La Maroma - an amazing hike to the top of Malaga's highest mountain at 2,069 meters -TOP DAY OUT

We have looked at the mountain from various locations including the beach in Torremolinos, and felt it calling us. La Maroma is actually 2069m high but our walk started at around 1200m. The path is easy to follow, being marked most of the time. There are at least 3 routes, the one we took is from the north, snow may be found in the winter months.
We left Torremolinos where we were staying at 7.30am. Driving via Velez-Malaga, through Zafarraya, then arriving at Hotel Los Camps de la Alcaiceria at 9am, only 5km from the start and popped in for breakfast consisting of a very large portion of toast with coffee for €3. Alternatively the hotel has accommodation and apparently serves a delicious dinner. The bar area was fascinating with at least 50 hams hanging up, and the heads of various animals hanging on the walls. Make sure you check it out.
After breakfast we drove down the track to the right of the hotel which is signed (Robledal 5km), along a dusty stony track and after turning right twice again we arrived at a huge free car park with about 3 cars in and a large picnic area. This was mid October and the temperature gauge registered 4 degrees, but as usual we had shorts on hoping the day would warm up. However, we were on the north side of the mountain.
There is an information board in the car park, saying to the top 7.8km, 4.15 hours, hard, and a map. Not having a map or a guide book with us, we took photos of this and referred to them later. Leaving at 9.40am the path is generally well signposted, taking the road past a gate which prevents vehicle access, following posts with green and white and an arrow. We continued through the beautiful pine and oak forest, where sap is collected for resins and paints.
After about 0.5km at the second junction we went left, signed for La Maroma, at 10am. It is a lovely path through pines, with the wind rustling in the trees and some bird song, and glimpses of the view. The path gets narrower, leaving the forest following the left hand side of a ravine. At 10.45am we reached a viewpoint to the left, with an information board Valle del Temple, with great views north to the Sierra Nevada.
Continuing uphill along the rocky path with cairns and some dashes of yellow paint and a dwindling number of trees at 11.15am we left the tree line, with views to the west and the top of La Maroma. After being careful of the steep drop to the right we stopped for a snack. At 12.15pm we reached the top of the ridge (1900m) with a welcome sign saying left for the fountain and La Maroma right 2km. We continued in a southerly direction with our first views of the sea following cairns and an indistinct path over rocks, before turning right along the ridge overlooking the sea.
Many cairns are found along the plateau approaching the top, with a very large trig point coming into view. This indicates how bad the weather can be up here, snow in the winter months, sea fogs and wind at other times. At 1.15pm we reached the top, it was very windy and we hurriedly put on extra layers and hats, having been very warm in the sun all the way up. The views were again tremendous, if slightly hazy. There are lots of wind shelters, but these did not work well enough today. We did not hang around for long here, as it was just too cold, and I feared the strong wind blowing might be an indicator of worse weather arriving. We were joined by about 6 other people whom we had seen since we left the car park, lovely to see other people out and reassuring too.
The trig point with two plaques on it, one to a local climber and another about the track. On-line we had seen pictures of walkers standing on top of the trig-this would be a real challenge for us-and definitely not in the wind. La Maroma is known locally as Casa de la Nieve, the house of snow, originating from the local custom of using a cave to make ice. Another time we may visit the huge fenced off hole on the south side of the summit, where people used to obtain ice, and carry it down to the surrounding villages. La Maroma means "the rope", named after the rope that was used by ice-collectors when cutting out the ice, they must have been very brave to collect ice in this way. Happily these days we have fridges.
Leaving by the way we had come at 1.25pm, we enjoyed the sea views, before turning left across to the other side of the col. We sat eating our lunch (2.20pm) less windy here, with views to the north. We left the col at 2.40pm, arriving at the Valle De Temple viewpoint at 3.35pm, continuing down until reaching a wide track at 4.00pm with marker posts. At one point the path was blocked by a herd of goats, which are bigger than one may imagine, going carefully round them, arriving back at the car park at 4.35pm, 7 hours after leaving.
Distance 10.24 miles (16.5km)
Duration of Walk 6 Hours 30 minutes
Average Pace 40 Min/Mile
Steps 36627
Elevation Gained 3194 feet (973m)