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Day 2: To Refugi Ventosa i Calvell

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: Refugi dera Restanca to Refugi Joan Ventosa i Calvell Slog rating  [1="Easy" to 10="Argh!"]: 3 (again, mostly on account of the rain) Net climb: +210m Total time (including stops): 5h45m After a nice first night's sleep at Restanca, we were ready to embark on the first real leg of our voyage to the next Refugi.  Anatole saw two deer early in the morning before the Escargots headed off towards Ventosa i Calvell. We spent about 5h45m on the trail on this second day, covering over 5km and ending up about 210m higher than our elevation at Restanca.  We likely climbed over 500m in the process, as we quickly learned that the smooth elevation markings of our maps of course disguised many ups and downs. The rain followed us again, soaking us for the middle 3-4 hours of the hike and deterring an attempt on the summit of Montardo. This reasonably easy traverse afforded the first opportunity for us to try our ice-axes over some snowy flats (and the occasional not-so-flat). We arrived at the uber-scenic location for Refugi Ventosa i Calvell quite early.  We had time to sip some cocoa, take several pictures, toss around a disc (and, rather less intentionally, Anatole's camera lens), and allow Mike -- who had a cold -- to take a nap. Much high-quality food ensued, and then Anatole headed outdoors to photo-stalk the wildlife (none made themselves available for photographing, although Anatole did fall into a marmot hole for good measure.) Some chess was played, plans were made for the attempt on the peak of Punta Alta, and sleep was had.