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adventure & travel

¡Viva los Pirineus! - ¡Visca els Pirineus!

There it was again - the annual question of where to go in summer, which becomes more and more urgent as the temperatures rise.

by Christian Skala 10/24/2017
At the latest when the first colleagues start raving about their distant travel destinations and then end their remarks with the unavoidable "and yours?", you quickly realize that you are once again far too late with your vacation planning. Almost apologetically, we therefore replied this year "oh, something unspectacular, probably just Europe, like last year - due to the time... too late with planning."

But why "unspectacular", "only Europe", "due to the time"? Because, as with our trip to Abruzzo last year, this was not going to be the case this year either.

So it was going to be Europe. As luck would have it, after asking the above questions, a bouldering specialist gave us the tip to consider the Pyrenees as a summer destination. We asked Knut, the local expert, and when he also recommended the Spanish Pyrenees to us, we decided to go there. We wanted to tackle a 10-day crossing through the central part of the Spanish Pyrenees (Aragon).

A few days later, we were spontaneously on a plane to Madrid with our bags and tents. From there, we embarked on what felt like an endless bus odyssey towards our starting point of Candanchu. The journey probably seemed particularly long because the landscape between Madrid and Zaragoza is quite monotonous with its desert-like character. We were highly motivated at the beginning, as we had decided to do the tour by fair means, i.e. we had all our food with us and wanted to travel completely self-sufficiently. After the first few hours on the trail at the latest, the ominous memories of our arduous trip to Kyrgyzstan came flooding back, as the backpack was quite heavy again at just over 20 kg. However, the impressive backdrop of the mountains made up for this right from the start. In contrast to the lunar landscape on our arrival, it was lush green here and there were springs, small rivers and lakes everywhere. We hadn't expected this and we didn't know until then that the Pyrenees are the mountain range with the most lakes in Europe (perfect preparation!). These are also used in many places to generate sustainable energy.

Compared to the Alps, the Pyrenees are quiet, relaxed and secluded. The prevailing tourist infrastructure there is well developed, but much more sparse. For example, there are hardly any ski resorts, and if there are, then only a few. This makes the mountain experience there much more intense and natural. If you do meet a fellow hiker, 80% of the time it will be a well-trained Spaniard (or Spanish woman) out trail running at an extremely ambitious pace. Kilian Jornet sends his regards.

So we crossed the central Pyrenees with an average of 1200 m and 20 km a day, passing through very different landscapes: Sharp granite, shaped into countless, tooth-like peaks and then again canyons that are hardly inferior to the Grand Canyon in terms of beauty. The terrain is quite demanding and alpine over long stretches and requires attention, especially with such a heavy load. Many of the peaks are over 3000 meters high and form a magnificent panorama.

Due to their uniqueness, many parts of the Pyrenees have been declared a national park. A good thing in itself, as long as you don't have to camp there, as the national parks have what feels like the most abstruse and arbitrary camping rules in Europe. While in National Park A you are only allowed to pitch your tent from an altitude of 1650m, in National Park B the tent may be a maximum of 1.30m high, but only from an altitude of 2000m and in National Park C it may be 1.50m high. Hmmm... That didn't seem logical to us. Maybe we just shouldn't confuse the bears that have been reintroduced to the Pyrenees? Regardless, we always found a suitable camping spot in the end, usually at one of the beautiful and secluded mountain lakes, so that we could round off the exhausting day with a swim in the fresh, clear water.

Only relatively rarely do you come across managed huts, which can hardly be compared with those in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps. Here, things are much more authentic and you will always meet good-humored Spaniards who, mind you, often do not speak Spanish and certainly not English. Most of the time, you'll hear gibberish in various local dialects, but with a good dose of humor and a lot of hand-waving, you'll eventually get an espresso. We afforded ourselves one despite our desire to self-cater.

In the canyon of the Valle de Ordesa, you will find an extremely popular hut, which regularly becomes the scene of a horde of people of all ages and mountain abilities in the evenings. A veritable tent night spectacle takes place there, which is somehow funny and sociable: from Japanese senior citizens to Spanish gangster youths, everything was there. Away from the hustle and bustle, you can watch numerous eagles and bearded vultures soaring weightlessly over the valley. Very impressive!

The loneliness of the Pyrenees was suddenly brought home to us when we witnessed a fall in the steep and blocked alpine terrain. It quickly became clear that the network coverage is not comparable to our Alps. Getting help meant a march of several hours. An unpleasant experience for everyone involved, especially the seriously injured woman. In the evening, we were reassured to learn that the injured woman was finally picked up by helicopter before sunset after several hours of waiting.

After ten exhausting but beautiful and sunny days, we arrived in Benasque. There we had a final view of the highest mountains in the Spanish Pyrenees, some of which are still glaciated. But even there, climate change is leaving devastating traces.

On arriving home, the questions from our colleagues were there again: "So, how was it for you?" This time we were able to answer with a clear conscience and without apology: "It was unique, I'd love to go back to Europe and the Pyrenees!"

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This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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