Spain · Montserrat
Via Sargantanes
A popular first Montserrat multipitch close to the monastery. Steep pebble walls at 5b are split by easy slabs, finishing on an airy summit cap.
5b6 pitches145 m
Read the cautions
Integral d'en Pitu i la Nuri
Punta Pam a Pam / Mirador de Sant Joan (Sant Joan sector) · Montserrat · Spain
Bail with caveatsBolting confidence: high
A modern linkup over two pinnacles on excellent conglomerate. Overhanging 6a and 6a+ walls alternate with easy 'potato-field' slabs. The new bolting makes it one of the most reassuring long lines in the massif.
- Hardest pitch
- 6a+
- Pitches
- 5
- Length
- 185 m
- Approach
- 90 min
- Aspect
- S
- South-facing
- Rope
- 1×50 m
The route
Overview
The Integral d'en Pitu i la Nuri links two conglomerate needles below the Miranda de Sant Joan: three pitches to the top of the Punta Pam a Pam, a short walk down, then two more to the second summit. Easy, heavily bolted 'potato field' walls alternate with two steep, physical cruxes, on pitch 2 and pitch 5. Both cruxes are very closely bolted and go at A0, so the obligatory grade is only about 4c. The bolting is modern and dense, which makes it a low-stress day, but finding the start is the real difficulty.
The climbing
Pitch by pitch
4b6a3b4c6a+
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Bolts | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 4b | 50 m | 15 bolts | An easy ramp (3b) to a crest, a slightly harder step left (4b), then a leftward diagonal and straight up to a belay below an overhanging wall. Long and well protected. |
| P2 | 6a | 30 m | 15 bolts | Easy ground (4b) to the overhanging wall, then a sustained, physical section on big pebbles (6a, or A0 on the bolts), followed by a vertical, very well bolted 'potato field' at 4b. Two recent parties thought this the hardest pitch of the route, one calling it 6b. |
| P3 | 3b | 25 m | 3 bolts | Easy climbing to the belay on the summit of the Punta Pam a Pam. From here walk down about 30 m to the foot of the second needle and start up the left-hand line. |
| P4 | 4c | 40 m | 15 bolts | A well-bolted wall. Two blogs warn of a flake low on the pitch that looks detachable. The first-ascent party found it dirty in 2011; later parties describe good holds. |
| P5 | 6a+ | 40 m | 15 bolts | Step left, then a sustained vertical wall (5c, then the 6a+ crux, which goes at A0), and an easy ramp (3b) to the summit belay. Several parties found it easier than pitch 2; a 2026 report suggests 5c/5c+. |
Getting there
Approach
To the parking
Montserrat monastery. Camptocamp suggests parking just above the hairpin at the monastery toll, which it describes as free, and walking up through the car parks. By public transport, FGC trains from Barcelona (Manresa line) connect with the rack railway from Monistrol or the cable car. The Sant Joan funicular from the monastery saves most of the climb. One blogger found the monastery car park full by midday on a weekend and a long funicular queue.
On foot · about 90 min
About 1 h 15 to 1 h 30 on foot from the monastery, less with the funicular. Walk up to the Plaça de Santa Anna, leave the GR4, take the PR C-19 to the Camí de Sant Jeroni and the Pla de les Taràntules, then follow the path towards Sant Joan. Pass the chapel. At the last bend, where the Sant Onofre path leaves on the right, take the blue-marked path that descends on the left (about 20 minutes downhill from here). Follow it to a junction where it climbs right to a small col between the Miranda Xixa and the Miranda de Sant Joan, pass below some routes and keep descending. Where the path turns sharply left, a track with yellow paint marks goes right: ignore it, it leads to R3 on top of the Punta Pam a Pam. Carry on down a good way to a very marked left-hand bend and take a faint path right through the vegetation to the foot of the routes. The start is at the far end of the rock, left of the route Camí d'en Barberà. The hangers are yellow.
Finding the route · 3 photos
Walk-inThe chapel of Sant Joan, which the approach passes shortly before the blue-marked path drops off to the left.Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 Walk-inThe turn-off at a bend in the descending path: the faint approach track leaves here, through the vegetation, for the foot of the routes (April 2026).Photo: jo44 · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Start of the routeThe foot of the first pitch, seen from the ground (photographer's title: "Attaque L1").Photo: jo44 · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Map of the walk-in
- Crag
- Parking
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Parking
41.58849, 1.83337
Funicular de Sant Joan (camptocamp access point)
Point from OpenStreetMap node 10594725090 (Punta Pam a Pam)
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Contains the route point and parking. Opens in most mapping apps and GPS watches.
Points are compiled from published sources, with the precision stated above. They were not surveyed on the ground: check them against a current topo.
Coordinates: 41.58699, 1.82452 (crag) · Parking: 41.58849, 1.83337
Getting down
Descent
Walk off. From the top, descend the north-east ridge towards the col of the Miranda de Santa Magdalena, without needing to reach it. After the rocky section a path leads directly to the Sant Joan track. From there take the funicular or walk down by Santa Anna to the monastery.
Retreat
Bailing off the route
Bail with caveats
Partly. The route is two needles with a walk between them, and the top of pitch 3 (summit of the Punta Pam a Pam) is reached by a path, so you can stop there and walk out. Abseiling the pitches is not described anywhere. The bolts are very close, so lowering off a bolt on the two crux pitches is feasible, and both cruxes go at A0.
- Retreat from
- The summit of the Punta Pam a Pam after pitch 3: a yellow-marked track from the approach path leads to this point, and one party arrived there by mistake. You can also simply not start the second needle after walking down to its foot. From R1 or R2, and from R4, retreat by abseil is not documented.
- Carry
- A 50 m rope is the stated rope. Pitch 1 is 50 m and pitches 4 and 5 are 40 m, so abseiling them would need two ropes. Carry slings and a couple of maillons: Camptocamp asks for slings for the belays and one report mentions unlinked belay bolts.
- Basis
- Part stated, part inferredCamptocamp states that the yellow-marked track reaches R3 and that you walk down between the needles; walking out from there, and everything about abseiling, is inferred because no source describes a retreat.
Partly inferred from the route facts
Safety
Hazards
- Finding the start is hard. A 2026 party lost 1 to 1.5 hours; a 2021 party took the first yellow-marked turn and ended up at R3. The 'yellow' in the descriptions refers to the yellow hangers on the route, not to waymarks at the correct turn-off.
- The turn-off towards the start was blocked with branches in 2013 and again on 20 April 2026. Sources do not say why; check locally whether this signals a restriction.
- Pitch 4 has a flake near the start that two independent blogs describe as loose or frightening.
- Camptocamp asks for slings for the belays, and a blog commenter noted a belay on bolts that were not linked. Be ready to equalise the anchors yourself.
- Grades are disputed: pitch 2 may feel like 6b free. It is closely bolted and can be aided.
Sun and weather
Conditions
South-facing (camptocamp). No source gives sun hours or a season. The 2011 first-ascent party found the rock wet and slow to dry after rain. An April 2026 party reported alternating warm and cool in fine weather.
Usual season · Jan to May, Oct to Dec
JFMAMJJASOND
Sun on the wall · S-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
- January (usual season): not yet worked out
- February (usual season): not yet worked out
- March (usual season): not yet worked out
- April (usual season): not yet worked out
- May (usual season): not yet worked out
- June: not yet worked out
- July: not yet worked out
- August: not yet worked out
- September: not yet worked out
- October (usual season): not yet worked out
- November (usual season): not yet worked out
- December (usual season): not yet worked out
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
Estimated from the wall's aspect only. Ignores surrounding terrain, gullies and the wall's exact shape. Clock times are local to the wall (Central European time), for the 15th of each month.
Climate figures for Montserrat are not available yet
What to carry
Gear
50 m rope, 15 quickdraws (one party used 14), slings for the belays. No cams needed. Stirrups are optional for aiding the cruxes; one party carried them and used them on pitch 2.
Checklist
- Quickdraws
- 15
- Rope
- 1×50 m
- Helmet
- One each
- Slings
- Mentioned for retreat
- Maillons or spare karabiners
- To leave behind if you retreat
Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo
From climbers
Reader reports
Reader reports are not being collected yet. Until they are, check a current topo and the local club or guidebook publisher for recent changes to Integral d'en Pitu i la Nuri.
Worth knowing
Tips
- Both cruxes go at A0, which brings the obligatory difficulty down to about 4c.
- To extend the day, descend right to the col from the last summit, follow the base of the cliff down to several bolted lines on an easy-angled wall, and take the right-hand lines: several easy pitches on new bolts lead almost to the top of the Miranda. The left-hand line finishes on old bolts in scree. Camptocamp says this gives about 250 m of well-bolted climbing.
- The base is not a comfortable place to gear up.
- The route goes quickly once found: a 2026 party took about 2 hours.
Open questions
Where sources disagree
- Grades: camptocamp and one blog give P2 6a and P5 6a+. A 2026 camptocamp report gives P2 6b and P5 5c/5c+, and a 2015 blog also found P2 harder than P5. The first-ascent blog graded them V/A0 with about 6a free. The published grades are kept here, with the caveat.
- Approach time: 1 h 30 on camptocamp, 1 h 15 in a 2015 blog (both from the monastery on foot).
- Final summit: camptocamp names the optional extension summit both Miranda de Sant Joan and Miranda de Sant Benet in the same paragraph; other sources say Miranda/Mirador de Sant Joan.
- Quickdraws: 15 (camptocamp, first-ascent blog) or 14 (2013 blog).
Provenance
Sources
- Camptocamp – Mirador de Sant Joan: Integral d'en Pitu i la NuriUsed for: approach, pitches, bolts, descent, gear, history
- Camptocamp outing 20 Apr 2026Used for: finding the start, blocked turn-off, grade opinions, time
- Camptocamp outing 5 Nov 2021Used for: wrong turn to R3, extension to the Miranda
- El col·leccionista de vies – Mirador de Sant Joan, via d'en Pitu i la NuriUsed for: first ascent, start location, pitch detail, quickdraws
- Trini i Salva – Integral d'en Pitu i la NúriaUsed for: blocked path, flake on P4, aid on cruxes, belay comment
- Blog de Ivosky – Integral d'en Pitu i la NuriUsed for: approach time, grade feel, loose flake, crowds
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Compiled from published sources and last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change. Climbing is dangerous and you are responsible for your own decisions: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.