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A 16-kilometre hike in Alhama which climbs from 200 m above sea level to almost the height of Ben Nevis!

A newly signposted hiking route was presented on Friday 13th June at the Los Baños archaeological museum in Alhama de Murcia, with the presentation of a very testing 16-kilometre route from the town centre to the historic snow well in the higher ground of Sierra Espuña known as the Pozo de la Nieve de las Ánimas.

Officially designated the “PR-MU 131” route, the trail is also named after Baldomero Brugarolas, one of the pioneers of climbing and mountaineering in the Region of Murcia during the second half of the 20^th century. Brugarolas was the first climber from the Region of Murcia to take part in an international expedition when he travelled in 1970 to Greenland, where he named various peaks after his home region (Segura, Espuña and Murcia).

At that time he set precedents for the best-known Murcia climber, Miguel Ángel Gallego, who has been at the forefront of the sport in the Region for the last 50 years, and the list of his own personal achievements includes the opening of the Pared Negra route in Orihuela, being the first to climb the north face of La Panocha in the Sierra del Valle just outside Murcia, the first to scale the north face of the Pico del Morrón in Sierra Espuña, and the first climber at the Cabezo de la Fuente climbing school in the Regional Park of Calblanque.

The new “Sendero Baldomero Brugarolas – Camino histórico al Pozo de la Nieve de las Ánimas” begins in the town of Alhama and leads to the main group of snow wells in the estate of Huerta Espuña on one of its two forks and to the “pozo de Alhama” or “pozo de las Ánimas” on the other. Due to forestry replanting studies carried out in 1892 and 1895 exact details have been located of the original routes up the mountainside, which were used by those maintaining the snow wells but which gradually disappeared once the wells fell into disuse.

Now, however, due in part to the efforts of the Town Hall, the route is fully signposted and easy to follow, although very physically testing as it climbs up to an altitude of 1,114 metres above sea level from a starting point of approximately 200 metres in the town centre.

As well as local dignitaries including Councillor for Tourism Leticia Pareja Agulló, also present at the presentation of the route were the revered figure of Miguel Ángel García Gallego and the daughters of Baldomero Brugarolas.

For more information about Alhama, including news and upcoming events, visit the local tourist office or go to the home page of Alhama Today.

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