Spain, Alta Ruta, 05/09/25.

Vignamales, Friday 5th Sept.

A side trip today with the possibility of climbing Vignamales. The weather was good but it looked windy at the top.

A good morning 

Picked up an ice axe and crampons at the refuge and set off back down the way I came up yesterday to where the 'path' up to the glacier turns off.

Down to the glacier path

A high cliffy path leads to a big scree chute that I had to cross before climbing up ice polished limestone that gave surprisingly good grip.

Way up

The start of the glacier 

I avoided some snow patches and continued climbing until reaching the lip of the Corrie where Crampons were attached to boots to climb a snow chute leading to the glacier.

The glacier 

What can I say except AMAZING, a real glacier, not just an everlasting snow patch.

Glacier surface

There was no snow cover so the couple of crevasses were easy to see as I crunched my way over the ice.

Looking down the Glacier 

The Glacier was the main reason for being there but I climbed a horrible scree slope towards the rock slabs leading to the top.

Looking down on the glacier 

I was looking at the next stage when another couple passed me and started roping up. That made the decision for me and I slithered back to the glacier. Not the top but still 3200 meters.

Ice Ice baby

I spent a while wandering about the glacier which was getting wetter in the sunshine before retracing my steps and finding a sunny spot in the rocks that was sheltered from the icy wind coming down the glacier for a late picnic lunch admiring the view.

I'm not the only one 

There was a helicopter ferrying equipment up to the ridge which was interesting to watch particularly the skill of the pilot in the strong gusty wind.

The helicopter 

When I got back to the Refuge I found out that they were drilling for permafrost experiments.

Wow

I found a slightly easier route down through the rock but still had to cross the scree and the nasty, high, cliffy path before rejoining yesterday's path to the refuge.

Back across the scree