Pyrenees Day 7: Ascent of Posets

While some beings prefer to rest on the seventh day, such was not our fate. Still, Mark and I felt like doing something different, so we decided...to climb a mountain. Of course climbing (and descending) was pretty much our main pastime for the last week, but this was the first time we set out to conquer a peak for its own sake.

I left most of my belongings at the refugio (where we were going to return for a second night) and took only some food, water, extra clothing and a map. Posets, the second tallest peak in the Pyrenees (3370 meters) was about 5 hours up from the refugio, so, assuming a return trip, we knew it was going to be a long day. However, we also knew the climb was easier than the other top peaks in the area because it did not cross any glaciers and therefore did not require an ice axe and crampons.

The path upward wound its way through forest at first, then a grassy mountainside, and for the last half of the ascent, primarily through bare rock. The map -- and the owners of the refugio -- assured us we would find a spring near one of the glaciers that our route skirted, so we did not fill our water bottles completely. Unfortunately, the promised spring was nowhere to be found, so we had to be quite careful with our water for much of the hike. We considered breaking off some glacier ice to melt in our water bottles, but decided not to risk unfreezing some million-year-old bacteria that was going to decimate the human race.

Finally, we reached the peak along the top of a narrow ridge no more than a few feet wide, with an abyss on either side. Fortunately the hikers must have already broken off all the loose rocks because the path was actually quite solid. The few from the top was spectacular: snow-splattered peaks along our east-west route, greener mountains to the south, and relatively flat areas north of the border in France.

The way down, even without our packs, was quite slow, taking a full five hours to return to the refugio. Along the way we picked a few wild mushrooms and mark added them to the pasta dinner he prepared in a tiny dungeon-like structure that the refugio designated for the purpose. I, instead, opted for the four-course meal offered by the refugio in the relative comfort of its wooden dining room. The dishes were simple but filling, and I passed the time chatting with two other guests, who turned out to be an Oxford physics professor and his wife, doing a week-long hike with very small backpacks (because of the refugio network it is actually quite possible to hike with such mini-packs along certain routes).