Tuesday 25th Sept Puente de Coronas to Refugio de Conangles 17.5 k ms

The weather has definitely chilled. We woke early, it was still dark. Breakfast and off. We were below the peak of Aneto, 3404mtrs, the highest in the Pyrenees. Unfortunately the grey clouds obscured the summit. CB and J surged ahead but for some reason it wasnt my day and the higher we climbed the slower I went. We had to cross the Ballibierna pass at 2710mtrs and it was a struggle to the top with cold wind at our backs. We climbed down into a valley of lakes and tussock with fairly easy walking for an hour or so. Then the landsape changed and we had a 700mtr steep fall through forest down to the Salenque river. After that we had a fast walk through beech forest finally reaching the Noguera Ribagorça river, the boundary between Aragon and Catalonia. We stayed at the Refugi de Conangles and had without doubt the best food of any refugio. Our hosts, Ginès y Elena, were great. Ginès Roca had been in the first spanish climbing expedition to the Himalayas in the 70s.