The Serra de Son Torrella traverse

Its length, exposure and technical nature make this ridge one of the crown jewels of the Tramuntana mountains. And after having looked at it from many angles I set off for a great day of scrambling, rappelling and admiring the views.

A technical 4km ridge scramble in the Mallorquin Tramuntana range
As it was hard for me to find good information on the route and the difficulties. I will focus on the practical information in this article and add images that speak to the beauty of the Serra without many words.

The Ridge
Towering over the valley of Soller the Serra de Torrella forms a long ridge with a sheer drop on the west side. The ridge is connected to the Puig Major / Migdia hunk of a mountain at the north at the south end falls off steeply. With 4 kilometers of continuous ridgeline interspersed with several rock towers it is similar to the Serra de Bernat Cavall but more alpine and even more exposed.

While moving along the ridge the views towards the valley of Soller to the one side and into the high Tramuntana to the other are fantastic and the thermic winds here are a magnet for the magnificent vultures living in these parts.

All four kilometers of the ridge are at least scrambling terrain and contain a few bits of low grade (II/III) climbing. The level of concentration for the whole traverse should not be underestimated.

The Route
The ridge can be either traversed from South to North starting at the Pas de na Martorella (the path from Fornalutx tops out here) or at the other end at the Pas des Marge Petit (which forms part of the normal route up to the peak of Migdia).

In both cases some points should be taken into account:

  1. Two of the rock towers have very steep north facing walls. Both have rappel anchors on top which can be used when coming from the South (Don´t be fouled by the rusty bolt on top of the first rappel, there is a new only two meters further along!). Climbing them when coming from the North is possible but you might need to pitch these out. Of course both sections could be (down)-climbed ropeless but be sure that you are very happy on III/IV grade rock.
    However these difficulties can be avoided by going around the towers on the east side of the ridge - But we are here for ridge-climbing not ridge-avoiding aren't we?!?!
  2. There has been some rockfall at the South end of one the towers (easily visible by the brownish debris at the bottom) so it is best to move around the east side a bit and climb up an easily angled chimney when coming from the South. Coming from the North the same chimney can be rappled (there is a rope anchor at the top).
  3. The most exposed part of the ridge is the very last bit at the North end. However it is not as bad as it looks and can be avoided on the east again. Which would be a shame as it is great fun!
  4. The West side of the ridge does not get any sun and the rocks are covered in slippery lichen. Take care when moving on that side as falls here will end very badly. The dry clean rock however is very grippy.
  5. There are many places at which one could bail down the east side of the ridge if necessary.

I moved South to North but here is another article with North to South descriptions and pictures in Spanish.

Necessary gear
If you want to move on top of the ridge and over the rock towers you either need to carry the gear for rappelling (harness, rappel device, 40+ meter rope etc.) or a small rack to protect the climbing bits.

The rope might also come in handy at the exposed sections if there is somebody in your group feeling less than confident in that sort of terrain.

When to go and timing
The winter months are best in terms of temperatures however the slippery west side problem will be greater. In the summer months it will get very hot and there is very little shelter from the sun.

Regarding the time that the traverse takes: It is best to park the car at the Tunnel that actually intersects the Serra de Torrella and either walk up the valley to the South end of up the couloir towards the Migdia to the North end. Both approaches take about 45-60 minutes.

The ridge proper took me about 3,5 hours moving relatively quickly and using the rope only for the rappels. My estimate is that with a slow party or a lot of rope work the time can easily be 5-7 hours for the ridge alone.
Walking back to the car takes about 45-60 minutes again from either side.

I hope this helps and have fun out there!

Adventurer: Bengt