"I hiked with my son through the peaks of the Sierra Nevada with the intention of bivouacking and spending the night on the highest mountain in the Iberian Peninsula. These altitudes are a fairly inhospitable territory, with only a few snowfields, mountain goats, and a sun that burns your skin. We carried food and water for two days in our backpacks, but this time we hadn't acclimatized, and this took its toll, especially on Mulhacen, where we had to stop for air every few steps. We took a shortcut through Paso de Los Guías, which is equipped with chains, but in my opinion, I wouldn't do it again without a harness and safety rope, because one mistake and you could fall into the void. At the summit of Mulhacén, we found a shelter made of rocks and lit a fire with some pieces of wood to help keep us warm. On the morning of August 12, after a freezing night in which we saw several shooting stars, I was able to photograph the sunrise from the summit, but it wasn't as impressive as I had hoped." — franciscobirruezo • Aug 11, 2025

"We are heading to our next objectives in Sierra Nevada, the altitude is not a problem for us after acclimatizing in Pradollano, but our nose is starting to look like a water tap. We see quite a few mountain goats and melting lakes. The flowering in these peaks is incredible and is concentrated in only a couple of months; numerous species always attached to the ground are exclusive to this place. We spent the night in the La Caldera shelter with a blizzard that seems to want to knock down the construction. The morning is clear and cold and the climb to the roof of the Iberian Peninsula is tough, especially in the final part with slopes of 75 percent and lack of air. The views are worth the effort." — franciscobirruezo • Jun 29, 2024

"My son and I are returning from a trekking in the Sierra Nevada National Park and there have been many experiences in the heights to describe them in a small text, so I will try to make the photos describe the adventure better than my words. One key is to acclimatize the body to the altitude, so the first night we slept in Pradollano and almost at sunset we went up to 2700 m The other two nights we slept above 3000 m, one of them under a sky full of stars at the foot of the Mulhacen, the other in a refuge. Up there only reigns the sometimes very strong wind, the rocks and the alpine goats, also tiny flowers and lagoons of glacial origin. Something unites the people who walk the high peaks that pushes us to help or be helped, being up there is like walking on another planet where the rules are not set by us but by the mountain itself." — franciscobirruezo • Jul 16, 2023

"Despite the near-constant strong winds, great day exploring the (original) Sierra Nevada. With a few routefinding mistakes, we took an incredible northern route down the ventanas ramp, didn’t see a single person the entire time. Started to fade a bit on the final summit push but recovered and jogged down to the refugio. Took the standard road route back with the Paso de las guias shortcut — quite intense. Long out-of-body descent back down the slopes of Veleta to the car at Hoya de la Mora. A huge day and great loop!" — scott • Jun 23, 2022

"Also climbed Pico del Veleta (3396m), La Puerts (3147m) and Pico de Loma Pelada (3183m). For photos and more informations (in German) see: http://www.hikr.org/tour/post114611.html" — Sputnik • Oct 31, 2016

"Mulhacén is the highest mountain in the Iberian Peninsula (3468m), it's part of Sierra Nevada. It's not a difficult peak so can be climbed in a single day. My group arrived on the Friday night at Hoya del Portillo where we spent a night bivouacking. First time on Saturday morning we started the hike, and we reached the summit at 6pm without problem, walking quitly, our goal was to enjoy the hike. We decided to sleep in the bare shelter at Caldera to the west. Small shelter and many people so we had to sleep on the floor again. Next day, we came back at Hoya del Portillo in the noon and we returned to our home. You can find many hikers, maybe if there weren't so many people around the summit it could be more enjoyable. Much better go in low or snow season. " — cristinaduran • Jul 16, 2014

"One of those nice mountainstrips we made in the Sierra Nevada. We started from Guejar Sierra along la veredera de las estrellas with Greet, Rene, Tessa, Jack. Jack, a dutch girl and me continued hiking up Mulhacen." — cvandaele • Jul 3, 2004