Gran placa (Benavent de la Conca) · Serra de Comiols · Spain
A sustained, fine slab and wall route on steep conglomerate above Benavent de la Conca, with plenty of footholds but few positive handholds. The 6b+/6c second pitch is the crux; elsewhere it is 6a to 6a+, with short A0 sections on pitches 3 and 4. Climbing is banned from 15 February to 1 September.
Climbing mode: Big type, screen kept awake, tick pitches as you go.
Highest point about 1200 m above sea level (camptocamp waypoint 1854473 (summit)).
6cVIII-5.11b6 pitches · 170 mBail with caveats
Chiricahua climbs the Gran placa, a steep slab of conglomerate on the west side of the Serra de Comiols above Benavent de la Conca. It is six pitches of about 30 m, mostly 6a to 6a+, with a sustained 6b+/6c wall on pitch 2 and short A0 sections on pitches 3 and 4, so the obligatory grade is about 6a/A0. The route is fully parabolted with rings at the belays, and the sources call it a fine route on good, cleaned rock in a beautiful setting. The rock is steep and hard to read: there are plenty of footholds but the handholds are rarely positive. Climbing is banned on this face from 15 February to 1 September.
The atlas doesn't show topos: they are the work of the people who bolt and document these routes. See the topo in Abella de la Conca (incl. Comiols, Roc de Benavent): free route topos (reseñas).
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 6aVI+5.10a | 35 m | Climb above the first panel of rock into a crack that leads out onto a grassy terrace, then a last delicate step. The rock is poorer in short sections on this pitch. |
| P2 | 6b+/6c | 30 m | The steep, sustained wall above the belay. The crux pitch (6b+/6c on camptocamp, 6b+ in a 2009 repeat; the overall grade is given as 6c). The bolt line sometimes leaves the easiest line, which makes some clips awkward. |
| P3 | 6aVI+5.10a | 30 m | Start left, then up a slab trending slightly right; pass a moulding at A0 (free at about V+/6a according to a 2009 repeat) and reach the belay on the right. A 2009 party notes an aided step at the end of the pitch too; climbing the small overhang free by traversing right is about 6a but leaves the last clipped bolt 3 m to your left, so clip the bolt line. |
| P4 | 6a+VII-5.10b | 30 m | A very steep step, then a slab trending slightly right; under the overhang go back left into a niche. A 2009 repeat places an A0 section on this pitch, about 6a+/6b free. |
| P5 | 6aVI+5.10a | 30 m | Leave the niche on the left up a sustained wall, then go right along an easy-angled slab to the belay on a wooded ledge (fixed rope). |
| P6 | 6a+VII-5.10b | 30 m | Straight up through a series of small overhangs, then a slab to the top; the belay is on the left. A 2009 party climbed the start using a tree. The last two pitches can be linked. |
Benavent de la Conca is a small village in the municipality of Isona i Conca Dellà (Pallars Jussà, Lleida), below the Coll de Comiols on the road between Artesa de Segre and Tremp. It has a stop on the Barcelona–La Pobla de Segur bus line, with one bus a day in each direction, but a car is much more practical.
In Benavent take the track towards the cemetery; before it climbs to the cemetery, carry straight on along the lower, level track for about 1 km until you are below the wall. Bloc Empotrat parked about 500 m before the end of the track, where there is more room and where the walk-off ends. From the end of the track go up through fields and then woods to the foot of the wall (about 15 min). There is no good path for the last part: expect some bushwhacking.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Coordinates · crag
Point from camptocamp waypoint 1854473 (Banavent Serra de Comiols); the route's own point is the same
Contains the route point.
Points from published sources, not surveyed.
Coordinates: 42.08756, 1.11284 (crag)
Walk off in about 30 min. Follow the ridge to the right for about 100 m (Bloc Empotrat: first fields and meadows, then a track) to a broad, obvious col. Go down the steep, very wooded gully below it (a cairn at the top, and some rubbish and two cairns in the first metres). It is easy downclimbing, with fixed ropes in fairly good condition in the steeper lower part and one 30 m abseil halfway down. Then pick your way through the woods and fields back to the car. A December 2025 party called the descent quick but adventurous. Alternatively, the belays are rigged for abseiling the route; take spare cord if you do.
Bail with caveats
Every belay is bolted and fitted with a ring and cord for abseiling, so you can retreat from any belay. The pitches are 30 to 35 m, so a single rope may not reach between belays; check your rope length, or carry a second rope. Bloc Empotrat suggests spare cord if you abseil, in case the cord at the belays needs replacing.
15 quickdraws, some of them long to reduce rope drag. Single rope: Bloc Empotrat climbed on one rope without linking pitches. No cams or nuts are needed, and there is little room to place them anyway. An étrier can help on the A0 sections. Spare cord if you plan to abseil the route.
Climbing is banned from 15 February to 1 September, so the route can only be climbed from September to mid-February. The face looks west (west to north-west on camptocamp), at about 1,200 m. It is in the shade until about 14:00 to 15:00 and gets the sun in the afternoon, which makes it a good choice on winter afternoons; a December 2025 party found conditions good once the sun reached the wall.
Forecast · next 7 days · 1200 m
Loading the forecast.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High °C | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Low °C | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Rain mm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Chance of rain % | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Strongest gusts km/h | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Model forecast for 1200 m. It cannot tell you whether the rock is dry. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
Time plan · 6 pitches
Working out sunrise and sunset.
An estimate. Queues and route finding cost time, and shaded walls go dark before sunset. Local time (Central European time), flat horizon.
Sun on the wall · W-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
From the aspect alone; terrain is ignored. Local time, 15th of each month.
| Measure | Jan (usual season) | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov (usual season) | Dec (usual season) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | 6 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 6 |
| Mean daily low °C | −3 | −3 | −0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 1 | −3 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 6 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
● usual season. 1991-2020 averages at about 1102 m; rain is for a 10–25 km grid cell. Weather and climate data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
Straight-line distances, up to 30 km.
No reports yet.
Around 6c · about 6 pitches
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Read the cautions
Researched and aggregated by AI from published sources, last compiled October 2026. It can be wrong, and bolts, anchors and access change: check a current guidebook and read the disclaimer.