Early primroses in the Pyrenees
Few signs of spring as I took a walk out from Biescas yesterday. First few primroses are coming out in sunny spots alongside the path and few hepatica have started to join them. The stinking hellebore have been out a few weeks – the flowers of these remain green as there’s nothing else in flower at this time of year to compete for insects attentions. Read the rest of this entry »
The neolithic dolmen at Santa Elena
The other day I took a walk from Biescas up to Santa Elena and was pleased to see that they’ve put up some boards with information about the dolmen. The upper Gallego has one of the greatest concentration of megaliths in the Pyrenees. The dolmen at Santa Elena is a simple but large dolmen that was destroyed during the civil war and reconstructed using the original stones in 1975. Read the rest of this entry »
Dian heading up Pico del Chinebral snowboard strapped to his back
Weekend at Refugio Linza – part 2
Woke up on the Sunday to clear blue skies once again. Very cold outside – about -9. Today’s plan was Pico del Chinebral de Gamnueta, skinning up the main ridge and then skiing down the south face down a valley to the road. Read the rest of this entry »
View from the summit of Petrachema (Pic d'Ansabere)
Refugio Linza lies at a remote roadhead in the Anso Valley. It’s a beautiful wilderness area with not a ski lift for miles and perfect for ski touring, snow shoeing and cross country skiing. The weather forecast was perfect last weekend so Fabian, Dian and myself headed over there for some touring.
Heading out from Refugio Linza
Beautiful blue skies as we headed out Sarurday morning towards the border peak of Petrachema (or Pic d’Ansabere in French). Long ascent making our own tracks and with just sarrios (Pyrenean chamois) for company.
Two chamois watching us from above
As we approached the summit clouds came in suddenly but fortunately we still got fantastic views over a huge area – down into the Cirque de Lescun and across to Bisaurin, Balaitous, Pic du Midi d’Ossau and all of the peaks in the Valle de Tena. Beautiful.
The summit ridge of Petrachema with the clouds blowing over
Headed back the same way through some fairly difficult snow and I lost count of how many times I fell over. Great day, pretty long with 1400m of ascent and we were glad to get back to Linza for a beer around the fire.
Snowshoeing from the Corefablo Pass
Snow conditions are fabulous at Formigal and the Pyrennes in general at the moment. Last Sunday Fabien and I went snowshoeing from the Cotefablo pass. Read the rest of this entry »
The Jan/Feb issue of Adventure Travel has a good article on skiing in Formigal. The same issue also features a hike in the Ordesa National Park following a simal route to the Hike Pyrenees GR11walking holiday. Read about it then come and join us in the Pyrenees to try the hike out yourself!
From Formigal overlooking the Valle de Tena
We’ve been doing a fair amount of skiing at Formigal this winter. Snow conditions this week are perfect. There’s a good snow covering on all pistes and lots of powder off piste. Avalanche risk has been high for a lot of the winter though. One of our favourite pistes – Bosque – has even had a couple of tipi’s put in serving quemada – warm milk, rum and cinnamon. Perfect to warm you up on those chilly days!
The tipi's at Formigal !
Ermita Santa Elena
The lovely autumn weather we´ve been having here in the Pyrenees came to an abrupt end last weekend when we had about 30cm of snow in Biescas. Anna and I hiked up to Ermita Santa Elena which looked lovely in the snow. Read the rest of this entry »
Mating Swallowtails
Anna took this fantastic picture of a pair of Swallowtails butterflies mating last week on one of our Peaks & Passes walking holidays. Read the rest of this entry »
Walking under the cliffs of the Sierra de Partacua
Last week Jenny, Donna and Caroline joined us for a Lakes & Valleys guided walking holiday. We had superb weather particularly for the first half of the week and had great mountain views with clear blue skies overhead. Read the rest of this entry »
