A short break in the Pyrenees

For those who haven’t been the Pyrenees might come as a bit of a surprise. The peaks span the French/Spanish border and are rugged and ‘alpine’ in nature. Though never higher than the Sierra Nevada there are over two hundred 3,000m+ peaks plus numerous smaller mountains and hills. The area has a long tradition of mountaineering which is reflected in the number of trails and routes and also the network of mountain huts available to walkers. It was in two of these huts that together with an old friend from the UK I spent a few days exploring the area around a village called Benasque.

The first hut, Refugio de Estos was a days walk in form the road through alpine meadows and wild flowers. Staying in a mountain hut over a busy weekend has to be experienced to fully appreciate. Bedrooms are often communal, ours had three tiers of sleeping platforms with around 40 people in, some of whom where up at half five to set off to do Posetts one of the main peaks in the range. We however had a late start by comparison (7.00am) and headed for a more leisurely ascent of Pico de Clarabide a mere 3,006m perched right on the border.

The second hut we used was the Renclusa on the north side of Aneto which at 3,404m is the highest point in the whole range. Like many huts this has no road access and here the supplies are brought in daily by two mules. Again the hut was crowded but luckily we had individual bunks however we did this time succumb to an ‘alpine’ start and had breakfast along with many others going for the summit at 5.00am.

The initial ascent across a very steep boulder field which led to a gully filled with scree and loose rocks. The gully was potentially the most dangerous section of the whole route. About a dozen ascending it at the same time meant that dodging loose rocks whilst trying to keep upright was essential.

Along with a few other peaks in the range Aneto still holds a small section of glacier. The crossing is easy and well marked and after the gully came as a relief. The summit itself is magnificent, if a bit crowded with the summit cross itself is reached by a short but very exposed scramble across a knife edge ridge which many people didn’t do, understandable when you saw the drop.

A problem on Aneto like many other ‘highest peaks’ is that many people go unprepared and just want to bag the summit. This was perhaps best illustrated by the number of young Spanish walkers who went up in trainers (!!!) with crampons attached. I sight I’d never seen before I must admit.