Why Madrid is the best climbing city ever

I've just moved back to Madrid, so naturally I'm a little bit biased on the subject, but the city really does have a lot to offer climbers. So never mind Innsbruck or Sheffield, Madrid is the new black: here's why.

Yeah, it's a dolphin...

Climbing Walls. Don't know why, don't know how, but Madrid has an impressive array of free climbing walls in parks all over the city. Bits of rock concreted to walls or holds bolted onto the underside of bridges to the more traditional bendcrete walls. Some have en-situ crashpads, some don't, the variety keeps things fresh and there are always a bunch of locals making up problems. I used to be a snob about climbing walls and still think that in terms of pure fun, nothing can beat a big expensive London climbing wall. However, purely for training purposes, I'd rather have an overhang with glued on bits of rock. Most of the footholds are small and slippery in a way that forces good technique and body tension. (honestly when was the last time your foot honestly slipped off a resin blob?)  Also, the range of  glued on rocks as hand holds makes for interesting climbing rather than the same plastic holds as always. Having watched the prices for indoor climbing walls double in the last six years, it's nice to see something that opens up the sport to everybody. I often see complete beginners scrambling around in trainers. Check out  http://www.escalamadrid.com/rocodromos/ for more walls in Madrid.

Far West 8A in La Pedriza.
 pretty much perfect boulder problem

As far as real rock is concerned, there's plenty too. El Escorial and Zarzalejo have plenty of granite boulders but La Pedriza is ridiculous. The bouldering guide has 1864 boulder problems and if you see the area, that's only the tip of the iceberg. The bouldering is a relatively recent addition: there's also lots of trad and sport including some pretty impressive multipitches. Further to the east the granite gives way to the limestone sport crags of Patones and el Vellon, even further is Tamajon, a relatively new hard bouldering spot. And those are just the ones I know about! There are definitely more crags out there.

Connections. Look at any road map of Spain and you'll notice that it looks like a giant spider's web. Madrid is right at the centre. This is incredibly frustrating if you want to go across the country because you have to zig-zag, But if you live in Madrid you can go directly to Albarracín (three and a half hours), Hoya Moros (two and a half), Santa Gadea (sub four hours) or Cuenca (under two hours). So not only do you have plenty within day tripping distance, your weekends will be looking pretty full as well.

Madrid's airport is a hub airport, which mean that you can get anywhere in the world, from a direct flight to Rocklands to a cheeky weekend in Fontainebleau. Also, domestic flights are dirt cheap so you could go deep water soloing in Mallorca for the weekend if you keep an eye on last minute discounts.

All this climbing but with the advantages of being in a big city. There are plenty of huge climbing shops which stock pretty much every imaginable product. There's also a climbing book shop which has everything from autobiographies to (surprisingly) every single gritstone guidebook out there! I also recently resoled my solutions in Madrid. It took less than a week, cost a mere thirty euros and was the best resole that I've ever seen.

Projects, so many projects! Madrid is the biggest city in Spain so it figures that they've been developing here for the longest. In other regions you'd get to the boulders by downloading a scanned pdf of a shaky drawing on the back of a napkin. In Madrid most areas have comprehensive guidebooks. So there's loads of climbing and it's relatively easy to find. On top of this, it only rains sixty-three days a year. I have a few projects on the go at the moment, all of them are five stars and I'm slowly hammering them into submission. Watch this space!

Tamajon- angry limestone cave bouldering at its best.