Peña Cigal, south-west face (left side, left of the big roofs) · Liébana (Peña Cigal) · Spain
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.
Climbing mode: Big type, screen kept awake, tick pitches as you go.
Highest point about 1532 m above sea level (camptocamp waypoint 1934281 (summit)).
6bVII5.10c5 pitches · 140 mEasy to bail
Roberval climbs the left-hand side of the Peña Cigal wall, left of the big roofs, in five pitches of steady 5c and 6a with a few short moves of 6a+ and 6b. The climbing is technical and varied: a fingery cracked slab off the ground, parallel cracks, a pocketed wall, a fluted slab and a fine corner. It is fully bolted with stainless-steel bolts and every belay has abseil rings, so most parties abseil from the fifth belay. A party that climbed it in July 2026 (logged twice on camptocamp) found it very enjoyable, with short, quite well-protected hard sections, but noted grass growing back into the cracks.
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 | 6bVII5.10c | 20 m | A vertical cracked slab with the hardest move of the route right at the start (6b if climbed direct), then diagonal cracks rightwards on improving holds, steep and sustained (6a) to a grassy ledge. |
| P2 | 6a+VII-5.10b | 30 m | A crimpy slab leads to two parallel cracks; a long step left (6a+) gets you into the left-hand crack, then a wall on good holds and cracked ground (5b to 5c) to the belay. |
| P3 | 6aVI+5.10a | 25 m | Delicate, steep pocketed moves (6a) into an easy, dirty channel with some loose rock and grass; leave it leftwards up a more compact wall (5a) to a large vegetated platform. |
| P4 | 6a+VII-5.10b | 25 m | Up a crack on the right of a fluted slab, then step left into the flutings for thin moves and friction (6a+ to 6b), easing on a lichenous slab to a ledge below the next corner. |
| P5 | 5cVI5.9 | 40 m | A fine corner on good holds (5c), a few finer, more spaced moves out on the left slab (5c to 6a), then a final steep section on good holds to a small ledge. Graded V+ by La Garafa and 6a on camptocamp. |
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. Follow the face leftwards past the big characteristic roofs: Roberval is the left-most route on the face.
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 from the fifth belay using the ringed anchors; the equippers ask you not to go up to the Vira, which is a sensitive spot for the nesting birds. La Garafa abseiled in three: R5 to R4 (40 m), R4 to R2 (50 m), R2 to the ground (50 m) on two 60 m ropes. The equippers say every abseil is under 30 m except the one from the fifth belay, which may be too short on a single 60 m rope; they recommend a single 60 to 70 m rope. An optional sixth pitch (3c, about 20 m of grass and ledges) reaches the Vira, but walking down the Vira is banned until 1 September.
Easy to bail
Abseiling the route is the normal and recommended descent and every belay has abseil rings, so you can retreat from any stance. The pitches are short (20 to 40 m).
14 quickdraws (equippers and La Garafa); a 2026 party took 11. A single 70 m rope, or 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 · 1532 m
Loading the forecast.
| Measure | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High °C | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Low °C | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Rain mm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Chance of rain % | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Strongest gusts km/h | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Model forecast for 1532 m. It cannot tell you whether the rock is dry. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
Time plan · 5 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.
Straight-line distances, up to 30 km.
No reports yet.
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)
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.
7aVIII5.11d7aVIII5.11d6 pitches
Read the cautions
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 6b · about 5 pitches
France · Bavella
A concentrate of Bavella on orange granite: long pitches alternating pure friction slabs, walls and roofs of huge tafoni, a cracked corner and a final sequence of technical bulges. Sustained at 6a and 6a+ with rests on big ledges. Maurizio Oviglia calls it one of the most approachable and most recommendable routes in the massif.
6bVII5.10c6bVII5.10c5 pitches220 m
Read the cautions
Spain · Mallorca (Sa Gubia)
The route that gives the sector its name: five long, sustained and homogeneous pitches up the full height of the back wall of the bay, left of the vast orange scoop. Pockets, a technical fingery wall, a jug-covered bulge and a long traverse right near the top. Two of the lower belays are hanging stances.
6bVII5.10c6bVII5.10c5 pitches148 m
Read the cautions
Austria · Karwendel (Innsbruck Nordkette)
The harder twin of Flying Grass, climbing straight up from the same start. Delicate, polished slab low down with a short overhang on pitch 1, then steeper slab on good holds in the middle, and a shared finish.
6bVII5.10c6bVII5.10c5 pitches150 m
Spain · Riglos & Agüero (Mallos)
A fine short route on the right edge of the Pisón, ending on a big terrace at half height. A vertical wall on small holds on pitch 3 and two hard moves on the last pitch.
6bVII5.10c6bVII5.10c5 pitches150 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.