Hannah (who many of our guests will have met guiding here over the past two summers) and her partner Ken have been over for New Years doing some snow shoeing and trying their hand at ski touring. Snow conditions aren’t great at the moment and we’ve not had a huge quantity of snow but they still have had some great days out.

Snowshoeing towards the Col des Arazures

The area around Portalet is always a good bet when the snow’s not so good and there are a whole load of peaks that you can do from there – it’s like a winter playground!

It was Ken’s first taste of ski touring and he’s caught the bug already! You can read more about Hannah and Ken’s adventures on their excellent Apple Mountaineering blog.

At the peak of Cuyaralet with Pico Anayet in the background

The area around Col de Portalet is a winter playground with lots of excellent routes for snowshoeing, ski touring and for the younger ones some fantastic sledging! It’s quite high and well protected from the wind so it’s snow sure even in times when there’s not too much of the white stuff around.

Took Dave up to the peak of Cuyaralet (2286m) which is just into France – the route actually starts from the border post. The weather forescast wasn’t great making Cuyaralet a good choice of peak as it’s not a long day and nav back to the road is nice and easy in case of a white out!

Dave enjoying some powder on the way down

Wrapped up against the cold

The weather was pretty chilly as we set out and dark clouds were threatening so we hurried up at quite a pace, both of us well wrapped up against the cold.

It’s a fairly gradual ascent to start with and then gets steeper as you get closer to the summit.

There were quite a few ski tourers out – it’s a popular route for beginners as it’s not too steep.

Snow conditions weren’t great for skiing though and they looked to be having a hard time on the way down.

The summit gave nice views into the valley of Canal Roya and across to Pico Anayet but the weather looked to be closing in so we only spent a few minutes on the peak before heading down.

Starting on the steeper section

In fact as we made our way down the weather cleared up and there was quite a bit of blue sky above. No longer in such a hurry we had a picnic and then played around in some powder for a while before heading back to the car.

The peak of Cuyaralet in the centre bathed in sunshine now we're on the way down!

There are plenty of other good routes in the area – Canal Roya and Peak l’Iou are another two of my favourites.

The Chemin de la Mature carved into the cliff face

Walked the famous Chemin de la Mature on the French side of the Pyrenees last weekend. This spectacular path is carved into a sheer cliff face. Originally constructed in 1772 to provide access to the forests above which was logged to build ships. These inaccessible forests had ancient huge trees that were perfect for the masts of naval vessels, in fact Chemin de la Mature translates to ‘road of the masts’.

This short documentary gives the history of the Chemin de la Mature.

Walking on the Chemin de la Mature

It was a perfect winter day -  beautifully sunny day but freezing cold. The Chemin de la Mature is actually very easy to get to – just a ten minute walk from the road.

As the path turns a corner suddenly you are the on the Chemin proper and a drop of several hundred metres open up on your right.

In fact the path isn’t narrow and you can walk along it very easily stopping every now and then to peer over the edge into the gorge below.

It has to be said though if you suffer from vertigo this probably isn’t the walk for you!

Icicles on the Chemin

The night before had been very cold and there were some huge icicles hanging down onto the path.

In a couple of places the path was really iced up which made things a bit interesting but we passed easy enough keeping well away from the edge!

From the path you get excellent views over the Fort of Portalet – another incredible construction built into the cliffside in the 1800′s to defend the pass from invasion by Spain.

The Chemin itself lasts for a kilometre or so and afterwards you pass through some lovely woodland. Our route took us up and over the Col d’Arras where you get some excellent views north to the massif of Pico Aspe in Spain.

From the col a good path led back down to the car park. Not a long day – we walked for around 4 hours and did 700m of ascent but really interesting with great scenery and the Chemin is pretty spectacular.

The Chemin de la Mature is just one of the many routes that you can walk on Hike Pyrenees Self Guided walking holidays.

Views from the meadows around Col d'Arras

Looking down onto the Fort du Portalet

Fabien with Pico Arriel behind

Every time I open the shutters in my flat I see the Pico Arriel at the head of the Valle de Tena on the French border. I’ve wanted to climb it for ages but with the summit covered in snow for most of the year hadn’t got round to it until this week. So glad I did as it was a fabulous hike with a good scramble up the summit ridge.

On the summit ridge - a fairly easy but sustained and really enjoyable scramble

Autumn is definitely setting in and the woods around Sallent de Gallego are particularly colourful. Our route started in these woods before climbing out into a surprisingly grassy meadow with fantastic views south back down the Valle de Tena.

Emerging from the woods into the high alpine meadows

The weather was great at the start of the day butthe mist closed in as we started up a steep scree field to a col on the French border. From here the fun started as we scrambled up the ridge to the summit. It was a good scramble – not too exposed or difficult but enjoyable and fairly long with a cpuple hundred of metres of ascent.

On the ridge near to the summit of Pico Arriel

There was a dusting of snow and the rocks were pretty slick in the mist so we had to take care. The clouds opened up several times to give us great views of the Ibones de Arriel on the Spanish side  (a popular hike on our Peaks & Passes walking holidays) and the Lacs d’Arremoulit on the French side of the border.

The refugio and Lacs d'Arremoulit from Pico Arriel

Sadly we didn’t have any summit views and I’ll definitely be doing this route again as the views of Balaitus and Pico Palas would be great in good weather.

Fabien on the summit of Pico Arriel

We descended by the same route passing this fabulous rowan tree with great autumn colours. A dood day – next week we’re hoping to get in Pic du Midi d’Ossau – another summit I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

A rowan with fabulous autumn colours

Looking up to Pena Telera and the cliffs of the Sierra de Partacua

The mountains of the Valle de Tena are looking beautiful and bursting into life. Spring gentians, trumpet gentians and elder flowered orchids are covering the sunnier meadows around Ibon de Piedrafita and above the village of Sandinies.

Trumpet Gentians in the Pyrenees

Wild cherry trees in blossom in the Pyrenees

Elder flowered orchids are the most common in the Pyrenees. These like the high meadows – particularly in the Valle de Tena around Formigal and Sallent de Gallego. Elder flowered orchids either have purple or yellow flowers – both types are the same species. A few early purple orchids are also out.

Elder flowered orchid (dactylorhiza sambucina) - common in the Pyrenees