These days in Catalonia are cold and dry, we barely reach temperatures above 5 degrees, but skies are mostly clear and the wind is just a gentle breeze. This gives us perfect conditions for climbing in sunny south-facing sectors.
A good example is Les Saleretes, a small and peaceful spot in the province of Girona, in the Ripoll area, close to other bigger and more famous crags as Montgrony and Corones.
The sector is very close to the village of Gombrèn, easy to reach with a steep but short walk directly from the village centre. You park the car on the main road, walk heading north trough the few houses on a concrete street that turns into a path between bushes and pine trees and in less than 15 minutes you reach the base of the crag.
20 well-bolted routes, from 6c up to 7c, all on very good limestone with every possible type of hold: crimps, jugs, sidepulls, underclings, tufas… the lines are beautiful, varied and mostly pumpy. Climbing at this winter spot is very enjoyable and fun. Be careful (beta spoiler, don’t read this if you are an on-sight purist!!): many of the routes have an easy start and become harder approaching the anchor… so, make good use of the rests and save a little bit of power for the last moves!
You can find a topo of the sector on the blog here: ressolatsmontgrony.blogspot.com.
You can also check out the fact sheet of Les Saleretes on www.escalibur.eu with all the main info, location, route list and comments of the users.
If you want to escape from loud and overcrowded crags and enjoy a little natural paradise, come here during the week: you will enjoy a quality climbing wall with no people, surrounded by nature. You will have the privilege of listening to nothing else then birds singing and watching the Pyrenees on the background. During the weekend there can be some more climbers around but usually it’s never annoyingly crowded.
In the tiny village of Gombrèn you’ll find a couple of grocery shops and two very nice restaurants, Restaurant Portal del Comte and La Fonda Xesc (with a star in Guide Micheline!)
