Last week we had a beautiful afternoon of ski touring with my American friend Nick. After a period of bad weather and snow, some sun shining days always come in our mountains!!
Starting from Astún ski resort in Aragon Valley, we chose to follow one classical summer and winter itinerary that goes up to Ibon de Escalar, a small mountain lake in a peaceful surrounding, despite its proximity to the ski area.
View to the Aspe mountains from the highest point of our itinerary.
I recently did an ascent of Bisaurin on ski’s – a superb peak with brilliant views. It might sound a bit strange, but most of the local skiers will tell you that the ski touring season actually starts in March in the Pyrenees.
Skiing on the main pass to Bisaurin
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.
Approaching the summit of Marboré with Cilindro (3325m) behind
Spent a fantastic weekend ski touring in the Ordesa National Park staying over at one of the many Hunter Chalets and tackling the summit of Marborè (3248m). Stunning views into the Ordesa Valley and beautiful weather without a cloud all weekend.
High in the park looking down onto the Ordesa Canyon
Rather than the usual summer route to Goriz from the Pradera in the Ordesa Valley we set out from the cross country skiing pistes above Nerin which is a better route on skis in winter and takes you right to the rim of the canyon. Continue reading
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. Continue reading