Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu)

Interesting facts

A local saying protests the Castilian name: don't call me orange tree, for I bear no fruit, call me Picu Urriellu, my true name.

The name Naranjo de Bulnes first appeared on the 1855 geological map of Asturias by Wilhelm Schulz, whose sketches show him crossing out Urriellu.

The second ascent, in 1906, was the first solo climb, by the German geologist Gustav Schulze, who found it short but hard after the Alps and Dolomites.

Climbing the first route in 1916, a local man from Bulnes recovered pieces of rope the first climbers had left jammed in the rock twelve years earlier.

The first woman on the summit, in July 1935, was a granddaughter of El Cainejo; a week later her cousin repeated the climb without a rope, in a skirt.

The first winter ascent came only on 8 March 1956, and the sheer west face was not climbed until August 1962.

In February 1970 two climbers were trapped on a ledge of about one square metre near the summit for 13 days in hurricane winds; one died after rescue.

In 2009 the Pou brothers freed the Orbayu route on the west face, graded 8c+/9a and then among the hardest big-wall climbs in the world.

The mountain's longest route, La Diosa Turquesa on the north face, links about 1,100 metres of mixed ice and rock climbing.

Why it is worth it

Naranjo de Bulnes, known in Asturian as Picu Urriellu, is a single block of limestone standing alone in the Central Massif of the Picos de Europa. Seen from the meadows below, it looks less like a mountain than a monolith: smooth, almost sheer walls rising on every side to a summit at 2,519 metres. Its west face drops about 550 metres in an unbroken vertical wall, and in certain light the limestone takes on an orange hue — the most often suggested origin of the name "Naranjo", the orange tree.

The peak holds a special place in Spanish mountaineering. On 5 August 1904 Pedro Pidal, Marquis of Villaviciosa de Asturias, and the shepherd Gregorio Pérez, known as "El Cainejo", made the first ascent by the north face, along the line now called the Vía Pidal. Since then many routes have been opened on its walls, and the Urriellu became the best-known big-wall summit in Spain, a training ground and a rite of passage for generations of climbers.

For those who do not climb, the pleasure lies in approaching it. The rock is visible from far away — the Pozo de la Oración viewpoint is a classic spot — and closer in, the walk up to the Vega de Urriellu refuge at its foot brings you into a stony amphitheatre where the scale of the walls becomes clear. The surrounding Picos de Europa National Park is a landscape of high limestone plateaus, deep gorges and small stone villages such as Bulnes.

Getting there

The peak lies in the municipality of Cabrales, Asturias. The usual walking approach starts at the Collado de Pandébano above the village of Sotres, reached by road from Arenas de Cabrales: the path to the Vega de Urriellu refuge takes around two and a half hours one way. Alternatively, a funicular climbs from Poncebos to Bulnes in about seven minutes, and trails continue from there. The nearest larger town is Torrelavega, about 65 km away, and the nearest airport is Seve Ballesteros–Santander Airport (SDR), about 85 km away.

From the encyclopaedia

The Naranjo de Bulnes is a limestone peak dating from the Paleozoic Era, in the Macizo Central region of the Picos de Europa, Asturias (Spain). Its name Picu Urriellu is believed to be derived from the term Los Urrieles, which is used to describe the Macizo Central. Naranjo de Bulnes is part of the Cabrales region of Asturias, and lies within the Picos de Europa National Park.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu)

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia