Àger

The village of Àger lies beneath the sprawling mass of Montsec d’Ares, a magnificent 15 kilometre long line of cliffs up to 500m high, culminating in the peak of Sant Alís (1676m). The amount of rock here is truly staggering, but in fact Àger’s main claims to fame lie in fields other than climbing. The clarity of the skies here has long made Àger an internationally renowned centre for astronomy, and as well as the Observatori Astronòmic del Montsec located on the summit plateau there is an education and research facility, Parc Astronòmic Montsec, close to the village itself. Àger is also recognized as one of Europe’s premier paragliding sites attracting enthusiasts from all over the world, their colourful rigs often seen vying for the best thermals with the ever-present circling vultures. The two sectors we include in the guidebook offer excellent single-pitch climbing and the bigger cliffs higher up the mountain act as a magnificent backdrop. Both sectors face almost due south and are therefore at their best on sunny mid-winter days. The upper walls are actually home to many multi- pitch climbs of between 100m and 300m but are rather more broken than initial appearances would suggest.