2 14 Unexplored Spain 



few yards in height, is so sheer, its surface so devoid of crevice 

 or hand-hold, that the ascent (without ropes and other appliances) 

 appears quite impracticable. 



Will the reader seat himself in imagination at the spot marked 

 (*) on the map. Surveying the scene from this point, the whole 

 opposite horizon is filled by the Altos de ]\Iorez6n — a jagged and 

 turreted escarpment pierces the sky, while its frowning walls dip 

 down, down in endless precipices to the inky-black waters of the 

 Laofuna far below. 



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Towards the left one's view is interrupted by an extraordinary 

 mass of upstanding granite, disintegrated and blackened by the 

 ages, known as the Ameal de Pablo — in itself a virgin mountain, 

 as yet untrodden by human foot. This colossus, glittering with 

 snow-striae, surmounts the oblique ridge aforesaid, that of the 

 Cuchillar del Guetre, which traverses two-thirds of the " Circo," 

 leaving but a narrow gap between its own extremity and the 

 opposite heights of Morezon. 



Continuing towards the right, there rises to yet loftier altitudes 

 the black contour of the Risco del Fraile, beloved of ibex ; 

 while adjacent on the north-west, but on slightly lower level, 

 uprear from the snow -flecked skyline' three more unsealed 

 masses — rectano;ular monoliths like oiant landmarks. This 

 trio is distinguished as Los Hermanitos de Gredos, their 

 abruptness of outline almost appalling as set off by an azure 

 backoTound. 



Farther to the right (in the angle of the square) two more 

 mountain-masses — knife-edged, jagged, and embattled along the 

 crests — frown upon one another across a gorge rent through their 

 very bowels. These two are the Alto del Casquerazo and the 

 Cuchillar de las Navajas, while the interposed abyss — the Portilla 

 de los Machos — cuts clean through the great cordillera, forming a 

 natural gateway between its northern and its southern faces. As 

 the name implies, this gorge is the main route of the ibex from 

 their much-loved Riscos del Fraile to their second chief resort, the 

 Riscos del Frances, which occupy the southern face of the sierra 

 whose snowfields defy even the heats of August. 



From our present standpoint the southern wall of the Circo — 

 the Cuchillar de las Navajas — is not visible. This section of the 

 quadrilateral is equally abrupt and intricate, dropping in massive 

 bastions towards the level of the lake. Just beyond the Plaza de 



