Peña Cigal, south-west face (three or four metres right of Greim) · Liébana (Peña Cigal) · Spain
The hard neighbour of Greim: a perfect corner and a technical roof traverse (7a) on pitch 2, then a sustained, airy slab of 6b+ to 7a, before joining Greim for three pitches of 6a to 6b. The obligatory grade is 6b, so the 7a moves can be aided on the bolts.
Climbing mode: Big type, screen kept awake, tick pitches as you go.
Highest point about 1300 m above sea level (estimate: terrain height at the mapped point).
Stainless bolts and ringed belays according to the equippers, the Altai topo and the FCDME (2017); no ascent report of the four independent pitches was found, so check their state locally.
7aVIII5.11d6 pitchesEasy to bail
Quimera starts just right of Greim and climbs a separate line for its first three pitches, with two short 7a sections: a technical traverse under a roof on pitch 2 and the top of a steep slab on pitch 3. From the fourth pitch it joins Greim in the crack and corner system and shares its last two pitches. It is fully bolted with blue-painted stainless bolts and ringed belays. The equippers give the obligatory grade as 6b, so you can pull through the hard moves on the bolts.
The atlas doesn't show topos: they are the work of the people who bolt and document these routes. See the topo at Grupo de Montaña Altai – Peña Cigal topo (pared central), or in Peña Cigal: photo topo and route list (central wall).
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 6aVI+5.10a | – | All diagonally right: a channel and corner (5b), a traverse onto a big grassy ledge, a diagonal crack with side-pulls (5c, or 6a+ direct), bridging, then airy moves out left on a slab (6a). |
| P2 | 7aVIII5.11d | – | The signature pitch: an elegant corner (5c/6a), a short traverse left and a slab to a jammed cubic block passed on the left, then a very technical traverse right under a roof (7a), finishing up two parallel cracks (6a). |
| P3 | 7aVIII5.11d | – | An airy, demanding slab: good holds at first (5b), then a compact wall of increasing difficulty (6b/6b+), an easier spell, and hard final moves (7a) before a grassy ledge and a short diagonal left to the belay. |
| P4 | 6bVII5.10c | – | Technical moves into the corner right of the belay, then athletic bridging (6b) to a ledge under another corner (6a), a cracked spur and a short traverse right to the belay (5c). The upper half is shared with Greim. |
| P5 | 6aVI+5.10a | 30 m | Shared with Greim: airy slab moves off the belay (6a), then cracks on excellent rock (5c to 6a) to a small belay ledge. |
| P6 | 6aVI+5.10a | 20 m | Shared with Greim: a crack past two small trees (6a) and a slightly overhanging wall diagonally left (6a). About 20 m of easy scrambling with loose stones leads to the platforms below the south summit. |
Potes is the nearest town (shops, accommodation). From Potes take the CA-184 towards the Piedrasluengas pass as far as Pesaguero, then turn off to Caloca. From the south, cross the Piedrasluengas pass from Cervera de Pisuerga (CL-627, becoming the CA-184 in Cantabria) and turn left for Caloca just past the first houses of Pesaguero. Before Caloca, after a series of hairpins, pass the El Cigal apartments; at the next left-hand bend a dirt track leaves on the right. Park in the lay-by a few metres along it, or about 300 m further up.
About 30 minutes. Take the left-hand, rising track (the right branch goes to a livestock farm). After a few metres a faint path enters a small oak wood on the right and climbs round above the farm building, then continues through scrub and up a grassy slope to the foot of the face, meeting a better-marked path that leads to the base of the reddish spur. A July 2026 party found the wood path nearly abandoned, with brambles at its top end, and on the way back found the better line above the farm. Quimera starts three or four metres right of Greim, below the big corner; look for the blue-painted bolts.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Coordinates · crag
Point from camptocamp summit waypoint 1934281 (Peña Cigal); the routes are on the south-west face below this point
Contains the route point.
Points from published sources, not surveyed.
Coordinates: 43.05462, -4.56012 (crag)
Abseil the route on its ringed belays with two 60 m ropes. The equippers say Quimera is abseilable; a 2015 party abseiling from Greim used Quimera's second belay and reached the ground from it in one 55 m abseil. Walking down the Vira is banned until 1 September.
Easy to bail
Every belay has abseil rings and abseiling is the normal descent, so you can retreat from any stance. From the second belay the ground is about 55 m away, so carry two 60 m ropes.
14 quickdraws and two 60 m ropes. Helmet.
South-west-facing limestone wall below a 1532 m summit, so it gets the afternoon sun. Parties report climbing it in March, July, September and October. The cracks are increasingly grassy and the vegetation is very slippery when wet (2026). Vultures circle the face throughout the day. A 2021 report on a neighbouring route (7paredes7jamadas) said the face had become little-climbed, which does not help maintenance and cleaning.
Forecast · next 7 days · 1300 m
Loading the forecast.
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| Low °C | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Rain mm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Chance of rain % | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Strongest gusts km/h | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Model forecast for 1300 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 · SW-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 | Feb | Mar | Apr (usual season) | May (usual season) | Jun (usual season) | Jul (usual season) | Aug | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 6 |
| Mean daily low °C | −2 | −2 | −0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 1 | −1 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 13 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 |
● usual season. 1991-2020 averages at about 1316 m; rain is for a 10–25 km grid cell. Weather and climate data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
No reports yet.
Spain · Liébana (Peña Cigal)
Sustained 5c to 6a climbing on grey limestone slabs, cracks and corners at the left end of the Peña Cigal wall, with short harder sections up to 6b. The hardest move is the first one off the ground. Bolted in stainless steel and abseiled from every belay.
6bVII5.10c6bVII5.10c5 pitches140 m
Spain · Liébana (Peña Cigal)
Six pitches up the big characteristic corner of Peña Cigal, with a 50 m third pitch that steepens to a 6c+ finish (A0 on two bolts and a peg). The rest is sustained 6a to 6b on good rock. Stainless bolts and ringed belays throughout.
6c+VIII-5.11c6c+VIII-5.11c6 pitches200 m
Spain · Liébana (Peña Cigal)
Long, sustained 6a pitches of slab, cracks and corners, then a technical 6c wall of small crimps on the third pitch, on the left side of the Peña Cigal wall. Stainless bolts and ringed belays throughout. Above the first pitch it is an autumn-only route because of nesting vultures.
6cVIII-5.11b6cVIII-5.11b4 pitches150 m
Read the cautions
Around 7a · about 6 pitches
Greece · Leonidio & Kyparissi
The route that opened Kokkinovrachos to sport multi-pitch climbing: six long pitches up the centre-right of the red wall, sustained at 6b+ to 6c with one technical 7a crux that can be aided on two bolts. Rated three stars locally and more sustained than Aramis.
7aVIII5.11d7aVIII5.11d6 pitches180 m
Morocco · Todra Gorge (Todgha)
Steep, fingery wall climbing that starts with your feet almost in the stream at the gorge entrance. The 7a second pitch is hard for only 2 to 3 metres and can be swapped for a 6b pitch on the neighbouring route, after which three pitches of 6b+ to 6c+ on pocketed and edgy rock lead to the top. Abseil descent.
7aVIII5.11d7aVIII5.11d6 pitches200 m
Read the cautions
France · Baou de Saint-Jeannet
A modern bolted line up the left side of the Baou, starting beside the Péril Jaune cave: six varied pitches on unpolished rock, with a steep 6c wall and a fine crack and corner finishing with one hard move (7a on the topo, 6c or 6c+ to most parties). Two walking transitions through scrub break the climbing, so it has less exposure than the routes on the main face.
7aVIII5.11d7aVIII5.11d6 pitches230 m
Switzerland · Grand Val Jura (Grandval & Welschenrohr)
An aesthetic pillar above Welschenrohr in the Solothurn Jura: six pitches of technical, old-school Jura climbing on stainless bolts, saving the best for a steep, sustained 6c last pitch. Pitch 2 is 7a by the left-hand variant or 6c on the right. Closed April to June for chamois.
7aVIII5.11d7aVIII5.11d6 pitches140 m
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.