Geo-Climbing and Environmental Education: the Value of La Pedriza Granite Massif in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, Spain

Abstract

Since the late nineteenth century, the Guadarrama mountain range (listed as a National Park in 2013) has attracted the attention of intellectuals, naturalists and mountaineers, for whom it has served as a scientific laboratory and area for mountaineering and climbing. La Pedriza or La Pedriza del Manzanares in the Spanish province of Madrid, with a granite landscape characterised by a craggy geomorphology consisting of high walls alternating with loose boulders, is perhaps the most emblematic part of this park. The many smooth walls towering over a hundred metres from the ground have made the area Spain’s and arguably Europe’s most prominent friction climbing training ground. With a view to supplementing writings on the area’s value for science, education and sports initiated over 150 years ago, this article contains a detailed explanation of the geological and geomorphological processes involved in the formation of rock surfaces and their relationship to mountaineering. The findings described are applicable to similar geomorphologies where this sport is practised.