I jarred my knees for an hour as I clambered down the steep moraine to join the path.
After this it was just a long trudge back….no chance of getting lost on the road. Arrived back at the car just after sunset.
