© Paul Robert Williams
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Site Last Updated: 02/Apr/2011
The sun shone brightly and directly overhead, without a cloud in the clear lagoon blue sky. Yet despite its apparent warmth, I shivered and felt the left side of my face starting to go numb. Knowing this was not a good sign, I stopped, pulled by Gortex jacket from by backpack and put it on, pulling the cords tight to cocoon my face almost entirely in the hood.
Such is the weather on the 3500m high Mulhacén, the highest mountain on the Iberian peninsula where conditions can be particularly deceptive. Due to its latitude and position within the balmy climes of Andalucia, the sun often shines; but up on the higher slopes of the Sierra Nevada range the weather as in any mountainous region can often change dramatically (the temperature range is one of the highest in Europe reaching in excess of 25ºC in July and sometimes as low as -35ºC in January).
The cold wind at this particular moment was whipping up over the North face across the final ridge to the summit, with a force that had caused a sudden alarm at not being able to feel my lips. I looked towards the summit which was only 100m away and turned back to see my climbing partner, coming up the ridge towards me. I decided to wait.
The day before we had driven up from Malaga to the village of Capileira. This tiny picturesque village of petit whitewashed houses, sitting high in the Sierra range is the second highest populated area in Spain. The drive up here from the main airport is wonderful. Starting along the coast, the gloriously uncrowded road glides by the Mediterranean sea over newly built viaducts and through atypical Spanish towns towards Motril. Here the road moves away from the coast rising steeply, continually winding it’s way up through the hills towards Capileira at 1400m.
As time wasn’t on our side after a brief stop at the village we drove on towards the Hydro-electric power station where we had planned to leave our car. Here the road peters out into a bumpy track which requires careful handling to avoid any nasty mishaps. As we drove on, the last few kilometres became rougher and more dirty until about halfway we reached a point where the ground was covered in light patches of snow. Even at this altitude the snow can be heavy and having carefully examined the situation we decided to leave the car where it was and walk the remainder of the way towards the station (This area is the European continent’s most southerly glacial landscape and although the last remnants of the glaciers melted away at the end of the 20t Century, snow stays on the ground at this altitude for most of the year).
recorded in Spain. 10% of this total are endemic to Spain and 78 species are only found here, indicating why it is such a valuable region.
As we approached our decision point, the last of the suns rays cast a shadow on the mountain tops in the twilight as we carefully assessed the situation. The weather was clear and apart from a slight mist higher up indicated windless, dry conditions. The track being well trodden indicated that we were unlikely to lose our way. Although Simon had his head torch I had dropped mine during packing of my gear and despite much fiddling and cursing I had been unable to get it to work. Still with an ambient light reflecting of the patches of snow from an almost full moon we felt assured enough to carry on.
By the time we reached the Hydro station it was already past 3 o’clock and knowing darkness descended around six, with a good 4 hour hike in front of us, we knew we weren’t going to make it to the hut during the light. Being reasonably experienced in mountain environments we decided to push on and assess the situation in an hour, at which point we would still have enough light to return to the car and stay in the village overnight if necessary.
We walked on up through the Poqueira valley switching back and fore along the track as we gained height along the gorge on our right, listening to flowing mountain water as it cascaded down through the valley. Other than this sound it was peaceful and were both glad to be out walking and absorbing the sights and smells of this wonderful pristine environment. The Sierra Nevada itself is one of the most important biodiversity regions of Europe supporting up to an amazing 2,100 plant species of the total 7,000 that are
We trudged on upwards as the snow becoming more concentrated and deeper; Simons torch casting a beam of light in our path. As we gained altitude and it grew darker the temperature fell , but we continued on onwards deep in our own thoughts. After another hour, we had slowed considerably as tiredness and hunger took over. We had only one thought on our mind and that was now to reach the hut for a hot drink and food. By now we had ascended into the mist appearing as two ghosts in the gloom plodding ever slowly upwards. It was now completely dark as the mist blocked out any reflected moon light. The lack of light and our longing to be off the trail began to play tricks on our minds.