Peñalara Cirque
Cirque in Peñalara Natural Park, Spain / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peñalara glacial cirque (Spanish: Circo glaciar de Peñalara. Also known as Hoya de Peñalara and Hoya del Toril) is a cirque glacier located within the Peñalara Natural Park, in the center of the Sierra de Guadarrama (mountain range belonging to the Central System). It is the most extensive of the mountain range with its 140 hectares approximately. Administratively it is within the municipality of Rascafría, a Spanish municipality located in the northwest of the Community of Madrid.
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This cirque, which was created 1.8 million years ago thanks to glacier action, consists of two sectors or glacier lakes. One of them is located in the northeast of the cirque and today houses in its central area the Laguna Grande de Peñalara, and the other is in the southwest and has a less abrupt relief. Sports such as hiking and, especially, climbing are practiced in the circus, where there are nearly 150 routes. There is a massive influx of mountaineers and tourists throughout the year, as evidenced by the 133,000 annual visitors in 2006.[1]