From Maroma to Mulhacén in 52 hours

2016-07-04 08:00:00

Every time we climbed Maroma, we thought, we are high, one day we should continue to Mulhacén, the highest peak of Sierra Nevada and in all of Spain,” said nurse Gersi Tarazona, 43, who completed the demanding trek last weekend along with four other enthusiastic mountaineers: Gustavo Matez, Pablo Gálvez, José Antonio Martínez and Francisco Contreras.
The team walked the distance of 150 kilometres (with a cumulative altitude of 7,500 metres) that separates Alcaucín, from its counterpart in Granada, in 52 hours. “We spent more than two years preparing for it and had estimated around 60 hours in total.”
They set off on 1 May from Alcaucín at 4.30pm, heading to the peak of Maroma, (at an altitude of 2,068 metres). “The weather was good and we arrived at the first summit by 7.30pm.” From there they set off for El Puerto de Cómpeta, where they stopped for a short break, before continuing in the direction of Granada, arriving at a place called Los Prados de Lopera at 7am on Saturday 30 April.
Exhaustion started to affect the moral of the group, “but the desire to get to the end was much greater”, he noted.
The group is associated with Malaga Trial Running Sports Club and includes experienced mountaineers such as Paco Contreras junior, teacher and son of Cártama mountain runner, known as ‘Super Paco’. The group also includes young Pablo Gálvez, 23, who works in the catering sector in Campillos but is settled in Malaga and José Antonio Martínez, 34, a web designer in Rincón de la Victoria, along with experienced climber Gustavo Matez, 42.
After reaching the town of Albuñuelas in Granada at 11.00am (65 kilometres into the planned route), they stopped for breakfast and “from then, it started to warm up, staying at a good temperature while we travelled to Lanjarón, 100 kilometres in, arriving at 7.30 pm. “We rested and ate something, to help us face the demanding ascent to Capileira, the hardest part of the journey. We were exhausted by the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fortunately, friend Antonio Pozo met them there and provided food and drink. At this point they slept, after 39 hours of trekking. At 8.30am on Sunday, they left for Mulhacén (3,478 metres).
They crested at 2.30pm, to return to Capileira at 7.00pm “Incredibly, during the trek we couldn’t stop talking about new routes and challenges” says Tarazona.source surinenglish