Spain, Alta Ruta, 03/09/25

Espurguettes to Grange de Holle, Wed 3rd Sept 

A beautiful morning again after a good night's sleep, must be the exercise.

Morning path down the hill 

A very short day today, down the hill to the Hotellerie de Cirque.

A vulture feast 

Hotel with the Cirque behind

A climb then into the Cirque de Gavarnie to the bottom of the highest waterfall in Europe (423m). I think Slartibartfast would be impressed, by the scenery if not by the height of the waterfall.

Highest waterfall in Europe 

It was early morning there were very few people about and the falls and surrounding cliffs amazing even though in the shade.

Looking back from the track down

On the way down I met more and more people going up until as I neared Gavarnie it was almost a tide.

Gavarnie 

Gavarnie is a tourist trap and full of the shops you would expect in such a place but I did manage to replace my toothbrush that I had left behind again! 

One of the parking areas

A good lunch and a while spent putting pictures on the blog and it was time to wander up to the Hostel. 

Leaving Gavarnie 

Loads of campervans and coaches but you can see why it's so popular when you look at the mountains all around.

Spain, Alta Ruta, 02/09/25

Pineta to Espuguettes, Tue 3rd Sept 

A fine morning that promised well for the rest of the day, it was a good walking and even the sun wasn't too hot.

Refuge de Pineta 

A level walk through the woods by the river which had some water in it but judging by the width of the gravel nothing like it must be in spate.

Along the river

The path climbed up and crossed the river by a new bridge before turning onto a rough path and from there it went steeply up becoming more and more rocky through some spectacular scenery.

Bridge over the river 

How do you get up there?

There didn't appear to be any way through the cliffs when looking from below but all became clear when it climbed out onto an amazing viewpoint.

View from near the top

Rocky viewpoint

The scenery continued with mountains, glaciers and a lake that was the perfect spot for a lunch break. I can't describe how amazing the scenery was and the pictures only hint at it, somewhere I will always remember.

Monte Perdido Glacier

Lunchtime view

There are a lot of people about, more than I expected at this time of year.

Up the gully from the lake

Refuge on the French border

A short very steep climb from the lake through scree and rock took me to the French border and a refuge balanced in the gap before an even worse scree descent into France.

And down into France

My climbing style deserted me and the descent was mostly by bum, but I got down safely to the boulder field below.

Looking back to the gap

The boulders were tricky but I managed to pick my way through to an easier path down the valley.

A proper path

A climb up and across some scree to another coll opened up the view across another amazing valley and the Refuge on the grassy hillside below.

Up the scree 

The Refuge 

An excellent mountainy day ending with a view of the glacier on the mountain I hope to climb on Friday.

Sunset from the refuge

Spain, Alta Ruta, 01/09/25

Goriz to Pineta Mon 1st Sept

The wind picked up overnight but there was no appreciable amount of rain and the morning was bright with a few low clouds about and the wind had dropped.

Leaving Goriz 

Most people from the Refugio were heading up the mountain and I had a nice peaceful day, not meeting anyone until the Collado de Anisclo.

Beautiful morning 

There were marmots about on the grassy bits today and I had an interesting encounter with a stoat that appeared from behind a boulder. It played peek-a-boo for a while before coming quite close but unfortunately when I got the camera out it got shy and ran away.

Scenery with clouds

I had done the first and last parts of today's walk on the GR11 last year but the traverse from the Collado Superior de Goriz around the cliffs of Monte Perdido was new taking me high above last year's route.

The route ahead

Some of the terrain was 'interesting' but the views were incredible, the clouds bubbling up from below made it very photogenic.

An 'interesting' bit

There was a tricky chanel in the rocks that luckily for me had assistance chains, I don't think I would have managed without.

Easier ahead

After a steep descent over bare rock a 'normal' mountain path then took me to the Collado de Anisclo and the start of a steep, rough four hour descent to Pineta.

Col de Anisclo 

The way down 

I did this descent last year and swore at the time that I would never do it again and here I was again, at least there was no snow this time.

Lunch stop on the way down

It is a continuous very steep slope from 2400 meters to the Refugio de Pineta at 1200 meters.

Nearly down

The path zig zags all the way down to avoid the almost vertical bits until finally there is a flat bit where it crosses the dry river to the refugio.

The river bed

All that height to regain tomorrow 🤣

The last bit through the woods 

12km walked, 600m ascent 1800m descent.

Spain, Alta Ruta 31/08/25

 Bujaruelo to Goriz, Sun 31st August 

A good breakfast and I was away at daylight climbing steeply up the hill by the Refugio.

Looking down the valley from above the refuge 

The forecast was giving rain later and the tops were in the cloud so I decided not to do the detour to Taillon as there would be no view and if the rain arrived I would be at least two hours wetter.

And higher

After the steep climb through the trees the gradient eased slightly and climbed through increasingly rocky terrain to the coll at Port de Bouchero.

Up to the coll

My route continued on a rising scree traverse to a way up through a waterfall where I managed to go slightly the wrong way a got some water in my boot, cold as it was coming off a small glacier.

Up and up

The waterfall

The Refuge de Sarradets was just after the next coll below a bigger glacier.

Refuge de Sarradets 

The path climbed a very steep moraine by the glacier and on up through difficult ground to a gap in the ridge with towering spires on both sides.

Mini glacier 

Looking back to the gap in the ridge

The 'path' from the gap traverses below the cliffs and above an impressive scree slope, one section even has chains fixed to the cliff to prevent disaster.

The chain section (click on the pictures to enlarge)

It was easy to see the route as there was a group of people coming incredibly slowly the other way, obviously not used to that sort of thing.

The view

There was a rather tricky rock step that I chickened out of but by climbing up a scree slope I found a way around it and after some more rocky bits the route turned into a regular mountain path for a few miles as it went over a low coll and descended to the Refugio de Goriz.

At last a path

The Refugio was very busy, as were the hills today, but it was very comfortable as it only a year since it was rebuilt.

Refugio de Goriz 

The rain never came but there was a good hail storm in the middle of the night let's hope that tomorrow will be as good as forecast, no internet here so I can't look.

15km walked 1600m (steep)ascent. High point 2800 meters.