Monte Perdido (Lost Mountain) - Our first 3000m

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Monte Perdido (Lost Mountain) - Our first 3000m

Cañón de Ordesa

Cañón de Añisclo

Monte Perdido (Lost Mountain) - Our first 3000m

Page Type: Trip Report

Location: Huesca, Spain, Europe

Lat/Lon: 42.68900°N / 0.01600°E

Date Climbed/Hiked: Apr 8, 2006

Activities: Mountaineering

Season: Spring

Page By: pablo

Created/Edited: Apr 20, 2006 / May 3, 2006

Object ID: 189484

Hits: 1174

Page Score: 83.81% - 8 Votes

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Table of Contents

GETTING THERE

DAY 1 (April 7, 2006)

DAY 2 (April 8, 2006)

Images

GETTING THERE

My brother Gabi and me traveled by car from Madrid to Torla (Huesca) province. In this nice Alpine town we had dinner, prepared the gear and slept, dreaming on big white mountains.

The next morning we went to the Ordesa National Park where we parked our car and our adventure started.

DAY 1 (April 7, 2006)

Parking of Ordesa National Park (1350m/08h30am)–Goriz Hut (2160m/14h30)

Our intention was to sleep in the Goriz Hut, therefore we applied a calm rhythm to our hike of 8,5 Km to Clavijas del Soaso. It was our first time in this marvelous environment, so we admired the beauty of this glacial valley – U shaped with it’s high & vertical walls, from which the snow began to disappear, the Arazas river and it’s waterfalls, and Monte Perdido appearing and disappearing in the middle of the clouds.

Just before climbing the Clavijas del Soaso we admired the nice waterfall “Cola de Caballo” (Horse Tail). Up in the platform there is a wonderful view of the valley, the river disappearing down in the horizon. The hike from here to the Goriz Hut is easy and takes around 1 hour. We were lucky as we were just a few people there and we heard how in summer gets packed.

We admired the views from the hut, enjoyed an abundant dinner, cards and chat with the other mountaineers and went to sleep with a big smile.

DAY 2 (April 8, 2006)

Goriz Hut (2160m/08h30am)- Monte Perdido (3355m/12h30pm)-Goriz Hut (2160m/15h00pm)-Parking of Ordesa National Park (1350m/19h00pm)

The clouds in the morning predicted a rather complex ascent, though the lack of wind and the moderate temperature encouraged us. Snow was rather soft so we needed to take the snowshoes.

So we departed full of energy up the white way. Our first milestone was the “Lago Helado” (Iced Lake), which at this moment of the year is covered with snow. This place is perfect to make a stop, take a tea, put your crampons and with your ice axe in your hand face the most difficult part of the climbing “La Escupidera” which is a kind of natural slide of snow/ice with 3 exits to hell turning down to your right when climbing. A mistake here can be mortal.

We focused, all our 6 senses at full performance and applied a slow but continuous rhythm. The clouds and fog surrounding us in all the ascent. Finally we reached the “collado” and turned right to reach easily then the Monte Perdido’s summit. Although we regretted the total lack of view we were very happy having reached our first 3000m summit. Nevertheless, we could not calm down as we knew we needed to face “La Escupidera” downwards, so celebrations later.

Up there we relaxed a bit, took a picture and a tea, and back to business.

The descend through La Escupidera was amazing as you could recognize through the deep clouds the slides in your left fading away vertically. So again at full focus we passed the cold doors to hell and reached again the “Lago Helado”. Once there we changed our gears and continued our descend with a quicker pace in spite of the soft snow.

We reached the Goriz Hut where we again took our time to change gear and beer and proceed home.

The pass through Clavijas and the valley was without any problems and we continued admiring this beautiful spot of the Pyrenees.

All in all, a great experience. We celebrated thoroughly our first 3000m in Zaragoza where we made night before heading to Madrid.

Images

Comments

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Viewing: 1-9 of 9

John Climber

Congratulations!!

Voted 8/10

Felicidades! You made it. Nice trip report. Good and impressive photos.

Posted Apr 22, 2006 6:15 pm


	pablo	Re: Congratulations!!
	Hasn't voted	Muchas gracias /thanks a lot...
		Posted Apr 23, 2006 7:45 pm

Rafa Bartolome

Enhorabuena

Voted 10/10

very nice winter climb to this beautifull mountain.
Warning to muntaineers of SP: la escupidera is a very dangerous pass in winter. This is an important climb.

Para ser el primer 3000 hacerlo en invierno creo que tiene mucho mérito. Felicidades.

Posted Apr 26, 2006 8:24 pm


	pablo	Re: Enhorabuena
	Hasn't voted	Muchas gracias Rafa, efectivamente hubo momentos muy intensos que no se olvidaran ! Indeed La Escupidera requires full focus and care. Crampons, Ice axe and even a rope is recommended !! A nice mountain !!
		Posted Apr 27, 2006 8:28 am


	pablo	Re: Enhorabuena
	Hasn't voted	Efectivamente. Gracias por la observacion !
		Posted Apr 27, 2006 10:37 pm

DrJonnie

Escupidera

Voted 10/10

Hola Pablo,
we also found the Escupidera interesting on our first visit in May 2001, so interesting in fact that we retreated due to having only telescopic poles (unsuitable for Ice). We returned in 2002 with our Ice axes and completed the climb. Luckily for us the view was perfectly clear.
cheers Johnnie

Posted Jan 21, 2008 8:41 am


	pablo	Re: Escupidera
	Hasn't voted	Hola Johnnie, I am very pleased for your comments and about your decision to retrieve and to come back to Monte Perdido and "La escupidera". It can be really dangerous if not having adequate gear. Ordesa Valley is splendid in any case and deserves several visits. Saludos. Pablo
		Posted Jan 21, 2008 10:32 pm

eza

¡Pues ya tiene mérito...

Voted 10/10

hacer vuestro primer tresmil en condiciones invernales! Enhorabuena por la cima, y gracias por colgar el trip report. Estupendas fotos, por cierto.

Posted Jun 2, 2008 9:57 am


	pablo	Re: ¡Pues ya tiene mérito...
	Hasn't voted	Muchas gracias. Una buena experiencia de iniciacion ; )
		Posted Jun 3, 2008 2:58 am

Viewing: 1-9 of 9