" No somos lo que somos. Si no lo que cada mañana queremos ser." Jordi Corominas.
For the English version please scroll down to the end of this entry.
For the English version please scroll down to the end of this entry.
Aquí empieza la crónica de nuestra travesía estival a través de casi todos los pirineos Aragoneses. Nos va a servir, además de para disfrutarla, un poco como puesta a punto para los Alpes. Durante siete magníficos días hemos gozado de nuestros queridos pirineos, hemos conocido gente maravillosa y sobre todo hemos aprovechado para desconectar del día a día y para poner nuestras almas un poquito más juntas si cabe.
Vamos a hacerla en sentido contrario a cómo suele hacerla la gente. Empezamos en Eriste, para ser más concretos en el aparcamiento de la cascada de la Espigantosa (1528 mts) donde dejaremos el coche los 10 días que tardaremos en volver. Aprovecho para dar las gracias al pedazo de CABRON que nos rayó el coche con el piolet y no fue capaz de dejar una nota. Gracias de corazón.
Después de este inciso voy a dar cuenta de algo también muy lamentable que nos pasó. Llamamos de camino al refugio del Angel Orús o Forcau para preguntar si había sitio para dormir. Es viernes y verano, ya suponemos que no. Hecho este que nos confirman. Pero lo que si esperábamos era cenar allí. Y quizá desayunar y comprar algo de comer para el día siguiente. A lo que la persona que nos atendió, nos contestó que si no estabas alojado no daban comida. Los servicios sólo para los alojados. Mi reflexión. Que clase de refugio de montaña es este que no dan de comer a dos montañeros federados? Para que sirve un sitio así? Para alojar turistas, sacar dinero? En otras ocasiones ni siquiera me han preguntado a donde iba, estando yo solo con los guardas... Amigos algo falla desde hace años en ese refugio, porque es generalizado el malestar entre el mundo montañero... Hemos oido comentarios e historias varias, quizá lo más leve que nos han dicho es que son un poco "raros".
Después de este inciso voy a dar cuenta de algo también muy lamentable que nos pasó. Llamamos de camino al refugio del Angel Orús o Forcau para preguntar si había sitio para dormir. Es viernes y verano, ya suponemos que no. Hecho este que nos confirman. Pero lo que si esperábamos era cenar allí. Y quizá desayunar y comprar algo de comer para el día siguiente. A lo que la persona que nos atendió, nos contestó que si no estabas alojado no daban comida. Los servicios sólo para los alojados. Mi reflexión. Que clase de refugio de montaña es este que no dan de comer a dos montañeros federados? Para que sirve un sitio así? Para alojar turistas, sacar dinero? En otras ocasiones ni siquiera me han preguntado a donde iba, estando yo solo con los guardas... Amigos algo falla desde hace años en ese refugio, porque es generalizado el malestar entre el mundo montañero... Hemos oido comentarios e historias varias, quizá lo más leve que nos han dicho es que son un poco "raros".
Pasado el mal rato y la indignación, lo que hicimos fue comprar dos bocadillos en el pueblo para cada uno y subir a plantar la tienda un poco más arriba, a unos 2300 mts. En lo conocido como Forcau alto, un poco antes del desvío hacia la "real" al Posets. Frente a las Gorgas de la Llardana. Un mirador privilegiado.
La ruta hasta el Angel Orus, marcada como PR (aunque es parte de la GR 11.2) no tiene perdida, está muy transitada y es, salvo un par de repechos, bastante cómoda y muy bonita. De ahí hasta el pequeño lugar donde dormimos sólo hay unos 45 minutos siguiendo las marcas rojas y blancas y superando un par de muretes y canales de piedras. Sólo los había pasado de noche en otras ocasiones o de bajada y es una zona agreste y dura pero hermosa a su manera.
Subimos a la par de un grupo de catalanes que iban a dormir más arriba, al ibón de la Llardaneta. Al día siguiente iban a hacer la cresta de las espadas, una clásica de los más espectacular del pirineo, espero que disfrutaran de la misma y no pasaran ningún miedo. Algunos parecía muy preparados pero otros no demasiado. Aunque en el monte muchas veces las apariencias engañan.
Plantamos nuestra pequeña casa portátil en una especie de mini campa rodeada de bloques que tenía vista de otras ocasiones. Hacía aire y cuando cayó el sol comenzó a hacer bastante fresco. Nos abrigamos con todo lo que teníamos y nos metimos en el saco. Poco a poco nos quedamos dormidos, muy juntitos, con mucho frío. Un escalofrio recorre mi cuerpo... no es frío, es felicidad plena. Se oye gente a las 00h por fuera. A la 1h para el aire y nos cocemos de calor, a quitar ropa. Mientras pasa más gente. A las 2h se vuelve a oir gente.... pero esto que es?? El corte Inglés?. Al amanecer frío al quitarnos ropa, pero aun con todo fue una noche mágica. A la mañana un señor nos desvelaría el misterio de tanto trasiego.
Errores que cometimos en la preparación. En esta ruta mejor reservar en los refugios e ir ligero, los 15 kgs de mochila lastran... y mucho. Por otra parte, ascender los picos cercanos quizá puede ser un error, aunque para ser sinceros, valió la pena cada uno de los tresmiles. Esperar a que no haya nieve aligera mucho la mochila, quitar el piolo y el crampon siempre es agradable para los hombros. Me informé y en principio hacian falta en varios puntos; Collado de Eriste, descendo de la Brecha a Serradets, cuello de Pondiellos... aunque en este caso las condiciones de la nieve y la hora a la que pasamos nos permitieron realizarlo sin usar nada más que el piolo. Pero claro, hay que ir preparado para todo.
Y aunque esta crónica no lo parezca, lo que más sentimos fue completa y absoluta felicidad. Juntos, en el monte, sin prisas, sin móviles casi ningún día... Una verdadera delicia para nosotros y la fortuna además que el tiempo nos respetó todas las jornadas.Una desconexión necesaria para un año lleno de aventuras pero también de trabajo.
Continuará....
English version
Our adventure begins in Eriste, a small village in the beautiful valley of Benasque. The original plan was to leave the car somewhere near the house of Jose's cousins in Eriste, but we set off quite late from Zaragoza and so it is even later when we make it to our starting point. The drive from Zaragoza to Eriste takes just over two and a half hours and the roads are not precisely wide and straight (check out the Congosto de Olvena and the Congosto de Ventamillo in Google if you want to know more).
On the way to Eriste we decide to contact the Angel Orus (aka Forcau) guarded shelter, property of the Mountain Federation of Aragon, in advance. We don't mind if there are no beds available as we have packed our light tent and sleeping bags, but we would really like to be able to dine and breakfast there. When I manage to get through, a not very pleasant man informs me that "services are only for customers", and that we won't be able to sleep nor eat there. I must say, the place is manned by a bunch of not very helpful people, considering the fact that their role and purpose is not just to serve meals and cold beers but to truly "shelter" those mountaineers who may need their help. In the end, we bought four sandwiches, juice and something sweet from a local shop in Benasque, which we would devour gradually between dinner time the first day, and linch time the following day.
It is well past 3:30 pm by the time we are ready to walk, it is getting truly hot and we are not feeling too good, so we make the decision to drive up a twisty asphalted road first (dirt road later) to the Espigantosa waterfall. We leave our beautiful new car in the shade not without apprehension. Our reservations proved to the well founded when we found a long, ugly scratch across the back door on our return. If you ever park there, do make sure that you leave your car as far as possible from anything and anyone as there are idiots out there who forget they are carrying ice axes in their rucksacks.
But enough lamentations for now! We set off as happy as we can possibly be (we are together and we are in the Pyrenees, what else can we ask for?). Jose is not feeling too good today but I set the pace and he follows without complaint (and in silence, which makes me suspicious about his health). The path climbs steadily from the carpark at the Espigantosa waterfall (1550 m; about 5 km away from Eriste) along the left bank of the river. We find a few strawberries in the sunny slopes but they are not ripe yet. It is a glorious day and the sun is high in the sky; we soon begin to sweat as we make our way through mixed forests and small meadows. The walk is not strenuous but the path continues to climb up decidedly. We stop to get some water at one point by the river Eriste and, when we look up, the first summits (not too high yet) begin to appear in the horizon.
We reach the Angel Orus shelter (2150 m) in good time, stop for a minute to use their loo (despite not being "customers") and fetch more water, and walk on for another 45 minutes to a rocky spot, which Jose remembers from previous excursions up and down this truly beautiful valley. It is well past 7:00 pm and it is already starting to get cold, so we set up camp. The chosen location for our little encampment is a small grassy spot surrounded (and therefore protected) by rocks on all sides. We have our dinner of sandwiches and potitos (baby food; awesome stuff, tasty, easy to carry and (more importantly) to swallow when your mouth is as dry as a shoe sole), and dive into the sleeping bags wearing pretty much every single piece of clothing available to us. It is freezing!
We did manage to sleep quite well, even though we were woken up by quite a few people passing by at around 1 am (apparently they were lost and looking for a place to sleep), and Jose found his bed a bit uncomfortable due to a rock under his ribs. The truth is that, once the wind stopped, it actually became quite hot inside the tent, and we were so tired from the day's emotions that we did manage to get a good rest.
To be continued...
Y aunque esta crónica no lo parezca, lo que más sentimos fue completa y absoluta felicidad. Juntos, en el monte, sin prisas, sin móviles casi ningún día... Una verdadera delicia para nosotros y la fortuna además que el tiempo nos respetó todas las jornadas.Una desconexión necesaria para un año lleno de aventuras pero también de trabajo.
Continuará....
English version
Our adventure begins in Eriste, a small village in the beautiful valley of Benasque. The original plan was to leave the car somewhere near the house of Jose's cousins in Eriste, but we set off quite late from Zaragoza and so it is even later when we make it to our starting point. The drive from Zaragoza to Eriste takes just over two and a half hours and the roads are not precisely wide and straight (check out the Congosto de Olvena and the Congosto de Ventamillo in Google if you want to know more).
On the way to Eriste we decide to contact the Angel Orus (aka Forcau) guarded shelter, property of the Mountain Federation of Aragon, in advance. We don't mind if there are no beds available as we have packed our light tent and sleeping bags, but we would really like to be able to dine and breakfast there. When I manage to get through, a not very pleasant man informs me that "services are only for customers", and that we won't be able to sleep nor eat there. I must say, the place is manned by a bunch of not very helpful people, considering the fact that their role and purpose is not just to serve meals and cold beers but to truly "shelter" those mountaineers who may need their help. In the end, we bought four sandwiches, juice and something sweet from a local shop in Benasque, which we would devour gradually between dinner time the first day, and linch time the following day.
It is well past 3:30 pm by the time we are ready to walk, it is getting truly hot and we are not feeling too good, so we make the decision to drive up a twisty asphalted road first (dirt road later) to the Espigantosa waterfall. We leave our beautiful new car in the shade not without apprehension. Our reservations proved to the well founded when we found a long, ugly scratch across the back door on our return. If you ever park there, do make sure that you leave your car as far as possible from anything and anyone as there are idiots out there who forget they are carrying ice axes in their rucksacks.
But enough lamentations for now! We set off as happy as we can possibly be (we are together and we are in the Pyrenees, what else can we ask for?). Jose is not feeling too good today but I set the pace and he follows without complaint (and in silence, which makes me suspicious about his health). The path climbs steadily from the carpark at the Espigantosa waterfall (1550 m; about 5 km away from Eriste) along the left bank of the river. We find a few strawberries in the sunny slopes but they are not ripe yet. It is a glorious day and the sun is high in the sky; we soon begin to sweat as we make our way through mixed forests and small meadows. The walk is not strenuous but the path continues to climb up decidedly. We stop to get some water at one point by the river Eriste and, when we look up, the first summits (not too high yet) begin to appear in the horizon.
We reach the Angel Orus shelter (2150 m) in good time, stop for a minute to use their loo (despite not being "customers") and fetch more water, and walk on for another 45 minutes to a rocky spot, which Jose remembers from previous excursions up and down this truly beautiful valley. It is well past 7:00 pm and it is already starting to get cold, so we set up camp. The chosen location for our little encampment is a small grassy spot surrounded (and therefore protected) by rocks on all sides. We have our dinner of sandwiches and potitos (baby food; awesome stuff, tasty, easy to carry and (more importantly) to swallow when your mouth is as dry as a shoe sole), and dive into the sleeping bags wearing pretty much every single piece of clothing available to us. It is freezing!
We did manage to sleep quite well, even though we were woken up by quite a few people passing by at around 1 am (apparently they were lost and looking for a place to sleep), and Jose found his bed a bit uncomfortable due to a rock under his ribs. The truth is that, once the wind stopped, it actually became quite hot inside the tent, and we were so tired from the day's emotions that we did manage to get a good rest.
To be continued...
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario