Saturday, July 10, 2010

Day 7 - Respomuso to Baños de Panticosa

35km, 1300 metres of ascent
An awful long way for a shortcut.

Today I tried and failed to get over the Cuello de Tebarrai. I climbed steep hard snow as far as the bergschrund a few metres below the col, but then got freaked out by the prospect of falling or not being able to reverse the situation if I climbed any higher. So I decided to down climb and hike around the mountain, which basically cost me half a day, but I wasn't prepared to take any more chances on the snow when I was on my own, and messing around in running shoes with no ice axe.

I descended all the way to Sallent de Gallego before hiking along past the Lanuza Lake and making my way to Panticosa. From there a steep uphill road leads to Baños de Panticosa in 8km. I had to wild camp just above the village since there were no places at the Refugio Casa de Piedra.

Photos from Day 7

Route map for Day 7

View GR11 - Day 7 in a larger map

1 comment:

Unknown said...

A wise decision. I climbed Cuello de Tebarrai in August and the last bit was very, very steep: about 30 meters almost vertical. Doable without a backpack, but when trekking with full gear (even though my backpack was only 12 kilo's) that mountain pass becomes a huge obstacle.