Pico de Aneto

Walk Description

This was the final 10 days of my 6 week bagging trip in Spain, though a fair proportion of those 4½ weeks was spent lazing in the sun.
The ambitious plan was to meet up with Mick, who I first met on Puig Campana back in May 2018, and climb the 3 highest P600 mountains in the Pyrenees in reverse order:- No3 Monte Perdido, No2 Posets but first today No1 Pico de Aneto.

Dawn light on Pico de Paderna. Looking right beyond Barranco de la Maladeta
early on in ascent from Refugio de la Renclusa to Portillón Superior.

The day started at 04:15am when we left Camping Ixeia to catch the first bus at 05:00am from car park near Llanos del Hospital Ski Resort to the trailhead at la Besurta. There were 6 other people on the bus besides Mick and myself proving we were not the only people crazy enough to be setting off this early.
If you are going to give yourself any chance of summiting Pico de Aneto without an overnight stop, unless you are young and fit, you need to be on this first bus of the day to give yourself enough margin of error to be back in time for the last bus at 9:00pm. It only takes 10 minutes and within less than 5 minutes of arrival we had donned head torches and was all heading up the path towards Refugio de la Renclusa, which we reached within 40 minutes. Had I known I would have taken empty water bottles up to fill at the taps outside the refugio. Instead I carried an extra 2.75litres of water and more importantly 2.75Kg unnecessarily. Worth remembering really because although you need more water there are plenty of places to top up along the entire route during July with glacial melt water.

Somehow we feel we want to be lower on boulder field around bottom of cliff
towards Portillón Superior. But the cairned path continues up and to the left

From the refugio the cairned path continues south and up, zig-zagging towards Crencha de los Portillones and the access to Glaciar de Aneto at Portillón Superior. About half way up the path and cairns seem to be forcing you to go east towards Portillón Inferior, while we really wanted to stay low and head up the boulder field direct to Portillón Superior. As it turned out we ended up doing something in between and hit the ridge and first sight of Pico de Aneto nearly four hours after setting off from Besurta. This halfway option seemed to work, giving us the benefit of a splendid ridge walk SW along the Crencha de los Portillones remembering to descend right at the final opportunity to avoid a sheer drop and impossible descent to Portillón Superior.

Portillón Superior straight ahead, look to descend right off
Crencha de los Portillones. Pico de Aneto still far left

Three weeks earlier Mick had already summited Pico Aneto and descended straight on to the glacier from Portillón Superior. For us there was some soft snow, no ice, but a great deal of boulder hopping for the next 2½ hours. One bonus apart from the worry of experiencing the reality of global warming first hand was the opportunity to refill water bottles before hitting the glacier for real. Ahead was an ice sheet which I elected to descend around to avoid donning crampons, in the hope that I may not need them at all. The trade off was no crampons for a short kick stepped glacial ascent whereas Mick headed for the ice sheet before first slipping on his micro-spikes and we met the other side of the ice sheet on the path that traverses the glacier at about the same time. So about the same, both of us said we did not push the pace to arrive first. - Honest.
We continued to traverse the glacier, me without spikes and just one trek pole on the lower side and my axe on the higher side in case I slipped. Fortunately I did not but by the time I reached Collado de Coronas I put on my crampons. One of the skills of using crampons is realising when you are going to need them before you find yourself on an ice sheet and really need them.

Cannot quite see summit beyond summit crown,
but time to stash back packs and trek poles at top of ice tail on right

They were not required all the way to the top as all the ice and snow had receded from the summit crown so at the same time as removing crampons and spikes we also stashed our packs and trek poles for the final 50 m of ascent.

There is a faint track worn into the boulders and very soon you see the top of the cross marking Aneto's summit. If you have not done any research you would think that was job done but for those of us who have will know that before reaching the cross there is a small twist - 'Paso de Mahoma'.

Often referred to as 'Bridge of Mohamed' but translates as 'Passage (or step) of Mohamed' alluding to its knife edge boulder set at 90° to the ridge reminiscent of the scimitar Muslims refer to having to cross in order to reach the gates of heaven.

Paso de Mohama. Does not look it but a serious grade III scramble
to be negotiated before reaching Pico de Aneto

Bridge is also an apt name given the 2000' drop one side and the 3000' drop the other.

Regardless of the name it is a serious obstacle that could bar your way to reaching the ultimate goal of the summit. Having said that there are plenty of hand/foot holds but with plenty of exposure especially when straddling the above mentioned rock.
All this could maybe avoided by simply walking along the top of the ridge, but no way would my head for heights cope with that.

I was first to arrive but knowing what to expect, turned round and waited for Mick without looking at what I was about to take on. As Mick arrived another guy arrived and I could see the hesitation in his face, I asked him if he wanted to go first and he did. Not sure he went the best way but it gave me a clue where to start. Carefully round to the right, straddle the scimitar rock as I eased round/over then a final scramble up rock and on to the summit crown. Probably took less than 3 minutes to complete the traverse but was certainly the most daunting experience I have had in my entire hill walking adventures. 

Only we know our hard it was to get here after a 4:15am start
and 9 hours solid hiking

Big smiles, handshakes and man-hugs on summit. And why not? It had after all taken 9 hours to get here even though it was only 7km. But what should you expect, it is the highest point in the Pyrenees, one of the major European mountain ranges.

We spent quite a bit of time there taking photos of all 3 features; The cross, a religious statue of 'The Virgin' which I am told you can hear crying when it rains and the ubiquitous cylindrical trig pillar. The weather was perfect and the views are fantastic with nothing but mountains all round as far as you can see.

Mick thinking about final move to descend Paso de Mohama.
There is a 9000' drop to the right!

All too soon it was time to start thinking about heading back and first item on the agenda was of course El Paso de Mahoma just as daunting in this direction, probably more as you are forced to look down on occasions, however same approach as the ascent - slow and careful. Not sure I came back the same way but did seem quicker.
More than ever, with El Paso de Mahoma in font of you does the maxim apply that the job is only half done at the summit

Considering alternate descent to Plan d'Aigualluts via Ibón del Salterillo
to avoid boulder fields either side of Portillón Superior

After picking up our kit and putting crampons back on we deliberated returning the same way to Portillion Superior then descending direct to Refugio de la Renclusa rather than via Crencha de los Portillones ridge. With the ice melt that would involve traversing two major boulder fields and with tired legs we really wanted to avoid that. The alternative was to descend to Ibón de Salterillo, bypassing Crencha de los Portillones to the SE. Slightly further but easier on the legs as we stayed on the glacier for longer. From the Ibón we crossed the Barranco del Solterillo and found an easy to follow path though not easy to walk as by now we had very tired legs. We could have followed the path all the way back to Refugio de la Renclusa but passed on that option when we saw we had some reascent. Instead we took the alternative path at 42.66603°N, 0.65895°E and continued the descent to Plan d'Aigualutt.

After Ibón del Salterillo there is a good path to follow all the way down to
Plan d'Aigualluts. Just a long way with tired legs

At 42.66590°N, 0.66513°E we incorrectly took a left turn which brought us to a sheer drop overlooking Salto d'Aigualutt. The clue is in the name, salto translates to jump! We did try to find a way down but soon realised there was not one. By this stage we we really tired so our mood was not the most positive. Returning to the fork we turned left where was quickly confronted with a river crossing of the infant Rio Ésera, only just above knee deep where we crossed but wide enough for water to fill our boots. There may have been a dryer crossing but at this stage we were too tired to mess about walking along the bank. At least on the other side there was a distinct path albeit uneven in places past Cabana d'Aigualutt and the final 2km back to the bus stop at Besurta, missing the 8:30pm bus by only a couple of minutes. It either left early or there was not one. Fortunately there was one more bus, the last bus of the day, at 9:00pm confirming why we needed the early 5:00am start. 

Half hour before walks end at Besurta bus stop, can look back fondly at Pico de Aneto.
A good descent route this time of year but classic ascent via Portillion Superior is best IMHO.

An absolute beast of a day but of course a fantastic day. Like I said earlier what do you expect when you take on the highest mountain in the Pyrenees.

It also turned out to be the final summit of the trip, due to failed attempt on Posets in 3 days time. Thunder and lightening as we neared the summit was one factor, but I think maybe we were too tired to take on this summit with only two rest days after Aneto. Certainly we would have been quicker and maybe have been on our way down from Posets summit before the weather closed in. The final summit of Monte Perdido had to be cancelled due to severe sickness and diarrhea which we both went down with and thought it may be something to do with exhaustion. Turns out however we ate a dodgy pizza after Posets which gave us food poisoning, contracting Clostridium Difficile or C-Diff. Without going into too much detail it took 3 weeks to recover. 

Walk Statistics

Walk Date - 23 July 2019
Walkers - Steve Smith, Mick Graylen

Accommodation - Camping Ixeia, Benasque 

Start Point - Bus stop at Besurta (42.67876°N, 0.65000°E)

Start Time - 05:14

Finish Point - Bus stop at Besurta (42.67876°N, 0.65000°E)

Finish Time- 20:30

Total Duration - 15hrs 16mins 
Overall Average pace - 0.60mph
Total Distance Walked - 9.17 miles
Total Height Ascended -1613.00metres

Peaks visited

Spain/Portugal 600m Prominence Peaks (168S - 185S&P - 2165E)

Pico de Aneto (65S - 67S&P - 96E)

Spain/Portugal 300m - 599m Prominence Peaks (1000+)

NONE

Spain/Portugal 150m - 299m Prominence Peaks (3000+)

NONE

Spain Autonomous Community High Points (19)

Pico de Aneto (5)

Spain Province High Points (52)

Pico de Aneto (16)

S: Spain
P: Portugal
E:Europe

Final walk from previous trip

2019

February

25^th Pico de Mijas

Other walks on this trip

2019

May

15^th Peñarroya

June

17^th Serra de São Mamede
18^th Villuercas
19^th Riscos Altos
24^th Corocho de Rocigalgo
27^th Riscos del Amor

July

05^th Umbrìa y Castellòn

11^th Morades - Sierra De La Hiruela High Point

13^th Pico de Almanzor

15^th Pico Jálama

16^th Canchal de la Ceja & Torreón del Calvitero
18^th La Hastiala

23^rd Pico de Aneto
26^th Posets (attempt)

Firts walk from next trip

2019

August

27^th Oitz

Route

GPX can be downloaded from

www.peakbagger.com

More Photographs

Full set of captioned photos providing journal and description of key parts of ascent, descent and summit photographs.

Three hours after Portillón Superior hit glacier proper. Nearly two hours to Pico de Aneto summit.

Click on photograph to view slide-show