Via „La Comon“ on El Paredon: A multipitch jewel on Mallorca
The 300 meter high triangle sea of rock of El Paredon does call out for any climber who puts eyes on it - and I was no different. But it took a bit of research and the right partner to actually give it a proper try.
Seven pitches of hard and stunning climbing on Puig Major
Right next to the 200 meter rock spire of Agulla de Frare towers El Paredon: 300 meters of clean steep rock with a wide base that narrows to a point at the very top. The wall is connected to the main summit of Puig Major sitting behind it and tops out at 1.250 meters. There are quite a few routes (bolted and trad) leading up the wall. Right through the center „La Comon“ (280 meters / 6a+) leads fairly straight up not avoiding the difficulties along the way.
We, that’s Toby (who got in touch with me a few weeks earlier) and myself, picked a Sunday in March 2023 to try our hands and feet on „La Comon“. Earlier the same week we had climbed the Sa Gubia classic „Supernova, Spits and Giggles“ (220m / 6a) as a warmup and we were confident that we would not have any major problems getting up El Paredon.
Starting early and with lots of stoke we arrived at the base of the climb. To our surprise there was another party on the wall (on one of the trad routes). Even though „La Comon“ is fully bolted, we carried a small set of Cams besides the usual gear. Toby started off on the first pitch (6a) and in the first 15 meters we learned two things: Bolted in this case means pretty big distances between bolts and the route is (very) high in the grade. To cite Toby: „That pitch was a bit of a kick in the butt!".
We continued up the wall switching leads (Full disclosure: I had to surrender half way up one of my pitches on lead and Toby had to finish it - thanks for that!). The Cams we brought did come in very handy to take a bit of the edge off the most difficult bits. Without hanging around it still took us about six hours to reach the summit.
After taking in the views from the top and munching down our late lunch we started the descent which did illustrate the saying that „The adventure is not over until you are back at the car“. Two hours of rappels, steep scree and scrambling / downclimbing later we did make it however: Exhausted and happily looking back towards El Paredon in the later afternoon light.
In summary the seven pitches of „La Comon“ pitches are long, sustained and excellent. Combine that with the setting and the views and you got a classic on your hands.
For more information on this climb take a look at the Mallorca Adventure Guide!
Adventurers: Toby and Bengt