After dropping Greg off with a complete stranger, Camille and I hastily headed into the Pyrenees and crossed the French border. We were greeted with a much greener landscape but still surrounded with the familiar snow capped mountains we saw from the southern side. Also the bread and cheese is better.
We also found some nice places to camp where we could wash our clothes in the river and have a fire at night!
Our first big destination in the Pyrenees was Gavarnie, for the views and potentially some climbing. We were greeted with some less than friendly weather and even some snow when we drove high enough into the mountains.
After camping out in a ski resort parking lot (and cooking in the van due to 0°C temps) we were greeted the next day with a beautiful sunny sky. Unfortunately however our goal of hiking Cirque de Gavarnie was shut down when we found out the trail was closed due to snow and avalanche danger.
Instead we headed to Lac de Gloriettes for a lovely hike to basically the Spain border (Cirque d'Estaubé). T'was nice indeed.
We then made a stop at Camille's Aunt's house. It was nice having a hot shower and a real bed. The next day her aunt and uncle showed us a local climbing spot which turned out to be super fun. I'm sure going to miss climbing on European limestone.
Our beautiful drawing thanking her aunt and uncle.
Next stop was the Ariège region for more climbing. Woo!
On the leftmost mountain in this photo was our goal. A 350 meter, 7 pitch 6a. It was a great adventure: A 2 hour approach, 6 hour climb, 1.5 hour descent (stuck and tangled ropes didn't help) and then an hour hike back. We were exhausted but very satisfied... Almost too tired to enjoy some bread wine and cheese... Almost.
Today was a rest day. We're currently in Foix exploring the city. Tomorrow Camille drops me off at a bus station. She heads back to her parents place for a family party and I head to Les Calanques for some big scary and beautiful climbing in the mountains. Soon soon she'll meet back up with me either in Les Calanques or somewhere else along the road!
No comments:
Post a Comment