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Thursday, May 15, 2025
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Peñalara Natural Park
Parque Natural de la Cumbre, Circo y Lagunas de Peñalara
Sierra de Guadarrama
Communidad de Madrid
spain
Type: Wildlife Park
Addmission Fee: Free
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Sierra de Guadarrama
Communidad de Madrid
spain
Type: Wildlife Park
Addmission Fee: Free
Comments ( 0 )
Rating (0 Votes)
At 2,428 m (7,965 feet), Peñalara is the highest peak in the Comunidad de Madrid and its most popular spot for climbers. The monolith at its summit towers over Peñalara Natural Park, a vast, amphitheater-shaped basin carved eons ago by glacial activity.
The resulting landscape is a tumultuous spread of moraines, sheer faces and glacial lakes. Laguna Grande is the largest of these waters; along with the Laguna de los Pájaros and the Cinco Lagunas to the east, they are Madrid’s only glacial lakes. To reach Peñalara, head to the Casa Los Cotos, a checkpoint and info center for the park in Puerto de Cotos.
Trails lead off from here through the park (parts of which were once a ski resort until the government bought the area and declared it a protected area in 1990); the staff can point you in the right direction but you’ll want to focus on the area around Laguna Grande and the Zabala Hut, where most of the climbs are clustered.
There are no permits or fees required for the climb; it is advisable, however, to avoid the summit attempt during winter, when snow and fog are common, and to check with the office about restrictions.
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