The slopes of La Maliciosa are dominated by low mountain scrub, although there are areas covered with Scotch pine trees.

[2] The name of this mountain dates back to the 14th century, and like the Maladeta in the Pyrenees, La Maliciosa in the Sierra de Guadarrama is the cursed one, whose rock, always desolate and naked, receives the attacks of wind, ice, water and sun.

La Maliciosa is located at the southern end of a range of about 2 km long oriented from north to south and begins at the top of the Bola del Mundo (2265m).

At the same time, from the summit and in a southeasterly direction, the Sierra de los Porrones, about 7 km long, rises.

This type of low vegetation, together with the juniper, extends along the southern slope, the steepest and rockiest, until it merges with the holm oak of the foothills.

The fauna inhabiting the slopes of La Maliciosa is typical of the sierra de Guadarrama, with an abundance of small mammals, insects and birds of prey in the area.

In recent years, La Maliciosa has been affected by the overpopulation of mountain goats (Iberian ibex) and it is very common to find entire herds of this bovine, especially in the summit area.

There are numerous water emanations in the surroundings of this peak, which give rise to streams that, in some cases, dry up in the summer season.

This river is a tributary of the Manzanares, which rises just 1 km north of the summit, in the emanations of the Ventisquero de la Condesa.

The elevation of this massif occurred in the Cenozoic Era (about 65 million years ago) although the materials on which it is based (the granitic plateau socle) are from earlier (from the Variscan orogeny).

The glacial action of the Quaternary period (about 1.8 million years ago) finished modeling several of the current reliefs of the massif of La Maliciosa with small clefts located at more than 1800m, especially on the southern slope.

The Maliciosa is one of the mountains of the Sierra de Guadarrama most frequented by hikers because it is one of the most representative and striking of there, and for having many and varied routes of ascent.

The profile of La Maliciosa that is drawn in the silhouette of the Sierra de Guadarrama as seen from its southern slope has attracted the attention of artists for a long time.

[7] An urban legend says that it can be seen in the final scene of the film A Fistful of Dollars by Clint Eastwood, but in reality the mountain that appears is El Picazo, belonging to the Sierra del Hoyo.