Pyrenees HRP - 2004 - Day 9

 

Sue and Martin's Big Adventure

 

Day 9 - Tuesday 3 August 2004 - Stage 8

 

Postcard Summary (on yesterday's card)

Midge zone to Col d’Uthu

Ascent of Pic D'Orhy (high point to date - 2017m) and misty ridge – 10.3 hours, 21 km, 1350m ascent

Climbed back up to the col, where the shop was terribly stocked, so we have to go without brews for a while.  Then headed up out of the cloud to our highest point to date.  Views were amazing as there was cloud beneath us over France.  The vultures flew close by.  A shame that we entered the mist later as the ridge is a good one.  Camped at a col at 1664m, after collecting water from a spring on the Spanish side.  Sadly no views from here apart from a brief glimpse when the clouds parted temporarily.

 

Diary Entry (by Martin)

Ascent of Pic d'Orhy (2017 metres)

Woke at usual time. 7 am. Darker than usual due to thick mist everywhere. Eventually got up and found hot water for a wash and shave, then we got going without paying at 8.40.

 

Back at Bagargui col we found the food store sadly lacking and we improvised with food for a couple of days. They didn't sell gas, so we bought very little that needed heating, as our second gas is nearly kaput. They would only sell us one baguette, as we hadn't reserved any! We were rather rude to them and said their shop was "terrible".

 

After eating a cheese and small piece of bread breakfast outside the lack of Information Centre (shut), we headed off up Pic d'Orhy. Our mood improved after 15 minutes when we emerged from the mist to a beautiful sunny day. We took photos of the Pic and beyond.

 

 

 

All went well until I took a wrong turning (quite difficult - lost concentration). We went too high and went unnecessarily around a bluff. I then took us too low and we finished up bashing through steep grass and gorse bushes to reach our correct path. (Anything the sheep can do, we can do too!)  

 

This took us onto the ridge leading to Pic d'Orhy (2017m), which we ascended at a leisurely pace, arriving on the summit at 2.15. This wasn't the hottest ascent of the trip - it had been only 16°C at Bagargui col. The ridge was a mini Crib Goch - easier, but a similar amount of effort as to get up Snowdon. The big difference is that despite starting from a tourist centre, no-one else is climbing the mountain from this (the interesting) side, and there are no signs encouraging them to do so.

 

 

We had found lovely spring water at 1600 metres - a delight. Lots of alpine flowers seen today - perhaps there may be time to record them later, but some Dwarf Columbines and some Saxifrages and Stonecrops were seen, and lots of others.

 

Biting Stonecrop

The tuna salad was surprisingly tasty. We admired the circling vultures together with four day walkers. Horses and sheep live here. Good views down our steep descent to Port de Larrau (1585m)  and to the ridge (our route) beyond. It had the look of a Lakeland fell ridge.  

We dropped down the sunny hill to reach Port de Larrau at 3.20pm. Two French families were lunching in thick mist, oblivious of Spanish sunshine about half a mile away.

 

We were hopeful of regaining a sunny ridge, but the cloud foiled us and we spent the rest of the afternoon carefully following Ton Joosten's instructions as to how to continue along the ridge. Despite only about ten metres of visibility, and with the aid of altimeter and compass, we arrived at Col d'Uthu (1664m) without incident, having decided not to descend to Ardanne.  

 

The gamble paid off, as we found a spring 100m down on the Spanish side and we returned to flat ground on the col to set up camp above the cows at 7 pm. (Lesson: in mist when dropping down for water, take a bearing and reverse as per descent - we wasted time trying to find the col after collecting water.) 

 

The sky over Spain cleared briefly, but we cooked indoors with the last of our gas, a nice meal, cosy in our tent with mist and rain outside. A rough night for weather, but we slept well and the tent stood up well. 

 

Note: this particular border is patrolled by an electric fence, as Sue discovered to her cost.  
 

Stats and route (Viewranger):

29 km, 1500 metres ascent, 10.3 hours

 

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