Why restoring an old mountain refuge is good for the soul
It's been very hard work, but it has allowed us to give something back to the mountains that have given us so much over the years.
A first visit to Lanjaron by mountaineer John Ormsby in 1866
In March 1867 he read his report before the Alpine Club and its magazine, The Alpine Journal, was then published in full. This included a basic map, which just marked the most important peaks, rivers and major towns of La Alpujarra.
All the seasons in one week in the Sierra Nevada
Beth and Stephen from Leeds came to the Sierra Nevada with a clear idea of what they wanted to do: winter climbing and mountaineering. However, just after they arrived we met for a drink in Lanjaron: the sun was shining and it was 26C. Up in the mountains that meant the snow was melting fast, whilst the more sheltered North faces were still inaccessible to the high avalanche risk. So our first day climbing was spent in T-shirts rather than belay jackets as we went rock climbing instead.
Mountain hut construction in the Rio Lanjaron, Sierra Nevada
Construction of mountain shelters on the slopes of Sierra Nevada was begun in the sixteenth century after a slow but progressive deforestation, which lasted until the early twentieth century. This situation was regrettable.
Reforesting area of Sierra Nevada burnt by fire 2005
The counselor of the Medio Ambiente, José Juan Diaz Trillo, and the director general of Aguas Font Vella and Lanjarón, Jordi Miró, on Wednesday visited the area of the Sierra Nevada Natural Park affected by fire in 2005 and ratified their commitment to continue to work on forest restoration through the project 'Monte Siglo XXI'.
A tough 14 hours walking around the upper Lanjaron Valley
When we dropped Clive Fenn, off at a high trailhead at 9 in the morning we didn't expect him back for 2 or 3 days. Certainly didn't expect him to stagger, totally spent, into our house at 11pm that same night, after a mega tough 14 hour walking day in the Sierras, including about 2000m of ascent and 3000m of descent!