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Day 1: To Refugi dera Restanca

Each day's route is shown by a red track with yellow highlight.  On "loop" days, our return trip is a blue track with yellow highlight. Starting and ending Refugios are marked in yellow, while lunch spots are marked by a blue circle (since map areas overlap, several may be shown). « Previous  |  Route Index |   Next »

Route: Narbonne, France to the Parking to Refugi dera Restanca Slog rating  [1="Easy" to 10="Argh!"]: 4 (mostly on account of the rain) Net climb: +550m Total time (including stops): 2h After only four hours of sleep, we set out from Narbonne in the south of France, where we were staying courtesy of George's parents. After several pit-stops -- In St. Gaudens to rent ice-axes and crampons and to get lunch In Vielha to purchase two ice-axes (after patiently waiting for the siesta to end) and to learn how to lace our crampons -- and a lot of driving around in circles at the base of the Pyrenees, we finally arrived at base camp.  It started raining as we approved the parking, of course, so our extensive rain gear preparation was immediately deemed not to be in vain.  And so we hiked, setting out in the early evening -- roughly 7:00 p.m. -- in a gentle rain. We travelled about 3km in 2 hours, climbing about 550m to an elevation of 2010m (Refugio dera Restanca). It felt like an eternity, but the cozy Restanca -- with its plaid blankets and beautiful views -- was a sweet reward.