Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
Pyrenees GR11 2003- Day 13: August 21st
Thursday 21st August
There was a thunderstorm overnight and it was dripping from the trees onto my tent
in the morning. There were clouds around the peaks when I set off at about 8am. I
followed a good, popular path up a steep wooded gorge to the Capella de la Virgin de las
Nieves, a chapel by the dam forming the large Embalse de Respomuso reservoir. The
chapel would have served the workers who lived in the, now ruined, barracks
accommodating the miners in the old mining industry.
I stopped for a break on the path high above the reservoir. There was a chilly wind and
the storm clouds were building up over the mountains. It took me another 1½ hours to
climb up rough pasture up to the Ibon de Liena Cantal, a desolate tarn at 2450m. I
needed to wear all my clothes to stay warm as I stopped for a tea-break. I was surprised
to see a pair of Dippers darting around, as I would have thought it was too cold for the
insects they were hunting.
Above the tarn the terrain was all crag and scree. The GR11 followed an unlikely
looking climb up a scree slope to a notch in the rockwall at 2721m, known as the Collado
de Tebarray. The weather looked very threatening and there was a light shower as I
headed steeply upwards. Three separate Spaniards warned me about the sharp ridge, not
appearing to recognise that lightning was a more dangerous threat. I was in cloud, with
thunder rumbling around, as I had to scramble up a steep crumbling gully to arrive at the
col. A brief clearance allowed me to view the Cuello de Infierno, my next col, and beyond
it, the glacier on the north face of the Picos de l’Infierno, across a steep scree slope.
There was a brief, but heavy, shower as I reached the Cuello de Infierno. I descended
down scree and over snow patches to the small upper lake, Ibon Azul Alto. There was no
chance of a swim in the tarn fed by glacier meltwater.
I thought about going on, but the weather was deteriorating, with thunder rolling
around, and I decided to camp. It was a good decision because as soon as I settled into the
tent the storm started with heavy rain and then hail battering the tent, and lightning
hitting the surrounding peaks. It was getting chilly early in the evening.
There was a thunderstorm overnight and it was dripping from the trees onto my tent
in the morning. There were clouds around the peaks when I set off at about 8am. I
followed a good, popular path up a steep wooded gorge to the Capella de la Virgin de las
Nieves, a chapel by the dam forming the large Embalse de Respomuso reservoir. The
chapel would have served the workers who lived in the, now ruined, barracks
accommodating the miners in the old mining industry.
I stopped for a break on the path high above the reservoir. There was a chilly wind and
the storm clouds were building up over the mountains. It took me another 1½ hours to
climb up rough pasture up to the Ibon de Liena Cantal, a desolate tarn at 2450m. I
needed to wear all my clothes to stay warm as I stopped for a tea-break. I was surprised
to see a pair of Dippers darting around, as I would have thought it was too cold for the
insects they were hunting.
Above the tarn the terrain was all crag and scree. The GR11 followed an unlikely
looking climb up a scree slope to a notch in the rockwall at 2721m, known as the Collado
de Tebarray. The weather looked very threatening and there was a light shower as I
headed steeply upwards. Three separate Spaniards warned me about the sharp ridge, not
appearing to recognise that lightning was a more dangerous threat. I was in cloud, with
thunder rumbling around, as I had to scramble up a steep crumbling gully to arrive at the
col. A brief clearance allowed me to view the Cuello de Infierno, my next col, and beyond
it, the glacier on the north face of the Picos de l’Infierno, across a steep scree slope.
There was a brief, but heavy, shower as I reached the Cuello de Infierno. I descended
down scree and over snow patches to the small upper lake, Ibon Azul Alto. There was no
chance of a swim in the tarn fed by glacier meltwater.
I thought about going on, but the weather was deteriorating, with thunder rolling
around, and I decided to camp. It was a good decision because as soon as I settled into the
tent the storm started with heavy rain and then hail battering the tent, and lightning
hitting the surrounding peaks. It was getting chilly early in the evening.
Embalse de Respomuso
Cuello de Infierno
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