Las Cainejas, 90 years since the first female ascent of the Urriellu.

The 31 July 2025 are fulfilled 90 years since the first ascent of the Urriellu for womenbetter known as Naranjo de Bulnes.

This emblematic peak of the Picos de Europa, the most iconic in the whole of Spain, was first climbed in 1904 by Pedro Pidal and Gregorio Pérez "El Cainejo". A feat that has become a symbol of courage and self-improvement for generations of mountaineers. However, it would still be three decades before two young men from Caín, María Isabel Pérez Pérez y Teófila Gao Pérezthe "CainejasThe Spanish mountaineering history of the year was marked by the fact that he was the first Spanish mountaineer to win the title.

A feat that has gone unnoticed for decades and that this year, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary, various associations and institutions are trying to recover. Here we do our bit to try to recover the memory of their feat and to highlight the legacy of those pioneering women who defied the prejudices of their time.

31 July 1935, María Isabel Pérez Pérez, the first to reach the summit of the Picu.

The fuse for two girls from this small village in the heart of the Picos de Europa to become the first women to reach the summit of the Picu was a matter of honour. Apparently, in 1935, the idea was circulating that the magnificent athlete Margot Moles, from the Peñalara Club, was planning to attempt the ascent of the Picu. The news, which must have reached Cain by the famous guide from Camarmeña, Alfonso Martínez "Fonsu" (Victor's son), reached the ears of his neighbours, who considered it a moral imperative that the first women should be from Cain, just as Pedro Pidal and Gregorio Pérez had done 31 years earlier, ahead of the foreigners.

A sentiment that had been perfectly reflected in the words of Pedro Pidal in 1904: "What idea would I have of myself and my compatriots if one day the news reached my ears that some foreign mountaineers had raised, with their persons, the flag of their country on the virgin summit of the Naranjo de Bulnes, in Spain, in Asturias and in my favourite oak hunting ground?

It is no coincidence, therefore, that the 31 July 1935, Maria Isabel Perez Perez18-year-old granddaughter on the Cainejo's mother's side, became a the first woman to climb the Urriellu summit. María Isabel set off from the village of Caín to go up the Dobresengos channel and reach the Vega de Urriellu, passing first through the Hoyo Grande and the Jou Sin Tierri. During the ascent she was accompanied by her paternal uncle Antonio Pérez and the experienced guide Alfonso Martínez "Fonsu" and, although they had a rope to secure some steps, the climb was done with very basic means: a gathered skirt, shirt, espadrilles and the determination of those who knew the mountain as part of their lives. The route followed, by the way, was that of the Paso Horizontal, a route with V- difficulties with long horizontal traverses that were very difficult to belay. Five years later, María Isabel would also be the first to reach the summit of Peña Santa with Bonifacio Sadia.

6 August 1935, Teófila Gao Pérez, 15 years old and Isabel's cousin, becomes the second woman to reach the summit.

Barely a week later, his cousin Teófila Gao Pérez, only 15 years old, followed in her footsteps. She did it by the same route and in an even riskier way: without rope or safety equipment, accompanied only by her father, Domingo Gao Sadía and two neighbours from Bulnes, Rafael Mier and Juan Campillo Noriega, and it was the first time for all of them. Her feat is still remembered today as an act of daring and courage.