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Thursday, 20 September 2018

Pic d'Orhy

Walk Summary
Pic d'Orhi summit is not vissible from Puerto de Larrau
hiddden by Orhi Chipia on right
Fairly easy and straight forward summit bang on the Spain/France border increasing summit count on not only the Spain/Portugal P600 list to 20 of the 185 total, which I have aspirations to complete, but also 3 of 158 France P600's a list I had no intention of targeting but does raises the possibility in my mind.
Never say never but unlikely due to the Alpine 4000' summits. Acquisition of the extra skills to tackle Pryenean 3000m summits will provide adequate progression for now. Including the Top 50 Pyrenean summits by prominence is more than enough mission creep. 
After that we will see; but Munros and GB P600's has to figure higher in priorities. 
Cairn and great viewpoint SE towards Pyrenees at Orhi Chipia
Setting off from Puerto de Larrau there is plenty of parking either side of the road. Follow the path from the car park heading north along the Spanish side of the border which is obvious and clearly worn into the ground. Even so there are regular cairns that would provide additional guidance if visibility was poor.
There is a choice of route to Pic d'Orhi summit after passing Orhi Chipia buttress I decided to ascend towards the col with Pic d'Orhi but first doubled back for the extra summit of Orhi Chipia and viewing point at the 1925m spot height. From there it is a short descent to the col at 1911m than direct ascent up to Pic d'Orhi summit and trig pillar to be rewarded with fine views to France and the more mountainous west side towards Spain.
Descent route from saddle
between Pic'dOrhi and Las Anazkorras towards Ohri Chipia
Descent could be a reverse of the ascent route, however I chose to descend towards the saddle towards Las Anazkorras and from there head towards path which could have taken for a less steep ascent back towards ground west of col at 1911m. Soon after that you rejoin the ascent path and return to van parked at Puerto de Larrau.
Shooting buts or obsolete border posts?
Approaching the van on the French side pointing towards Spain there are what look like shooting buts that have seen better days. I did wonder if they were border posts. Also on the north side is boundary post 237 complete with trig bolt. Not marked on the map as a trig pillar but there is a duplicate 237 post on the south side marked on the map and this time with a plate indicating the elevation at 1577m


Walk Statistics
Walk Date - 20 September 2018
Walkers - Steve Smith
Start Point - Puerto de Larrau (N42°58'28" W0°59'39")
Start Time - 14:11
Finish Point - Puerto de Larrau (N42°58'28" W0°59'39")
Finish Time- 16:26
Total Duration - 2hrs 15mins 
Overall Average pace - 1.36mph
Total Distance Walked - 3.05 miles
Total Height Ascended - 481.00metres

Peaks visited
Spain/Portugal 600m Prominence Peaks (168S - 185S&P - 2165E)
Pic d'Orhy (19S - 20S&P - 48E)
Pyrenees Top 50 by Prominence (50)
NONE
Spain/Portugal 300m - 599m Prominence Peaks (1000+)
NONE
Spain/Portugal 150m - 299m Prominence Peaks (3000+)
NONE
Spain Autonomous Community High Points (19)
NONE
Spain Province High Points (52)
NONE
France 600m Prominence Peaks (158)
Pic d'Orhy (3)
S: Spain
P: Portugal
E:Europe

Other walks on this trip
2018
September
17th Signal d'Ecouves & Mont des Avaloirs
18th Mont Baïgura
19th Autza
20th Pic d'Orhy
21st Peña de Ezkaurre
October
07th Itzaga
13th Caimodorro
14th Almenara
15th Blanquilla
18th María
19th Sagra
21st La Atalaya
24th Terrier de Saint-Martin-du-Fouilloux & Maine-et-Loire High Point
Route

More Photographs
French side of  Pic d'Orhi from D-26 on way to Puerto de Larrau
Click on photograph to view slide-show