CEPEDA ROUTE. NARANJO DE BULNES EAST FACE

Here's the topo of the Cepeda route in the East Face of the Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu). This itinerary was opened more than 50 years ago by one of the most active climber of the history of these mountains, P.Udaondo along with M.J. Aldecoa and J.Cepeda.
This traditional climbing style route is evolving along the weak points of the wall and is also one of the most repeated over here.
It's a lovely route during which you'll need to pay attention to following the correct itinerary. Even if not really difficult, we need to keep in mind its length and sparse permanent anchors in the pitches.

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Topo of the in the Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu). Route Description:

• The first pitch starts in a pronounced dihedral-crack that can perfectly been spotted on the left side of the famous "Y". Just at the end of this big crack-groove located on the right is the belay station, two pitons easy to reinforce.
• The second pitch begins on the right side of the belay station, and then more or less straight on, looking for the easiest zones until reaching a chimney (just when the route connects with the "Y"). A few meters further up we can see the belay station, made of a rock tunnel and a piton.
• The third pitch continues through this chimney until finding yourself  above the "Y", where we'll find a comfortable belay station.
• The fourth is very nice, we start straight ahead searching for a rock tunnel, and then a layback-dihedral. We come to a poor rock tunnel where this layback-dihedral continues slightly to the left. At this point, we need to keep climbing up straight on until a small slab taking us to the belay station.
• The fifth pitch starts totally on the right side of the belay station, looking for a dihedral perfectly visible from there. Once overcome this dihedral, is a belay station made of two pitons (not shown in the topo). It's possible to continue until the next belay station made of  two bolts (the rope rubs a bit). From this point we can also exit the route abseiling down the Espejismos de Verano.
• The seventh pitch (sixth in the topo) is a long and easy traverse to the left until reaching a comfortable ledge with a big rock tunnel where you can set up a belay station.
• The next pitch is exactly 60 m, so we need to use the ropes wisely. A short wall leads us to a dihedral turning into a slab full of grooves.
• Here we get to the last pitch also known as the "rompetobillos" (the ankle breaker). It consists in a sort of dihedral a bit overhanging. There are good holds, but it's important to stay focused because of the ledge located just underneath. Finally, we will find a small gap or tunnel that we need to go through to get to the amphitheatre of the South Face. Belay station with two bolts.
• From here we continue walking carefully through the amphitheatre to the summit (II), or we can also climb one more pitch through the dihedral that can be seen over the belay station (IV-), until the eastern peak leading to the main summit walking.
• We get back down using the rappels that have been set up in the South Face. Traditionally, people used to rappel down the Directa de los Martínez, but two parallel lines have recently been installed to avoid gatherings as well as disturbing people climbing the Directa de los Martínez (see descent description).

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