Tuesday 18th Refugio de Goriz to Pineta 13.5 kms

The day dawned and the weather was very cold but looked settled. We decided to make a go of it. The distance was not long (13.5 kms) but the track was going to be the most difficult we had faced. From Goriz we had a 300 metre climb over 2 kms to get to the Collado de Arablo, then a 700 metre drop over another 3 kms to the Bellos river. this fall required a lot of hands on climbing to get down rock faces and as usual the track marks were not easy to find which slows down progress as we have to double check we are heading in the right direction. In these steep sided valleys, you only need to lose your direction for 5 minutes and you can get yourself in all sorts of trouble; there are high cliffs everywhere.
By the time we hit the bottom of the valley we were already tired but could not wait to rest. We now had a steep 600 metre climb over 2.5 kms to get to the high pass of Collado de Añisclo and the weather looked threatening. It took us nearly 2 hours to get there the going was so steep. To put it bluntly, I was buggered and we still had the worst of the day ahead of us.
As we reached the top were were surprised to find a Spanish guy there with GPS equipment. He worked for the National Park and they were revising all of the tracks in the park. At the top we were at a height of 2500 metres above sea level. We now had to go down an almost vertical cliff to the valley floor 1.2 kilometres below. Looking down was freaky. It was like looking out of the window of an aeroplane. It was unbelievable that the GR11 took this route and I began to see why the GR11 track was considered so difficult. Up until now it had been physically challenging but this was another dimension. The park employee gave us encouragement "Tomalo muy despacito porque es muy peligroso" (take it slowly because it is really dangerous). We stepped off the edge to begin the descent. To describe what we had to walk down as a track would be extending the use of the word way beyond what it was intended for. We were carefully stepping our way along slippery gravel ledges and climbing down vertical rock faces. I chose to concentrate on where I was putting each foot because to look down to the valley floor immediately gave me vertigo. Amazingly, even Chris Bennett our young and enthusiastic guide, was looking extremely white around the lips. He later admitted that it was the scariest thing he had ever done. To drop the 1200 metres took us nearly 3 hours.
At the bottom I was exhausted and my legs and feet were aching. Once again having 20 kilos on your back while climbing down made the trip even harder, and more dangerous. We were so happy to be on flat ground and looked up in wonder at where we had come from. It seemed incredible that we were alive. We walked to the Refuge of Pineta and were greeted by our host for the evening, Jaime. 2 cold beers each, a hot shower and change of clothes and we were filled with endorphin fever. We had a great evening with Jaime and a couple of other intrepid fools who were crazy enough to do the same thing as us. Chris Bennett wanted to know if anyone had died doing what we had just done and much to our horror we found out that only six weeks before someone had put a foot wrong on the same section that we had gone down and had plunged to their death. Not the first one either apparently. Many people do the walk we did and when they see what they have to go down they turn around and go back.
Jaime was a great host. He cooked a great meal, spaghetti bolognesa, salad, spanish sausages and chips. ¡¡Buenísimo!! Refugio de Pineta, good food, good beds, good time.
I include a photo of Jaime and he says that I have to put on this web site that all the New Zealand girls are welcome to stay at Refugio de Pineta anytime (¡Qué vengan las chirris neocelandesas!) Muchas gracias Jaime. Ha sido un placer concerte. Y para que sepas, ya hemos quitado los "porsiacasos" de nuestras mochilas para hacerlas un poco mas ligeras.