Saturday 29th Sept Restanca to Refugio d'Amitges 17 kms

Early start at dawn. Straight into an uphill slog. Clear skies but very cold which means the snow has not disappeared. I for one am regretting the party last night and I notice the other 2 are quiet as well. Due to the fact that the refuge at Colomers is closed and the weather is freezing we have to climb through 3 high mountain passes today to get to the next refuge on our route. We climb to 2500 mtrs to cross the Port d'Oelhacrestada and drop into an alpine valley with some magnificent lakes. It is full of deep snow and dark cloud is starting to blanket the sky. As usual in many parts of the GR11, the waymarks are few and we spend an hour and a half walking through the snow up hills and down to lakes in a frustrating waste of time and energy looking for the route. We regroup and decide on 1 last attempt. The weather is really starting to look bad now and if we dont find the way in the next half an hour we will have to turn back. Unbelievably we almost immediately stumble on a track marker. We cross behind a lake and begina grind up to a pass, the snow obscures the boulders we are trying to walk over, feet slipping and at times plunging down into the gaps. As we get near the gap in the mountains the wind is building and the temperature drops. Suddenly, as we reach the pass, we are bombarded by a driving snow storm. We hide behind a boulder and pull on more gear. It was 12 midday. We had been going since before 8am and had completed only 4 kilometres. We literally slid off the top of the pass, skidding and at times floundering in the deep snow. As we dropped in altitude the snow turned to rain. 2 hours later we arrived at Colomers, a lake with the closed refuge. We still had another 10 kms to get to D'Amitges so after a 15 minute pause to eat a muesli bar and a bit of orange we pushed on through the drizzle. We were in the National Park of Aiguas Tortes which is a region of beautiful lakes. Our path wound past dark green meres fringed with mountain pines. We still had one more high pass to get through and now we were slogging uphill in heavy rain. As usual CB was leading the charge with Mr Jackson on his heels. I followed a very distant 3rd. We had been going for over 8 hours in bad conditions with barely a break and I was just focusing on putting 1 foot in front of another following the footprints in the snow and pulling myself up from 1 boulder to the next. Up ahead CB was struggling to breathe through a full on cold. Chris J, in a moment of literary inspiration, describes the pass we were sweating our way up to, as "El Collado (the pass) of Mental Fortitude". The pass, when we got there, was shrouded in mist. We were only 2 kilometres from the refuge. It took us an hour and a quarter to get there walking along a narrow, snow covered track cut into the side of a steep mountain side 60 metres above another lake. We arrive finally at the refuge sopping wet, 11 hours after we set out. As we approach I ask CB what time it is, "Dinnertime" he answers. Never better put.

Merci beaucoups les françaises de Restanca

On the way to Restanca

Last look back at Aragon

Pico del Mich de la Tallada

How can u lose weight with food like this? (Fortunately its not so good in other refuges)

Elena, la cocinera de Conangles, can cook up a storm. Chris Jackson wants to marry her.

Bart and Rene

Two good evenings waiting at Conangles having dinner with new friends from the Netherlands (not Holland!). Thank you both for your company and generosity.

The Conangles dog

Waiting at the refuge for the storm to pass was helped by the good people at Conangles, Genìs, Elena and fun with their dog, Cana, a Gos d'atura (catalan sheep dog).

Snow at Conangles

Friday 28 Sept Conangles to Restanca 13 km

Cold but sunny. The thermometer shows 3 degrees outside at 8am. It is not a long day today, or so we think. We say farewell to Rene and Bart from the Netherlands. We have had a good time at Refugio de Conangles for the last 2 days while the weather has shown us what it can do and we have enjoyed the hospitality of Genis and Elena. We have eaten very well, too well in fact because Elena's cooking is amazing. I think i have added the 3 kgs i thought i had lost. We walk in the sun and it lifts our spirits. After we climb out of the forest we hit the snow that has fallen over the last 2 days. We climb 900 mtrs to the pass the snow getting deeper. At times we are sinking up to our thighs in powdery snow. The views are amazing but the going is slow and hard because of the snow. En route to the refuge we look down from the tops into a valley that Anna and i once camped in many years ago. Then its a final slog up the steep, rocky side of a mountain, traversing around to the east and the Restanca refuge comes into sight just above a large lake. It has taken us 6 hours. We arrive at the refuge to find it populated with french real estate agents on a team building thing. Immediately the talk turns to the rugby world cup. They are convinced that the french have it in the bag. How wrong could they be, but no amount of cheap red wine and argument could convince them otherwise. Tomorrow is going to be a long, hard day so we should go to bed early, but we dont.

Snow at Conangles 1550mtrs

Thursday 27th Sept. Refugio de Conangles

Woke up at dawn this moring to find heavy snow falling all around the refuge we are staying at. The mountains we want to climb up to were completely invisible in the white out. So no walking today. The forecast is for it too improve in the next day or two. We can only hope so. The owner of the refuge where we are staying, Génis Roca, gave us a lift in his car to Viella, the nearest town, so we could do some shopping and other jobs.
Its a bit frustrating because we want to get on but common sense must prevail.
Fortunately the food is great where we are staying and they have a nice fire to warm up around.

www.refugiconangles.com

"Far From Home" by Chris Bennett

We are halfway through our journey now and a lot of the time we are completely isolated from the world. At times we walk together, at times alone and we think about those we miss. Chris Jackson worries about his dad, I miss my family, and Chris Bennett misses his family and new arrival to this world, Eve. He wrote this poem about it.

"The way is steep; up through angled mountain peaks,
I sip my water, replacing sweat from weeks and weeks,
Of,
Climbing and descending and climbing again in the rain and the sun.
Awesome, beautiful, majestic peaks off which cascading waters run,
We are rewarded by our day's efforts to gain Pirineos lofty peaks and passes,
Picturesque yet mighty landscapes forced up during earth's past is,
Inspirational and calming for our bodies and soles,
But the ones on our boots are getting worn and ripping holes!
We are happy to be here amongst nature's most rugged,
At times whining when we feel a bit buggered.
But mostly we are happy to continue along the path,
Of the GR11 whilst we talk, and sing, and laugh,
But sometimes we are brooding quiet as we wander, seek and roam,
When remembering loved ones and the comfort of our homes.¨

Chris Bennett. Refugio de Pescadores. 24/9/2007

Wednesday 26th Sept Beaten by the weather.

Rain this morning and a bad forecast. We set out with wet weather gear on and follow the track through the drizzle for an hour reaching 1800mtrs. At this stage the rain turns to snow and looking up we can see nothing. A complete white out. The temperature has dropped below freezing. We huddle for a conference. We had planned to climb to 2350mtrs and set off across country to the next refugio, Restanca but with freezing temperatures, snow and low visibility we decide to abort the attempt. We have returned to Refugio Conangles. The forecast is no better for tomorrow but so many times the forecast has been wrong. For sure tho, winter in the Pyrenees is arriving and we still have 22 more walking days to go. They are going to be cold ones.

Chris Bennett and Chris Jackson at Ballibierna pass 2710mtrs

Last day in Aragon

Glacial lake at 2440mtrs. After this we climbed to 2710mtrs and crossed over the Collada Ballibierna.

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.

refugio de estós

Early morning.

Sunday 23 Sept Biados to Estós 11.5 km

What should have been an interesting day amongst high peaks turned out to be a dreary, cold damp hard climb up to the Estos pass with the cloud level at 2200mtrs which meant that since we were above that level we walked in the mist with views of nothing. We were going to push on further than the refugio but we arrived there cold and the thought of trudging on in that weather was not appealing. A shame as the Estós valley has a lot to offer in the way of scenery.

Monday 24 Sept Estós to Puente de las Coronas 19kms

Today is an object lesson in how high mountain forecasts can be wrong. We are up before dawn and the stars are twinkling without a cloud in site. A quick breakfast and we are away shortly after sunrise. It is amazing the difference blue sky makes. Spirits lifted and yesterdays dreariness forgotten we march down the valley. An "easy" day today, we only have a climb of 700 mtrs to our destination, Refugio de Pescadores, a simple hut beside the Vallibierna river with no facilities. We arrived late afternoon with the sun still shining but a cold wind blowing. Wash some clothes in the river, collect firewood. We have the place to ourselves. By tomorrow night we will have finished the section of the walk that goes thru Aragon, and we will have arrived in Catalonia.

Ainsa at night