Riglos Climbing Rally 2021

With more than ten years of history, the Riglos Climbing Rally, organized by the Peña Guara club, celebrated its twelfth edition on October 9. The day before the event, the 23 registered rope teams gathered at the Riglos refuge, coming from various parts of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Andalusia, Extremadura, Euskadi, Navarra, Valencia, Catalonia, etc. The event also featured the participation of several Aragonese couples, on a territory where the majestic Mallos de Riglos are located. The Mallos de Riglos are geological formations consisting of vertical-walled rocks, called Mallos, located in the town of Riglos, in the province of Huesca. With a maximum height of 275 meters, which corresponds to the northern rocky outcrop of Pisón. 

The beginnings of climbing there date back to 1935, when Jean Arlaud, Jean Grelier and Piero Ghiglione reached the Buzón-Peak of Mallo Firé. But one of the most important dates in the history of climbing on the Mallos is July 1953, when Manuel Bescós, Alberto Rabadá and Ángel López "Cintero" managed to step on the top of Puro for the first time, in the seventh absolute attempt to that Mallo. The story goes on, with many more emblematic and referral climbs, such as those of the first route of the Rabadá-Navarro rope team or the opening of the Carnavalada, by Ursi Abajo and Jesús Ibarzo. In this historical background and with the Mallos always observant, on Saturday morning the draw was held among the rope teams, to choose the first route that each one should climb. 

The choice of lines showed the intentions of each rope team: those who were going for victory, those who might opting for the "Más Mallos" trophy and of course, those who were going to enjoy a long day of climbing with lots of meters on the wall. At eight o'clock in the morning of Saturday the starting signal of the rally was given and seconds after the walls of the Mallos were filled with rope teams that at high speed climbed several routes up to the Visera, the Pisón, the Frechín or the Firé. Many tourists and curious onlookers enjoyed the show from afar and with a spyglass installed on the terrace of the refuge that allowed to see in the foreground the evolution of each climber. 

At the end of the day, two rope teams were still contesting the first place, which ended up falling to the Andalusians Francisco Jesús Rodríguez and Javier López (5 routes, 1,130 meters climbed and 105 points), winning by only one point to the Navarrese Miguel Tomás and Ibai Larregui (5 routes, 1,180 meters climbed and 104 points). The third place was awarded to the couple formed by Jaume Peiró and Álex González (4 routes, 980 meters climbed and 85 points). In the women's classification Luisa Méndez and Oana Cristina were the winners of the Rally (3 routes, 840 meters climbed and 63 points). Rocío Monteoliva and Miriam García were second (4 routes, 620 meters climbed and 44 points), while Vicky Vega and Alejandra Ponce took the third position (3 routes, 510 meters climbed and 4 points). The day ended with the delivery of trophies and the material drawl, with Fixe as one of the sponsoring companies. https://youtu.be/BRhrq0GCUWk