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| Day 3: Punta Alta peak attempt |
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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 » |
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Mark, one of the Refugi wardens at Ventosa i Calvell with whom we developed a great relationship, told us that
the Punta Alta peak attempt should take five hours: three up, two down. The man had a great sense of humour, in retrospect. We
were on the track for 10h30m, climbing a net +700m to within 100m of the tauntingly visible peak.
There, in a moment of unlikely sensibility (and egged on by some friendly expletives from George), we decided to turn back.
Anatole, suggesting that the peak might still be attainable if the heavy packs were left behind, was fortunately
summarily ignored.
It's hard to know how much upward climbing we actually did, since mini-descents along the way suggest
we could have climbed over a kilometre vertically. We covered over 10 km doing what was effectively a
loop, although the meandering makes it difficult to measure exactly.
We did a fair bit of scrambling over large boulders (early on) and shale/debris (later on), and our final ascent near
the peak involved a crampon-mandatory trek across a daunting slope (see photo gallery) and
a quick clambering up to a pretty and panorama-perfect crest/ridge of snow. Early in the hike, Mike was lucky
to see some mountain goats.
Our return trip after our near-summit experience featured some truly enjoyable boot-skiing. We didn't believe it
could be done (or that it would actually feel like skiing), but our rapid boot-slide-on-snow descent was fast and fun.
This third day pushed the combined limits of our physical ability more than any other single day. We returned to the
Refugi late for dinner, although Mehmet scampered ahead to tell Mark that we were on the way.
In honour of our tardy yet complete survival, dinner was served late. Included was a hits-the-spot chocolate pudding.
Some quick post-dinner consultation resulted in the conclusion that our planned trek to Refugi Estany Llong the next
day should be called off -- for reasons of unnecessary slog -- in favour of another peak attempt based out of our
favourite Refugi, but this time to the more docile Pic de Lucia.
Mehmet and Anatole stayed up late to watch the moon rise over the Refugi, while George turned in early to subject
himself to the "Olympic-class snorer" in the neighbouring bunk.
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