JODUBA.COM :: My Trails

Pica d'Estats (3.143m) via Réfuge du Pinet

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 13:26:00 +0100

Continue reading Pica d'Estats (3.143m) via Réfuge du Pinet

About 2 years ago, I promised Judit that someday we would go hiking with a tent. The initial idea was to cross from la Vall de Núria to Carança through the Nou Creus summit. But realizing that Judit is going to University next year, I thought it was better to do something more exciting and I suggested to hike la Pica d’Estats.

At 3,143 metres altitude, Pica d’Estats is the highest mountain in the Catalan Pyrenees and one of the most iconic climbs for Catalan mountaineers. I had already climbed it several times from the Vall Ferrera, in Catalonia, and I remember a long approximation, the best way I remember to do it was sleeping in the lake “Estany d’Estats”.

While discussing my plans with Jaume, he suggested to attempt it from France. He told us that it’s a 3h walk from the parking of l’Artigue to the Pinet mountain hut, and then another 3h climb to the summit. So, we could do it in 2 or 3 days.

After checking the weather forecast for several days, we found a window of 3 days without rain and we started our adventure. To go there the road is quite good. I was expecting some high passes and slow roads so we did a big detour via Narbonne, but on our way back, we went through the Porte tunnel and it was really fast.

The adventure starts at the parking of L’Artigue, the closest big village is called Auzat. There is a parking lot close to the start of the trail, and several indications to the Pinet mountain hut. The region is known for Montcalm (3.077m) even though Pica d’Estats is higher and also French.

At the start of the trail, there is a toilet and a fountain to fill your bottle. We did not find many sources/fountains on our way up. It’s a good idea to fill your bottle before you start, even if the water from that fountain smells of chlorine.

The initial steps are quite easy as the ground is reasonably flat. You walk alongside an old installation to bring water to the valley, with some small dam systems and waterfalls. After the first 1km, things start to get serious. We have to climb 1,000 meters in 3 hours, and the only way to do that is by climbing a pretty vertical slope. The first part is through the forest, which will protect you from the sun, but it will also increase the humidity and you end up sweating like crazy.

You exit the forest at 1,600m. Here you have the feeling that the heavy part is over, there is a meadow with a shepherd hut, but check the altitude. Your destination is at 2,200m, there are still 600 meters to go. This is just the start.

At this hut, there is a path that leads to the Étang Sourt lake. We took this path on our way back, and now that I have done it, I recommend that if you are carrying a big backpack as we did, you take this path. It’s longer, but it does not have the verticality you will encounter if you follow the original path.

The weather was good, but thankfully some clouds protected us from the heavy sun. The trail became more and more vertical with every step. We had to use the help of our hands several times to climb the rocks and follow the path… and for sure the mountain hut was never on sight.

I recall looking at the GPS app every 15 minutes and telling ourselves, we have climbed another 50 meters, but still we could not see the mountain hut, only some cows laughing at our poor skills to climb the mountain with our big backpacks.

We got to the Étang de Pinet by 8:00pm. By that time, the mountain hut had already finished diner service, but they were kind to allow me to eat something, while Judit ate her potatoes with green beans. We had to plant the tent in a rush, and we did it in a cozy place near the hut, without realizing the spot was not perfectly leveled.

That night we did not sleep very well… When we went to sleep, we realized that our heads were lower than our feet… so we had to sleep the other way around and my head was touching the roof of the tent on a cold and humid night. Judit had heavy cramps on her legs due to the earlier climbing…

By 6:45 am we were already awake, with a clear sky, the sun still not completely awake, and a nice sea of clouds covering the valley we climbed yesterday. The trail to la Pica d’Estats was visible. We decided to start early to avoid the high sun while climbing up.

We started our way up at 7:30am. Our legs were working, but with some difficulty, we had the cost of the day before and of not sleeping much, but we had the determination to get to the summit.

The first section of the trail is not that hard, you walk around the base of the Montcalm, and the gain in elevation is not that much comparing with the 1.000 meters we needed to climb to get to the summit of la Pica. Once we reached the Étang d’Estats, things started to get serious. We stopped at the bivouacs close to the Étang du Montcalm. It’s incredible how transparent the water of the lakes is in this region.

From the Étang du Montcalm the climb becomes more vertical, we need to start using our hands occasionally. Very soon there is no more grass and we are climbing and walking on iron-rich rocks. Some of them look like melted iron. On our way up, we cross some small lakes, some with snow and icy water.

Once we got to the Col du Montcalm, the wind was blowing with intensity and it was quite cold, we put our Gore-Tex and gloves, while some sky-runners overtook us with shorts and sneakers… well, they got there before us, but they regretted not taking any extra layers of clothing.

From the Col du Montclam (2.980m) to the Summit there is still an 163-metre climb. You can see the summit from there, but there is still a long way to go. Seeing the summit helped. We were tired but determined and being able to see the remaining trail helped to give us the extra boost of energy to get there.

A 12:43 we arrived to the highest point of Catalonia, la Pica d’Estats, 3.143m. It took us 5 hours to reach the summit, so probably 1h 30 mins more than what we were told. The day was beautiful, with incredible views of Vall Ferrera, of Catalonia, and of France.
The whole region has no telephone coverage. We asked the guard in the mountain hut, and he told us that at the Pica d’Estats, we would have some signal… but no, the winds were not blowing in the right direction.

It was cold, so we decided to take some pictures and head down. On our way down, we decided to climb the Pic Verdaguer (3.129m). It’s a quick climb from the Coll de la Pica. It took us less than 15 minutes. Here we did have some signal, so we sent a “we are ok” WhatsApp to the family and posted a selfie on Facebook (shame).

Our way down was very slow, we were exhausted and our legs had already climbed more than 2,000 meters. Once we got to the tent, we had lunch/dinner with some rice noodles and mackerel, and we lied in the sun, relaxed and played cards, until it was time to go to sleep.

The second night you always sleep better. Either you get used to the tent, or simply you are so exhausted that you sleep like a baby. It also helped that the night was less cold.

On our way down, we choose to go via the Étang Sourt, the path is a bit longer, but you avoid the steep, difficult slopes, where you have to climb down with the help of your hands. It was interesting to see that early in morning (8:30 am) there were sky-runners already 200m from the hut, running up to the Pica d’Estats from the parking.

And that was it, once we got to the parking, we took a cat-shower in the river, packed our things and returned to the rest of the family.

Aigüestortes - Portarró d'Espot

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 14:01:00 +0100

Aquestes vacances, hem anat a passar uns dies a la Vall de Boí. Si hi ha una cosa que s’ha de fer, si o si quan estàs a la Vall de Boí és pujar a Aigüestortes.
El Portarró d'Espot és el coll de muntanya que uneix la vall de l'Estany de Sant Maurici amb la vall d'Aigüestortes per l'estany llong.

Continue reading Aigüestortes - Portarró d'Espot

Aquestes vacances, hem anat a passar uns dies a la Vall de Boí. Si hi ha una cosa que s’ha de fer, si o si quan estàs a la Vall de Boí és pujar a Aigüestortes. Es pot fer a peu, o es pot fer amb “taxí”. Els taxis s’agafen a la plaça de Boí, i et deixen al Tossal del Sant Esperit a uns 1830m.

El taxí ens deixa a la zona que li dona el nom el parc, a les Aigüestortes. Per trobar les passarel·les haurem de caminar una mica, i les trobarem a la nostra dreta.

Com el dia estava una mica ennuvolat, vàrem decidir deixar-ho per la tornada, i ens vàrem enfilar cap al refugi de l’estany llong i l’estany. El cel es va començar a aclarir a mig camí del refugi.

Un cop arribats al refugi, teníem ganes de mes... així que vàrem decidir anar cap al Portarró d’Espot. El Portarró d'Espot és el coll de muntanya que uneix la vall de l'Estany de Sant Maurici amb la vall d'Aigüestortes per l'estany llong.

Tot pujant al Portarró es pot veure l’estany Redó, i unes vistes increïbles del estany llong. La pujada es força directa. Si fins al refugi hem fet molt poc desnivell, ara toca fer-lo tot de cop.

Al tram final, les forces comencen a faltar, i com en un parell de dies volíem fer cim, la Gemma decideix prendre el sol a l’esplanada d’abans de coll, i la Judit mira de conservar tota l’energia.

Des de el coll, no es pot veure l’estany. Per això cal anar fins al mirador. Els senyals marquen 15 minuts, com la Gemma esperava vàrem fer un primer tram, potser uns 10 minuts, però encara quedava força pel mirador.

A la baixada vàrem patir una mica de peus i la Núria de botes noves... tot i això el sol havia sortit i vàrem gaudir de les passarel·les de les Aigüestortes.

La Farinetta - Saillon

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 14:14:00 +0100

La via ferrata de la Farinetta a Saillon, prop de Martigny és una via espectacular, i si es vol fer tota, és de les més difícils que he fet fins ara.

Continue reading La Farinetta - Saillon

La via ferrada de la Farinetta a Saillon, prop de Martigny és una via espectacular, i si es vol fer tota, és de les més difícils que he fet fins ara.

El camí de la via ferrada comença a les vinyes del poble, es pot aparcar fàcilment a prop del col·legi o parc infantil.

La via ferrada te tres trams. El primer, tot i que una mica llarg es força assequible. La via puja al costa de rescloses, salts d'aigua i gorgs. Impressionant.

El segon tram farem menys desnivell, però es molt mes aeri i tècnic. La via flaqueja el gorg, i entra a una mina d'aigua.

En arribar al tercer tram ja portem molt de desnivell i cansament a l'esquena. Aquest tram es el mes difícil amb extra-ploms aeris. Un cop completat, penses que potser si no estiguessis tant cansat no seria tant difícil.

Un dels problemes dels dos trams finals es que no la única forma de sortir es endavant, no hi ha opció de fer un ràpel. Cal anar ben preparat de forces i portar una corda per si algú necessita una recolzament moral a l'hora de fer els sostres.

El camí de tornada és una pista forestal, que al final travessa les vinyes.

Per reposar-se, a Martigny hi ha restaurants oberts tot el dia. Una hamburguesa recupera les forces...

Tour del Moleson amb neu

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 14:19:00 +0100

Pel pont del primer de Maig, en Jaume va venir a Suissa. La setmana havia sigut molt fred i plujosa. A finals del mes d'Abril i en vàrem trobar fins a 80cm de neu.

La idea original era anar a fer la via ferrata que puja fins al cim del Moleson, però amb aquesta neu ens vàrem conformar a fer un bon passeig per la neu, estirar les cames i fer una raclette a Gruyere.

Continue reading Tour del Moleson amb neu

The three Montronds

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 14:21:00 +0100

Continue reading The three Montronds

Today I needed to go out for a walk, ... for some time, I had a fixation to climb the summit close the Faucille. Checking the maps, I've learned that it's called Petit-Montrond, and decided to continue the crest and climb the Montrond, and the Grand Montrond. Just after the Grand Montrond there is a geodesic point that is where is finished my hike the day I've climb the Reculet. So challenge will be to have hiked from "Col de la Faucille" to the Reculet.

The path starts at the base of the ski resort of col de la Faucille. First we will climb the Petit-Montrond. There are several paths, in fact there is a ski lift to the summit. I've decied to follow the forest track, the only downside it's that it's a paved up to the summit. The climb is quite quick, in less than 30 minutes I was at the Petit-Montrond. Great views of la Dôle, Montblanc and Geneva region... I don't want to stay long, other than the views, it's not a nice place, a big communications tower and the ski lift kill the beauty of the place.

From here we will continue the crest. It starts with a heavy descent, I will not be happy to have to recover the altitude that I'm losing now. Once the descent is over, we start ascending the Montrond from the north face to avoid the clifs facing Geneva. After the fast climb and fast descent, now we are suffering to adapt to the right pace. At the summit there is a group discussing if it's better to have Netflix or HBO, not interested. I forgot my water bottle in the frigde, no time to waste. Let's take a couple of pictures and go to the Grand Montrond.

There is not much descent to get to the Grand Montrond, in no time I got there. The views from here are impressive. From the Summit we can see where we started, the Dôle, the Montblanc, the geneva region and the impressive crest that we hiked over. We can see the geodesic point where I left the crest the day I did the Reculet. Let's close the loop.

The map clearly shows 3 paths leaving the geodesic point BNE. I decide to take the one that seams to be the shortest to get back to the car. Only one problem, very soon I will discover that is not traced. Maybe it's a snowshoes path ? I had to cross the forest until I meet with the forestal path. From there the descent is comfortable and fast. Once the croses the ski slope, I decide to take the slope and get faster to the car.

Total time, 2h 15m, I did somethign wrong as the maps said it will take me about 3h 30m..

Kaaterskill Waterfall, New York

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 14:22:00 +0100

Continue reading Kaaterskill Waterfall, New York

After an intense week with the Honeywell connected homes team, working on documenting architecture, I had an almost free Saturday, my plane was at 19:00, and I didn't want to spend my day at the Long Island beaches. At about 2h from New York city, there is the Catskill Mountains, it's a typical place for the newyorkers to go and breath some fresh air. A friend recomended to visit the Kaaterskill Waterfall and so I did. It's an easy walk, provably in 15 mins from where you park the car.

It takes about 3h from from Melville to the start of the trail, and that if you drive early morning when there is no traffic. I got there by 10:00 am, and it was freezing cold, only 2 degrees celsius. I didn't came prepared to do any kind of hiking activity, so I put my trainers, and the everyday coat. For backpack I used my laptop backpack, with the laptop... I didn't want to left it alone in a convertible car.

The first surprise was to find the path with half an inch of fresh snow, everything it was quite slippery, and the tracktion of the trainers was not ideal. In about 15 minutes I've reached the base of the waterfall. The day was a bit covered, but the views impressive. There I decided to climb to the top of the waterfall. The problem it was that the stairs were covered in snow or ice. It's was a bit tricky.

After the stairs, it was much easier, it enters the forest and it was more manageble. Once on the top, there is a path that brings to a view point. After the photo and looking at the clock, I dicided to explore a bit more and I did some hike on the snow to the base of the lake.

Returning was more complex, going downhill with no tracktion, no walking sticks, no crampons... but I didn't want to lose my plane, so it was interesting, and I did it with out any accicent. Back at the car, temperature was still cold, provably 3 degrees... but 3 hours later at JFK airport, the temperature was already 20 degrees.. didn't help to heal my cold.

Canal Roja, Montserrat

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 16:41:00 +0100

Com ja va sent tradició, pels volts de Nadal, amb en Jaume ens hem aventurat a fer la Canal Roja de Montserrat. Una col·lección de rappels força llargs entre mig de una canal estreta i humida.

Continue reading Canal Roja, Montserrat

La Canal Roja o "Tres en Ratlla", és una canal equipada per baixar-la fent rappel al sector d'el Bruc de Montserrat.

El camí comença a can Jorba, on seguirem la pista una estona, per despres començar a pujar.

El día es lleva amb una mica de boira i fresc, però el sol comença a apretar, i en un tres i no res, estem suant i amb samarreta de maniga curta el 24 de decembre...

El cami esta senyalizat amb marques vermelles; la vegetació es exhuberant, i algun cop acabem en un camí de cabres, però ràpidament tornem al bon camí.

En menys d'una hora, arribem a l'inici de la canal.

La canal estava molt humida, amb força guals d'aigua. Primer comencem baixant amb les mans, i ràpidament farem un col·lecció de rappels curts. Son molt estrets, amb molt de fregament.

Pels rappels llargs cal portar una corda d'uns 70m, i millor si es porta equipament especial com un shunt, ja que potser que la corda quedi mal posada i calgui manipularla en mig del rappel.

El Canigó

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 15:43:00 +0100

Aquest estiu aprofitant que estàvem per la Cerdanya per dur la Núria de campaments, la Judit, la Gemma i jo, vàrem aprofitar per pasar uns dies a Vilafranca de Conflent, i una de les excursions que toca fer quan estem per la contrada, es el Canigó. És una muntanya mítica, i això vol dir que hi ha molta gent, i en el meu cas, vol dir que com sempre que l'he fet, l'he fet amb boira.

Continue reading El Canigó

El Canigó és una muntanya del Pirineu, situada entre les comarques nord-catalanes del Conflent, el Rosselló i el Vallespir. Ha esdevingut símbol de la personalitat catalana de les comarques pirinenques.

El cim, la pica del Canigó o Pic de Balaig, fa 2.784 m. Malgrat la seva altitud moderada, fou considerada la muntanya més alta dels Pirineus a causa del gran i brusc desnivell que la separa de la plana del Rosselló, cosa que la fa més aparent que altres muntanyes més engorjades i situades entre valls ja més altes. La llegenda n'atribueix la primera ascensió al rei Pere el Gran, l'any 1285.

L'ascenció comença al refugi de Cortalets. Al refugui s'hi pot arribar en cotxe, per una pista forestal en molt males condicions. La pista son uns 20km, i es pot fer en una hora o hora i mitja. Es el segon cop que la faig en 20 anys, i no ha millorat massa. El proper cop, mirarem de agar un "taxi".

La intenció era fer l'ascensio per la grimpada i baixar pel cami fàcil fent la versió circular, però amb la boira vàrem preferir no prendre riscos.
El camí esta molt ben senyalitzat, hi ha unes pilones que van indicant l'alçada a la que ens trobem.

L'ascenció amb nuvols en ple estiu es d'agrair, per que t'esperona i no tens calor, però cal anar preparat amb un bon polar, i guants per evitar tenir que fer mitja volta.

De pujada ens creuem amb un munt de gent, molt d'ells domingeros amb bambetes i pantalons curts, la majoria amb les cames totes vermelles per l'effecte del vent glaçat sobre la pell.

Per sort abans de fer cim, es va obrir una mica el cel, i poguerem contemplar la vall,desde Sant Marti de Canigo, Vilafranca de Conflent, Pradres...

Al cim, vàrem tenir que fer cua per fer-nos la foto de tanta gent que hi havia. Amb el fred i la por de que vingues una tormenta, ens hi varem estar el just per poder menjar una mica, fer les fotos i cap avall.

El camí de tornada el vàrem fer molt ràpid, és molt agradable de caminar, i un cop hem pasat el pic Jofré podem gaudir de les azalees, les vaques, i una mica de vistes quan el cel ens obre una clarina.

Le Reculet, Crête de Neiges, Grand Crête

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Mon, 16 May 2016 15:46:00 +0100

Everyday, while driving from back from the school, I can’t avoid looking at the magnificent Jura mountains that surrounds Geneva. For a while I wanted to go to the top of those cliffs. The day is a bit sunny with cloud patches, the snow is almost over in the Jura and the family is busy studding … all perfect excuses to plan a solo hike to the mountains.

Continue reading Le Reculet, Crête de Neiges, Grand Crête

Looking at the maps, looks like there are several options, the most interesting is a hike over the “crêtes” (mountain crests). The question is where to start as you can go from the Dôle to the other end.

Reading a bit, I’ve learned that there is a summit called “Le Recoulet” it’s not that high, it’s 1,718m, so sounds as a nice start for the plan. Looking at the options, looks like it can be reached from the South or the North. Finally, I decide to go via Lelex, a village in the French Jura.

The drive it’s longer that what I expected, almost 50 minutes from home, it’s a collection of mountain roads that bring me there. Once in the village, you go another 4 kilometers to get to the start point.

The path starts in a forest with a very vertical step. The first 2 kilometers, you have to climb almost 600m. The forest is very humid and slippery, even if the trees protect you from the sun, the effort and the humidity will extract the even the last drop of sweet you can imagine.

Once you get out the forest, you can see the metal cross at the top to the “Le Reculet”. Some snow patches, and still ice-burned grass will be quickly overtaken buy some mountain flowers.

The summit is a bit windy, but you can enjoy a great view of Geneva, and the Jura valley. It’s clearly a good choice, from the Summit you can see at the end, “La Dôle”.

After a brief break at the summit, it’s time to start the hike over the crests. At this point is not clear where they are. In this part of the mountain they are quite flat, if you take the wrong path (as I did) you can end up going down or have to recover to get back to the right path.

The “Crête des neiges” was covered by snow and the “Grand Crête” offered impressive views of Geneva, Le Reculet, and La Dôle…

The descent is a bit confusing, the path I’ve planned was closed to protect the nature from human noises, thankfully there are plenty of paths, simply forced me to go closer to the ski slopes that what I had preferred. To be honest I almost haven’t seen the ski lifts.

Once you get down to Lelex, you have two options, either you walk for another 4km on the road, or you can try to hitchhiking, I decided to walk and toke me an extra 40 minutes.

Grand Canyon

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 16:50:00 +0100

In January 2016, it happened that I had a meeting in Los Angeles, and due a complex agenda the meeting was planned for a Friday and a Monday. What can you do alone a weekend in Los Angeles? Easy, take a plane, flight to Las Vegas, rent a card, drive 400km to arrive at 2:00 AM at the Grand Canyon south rim.

Continue reading Grand Canyon

The initial idea was to walk down from the South Rim to the river, and then back. There is only a problem, the South Rim it’s at 2.200 m altitude and the closes river at 800m, a non negligible 2.800 m in one of the most arid terrains in the world.

The solution seams, easy, let’s split the journey in two days, right? Wrong, the guides are not allowed to take a 2 days’ hikes, either you take a single day or a 3-day hike.

Why a guide? Really… never go to the mountain alone, even if you know the terrain, … in this case, I did not know it. Also, if you plan to do it your self... take a guide, the Grand Canyon is one of the most inhabited places on earth… if something happens to you and you are don’t have a satellite phone… nobody will find you for days.

With all plans set, we decided to stat walking at 7:00 AM, and it was hard as I almost did not sleep that night. But the adventure gave me the energy to go on. From the south rim cabin, we we drive for 15 minutes to get to the start of the Grand View Trail. Originally that trail was created for the hotel owners to go to a source to get water for the guests. The Hotel no longer exists.

The first surprise was to find snow, we have the idea of the Grand Canyon as a hot dessert... and it is… but due to it’s elevation, in winter, there is snow. We had to wear crampons to avoid a free fall of hundreds of meters, as the first steps down are simply to go down about 400m vertical in less than 100m in horizontal.

As soon as the path gets more wider, it also reduces the descent speed. After descending about 800m, we can feel the temperature change. It’s a sunny day, we are alone, the trees have disappeared and now there are only cactus and other desert plans.

Even if we know how much we have walked, looks like we are still starting, we can’t see the end of the valley. The dimensions of the Grand Canyon are impressive. It’s 29Km wide, and 446Km long. As reference… Switzerland east-west length of about 350 Km.

One of the most impressive feelings I had on that day was the silence. I think it’s the first time on my live that I’m in a place where there are no sounds, and I’m not referring to human sounds, ... not a single sound… we did not hear any animals, birds, … you can imagine our surprise when on the edge of a rim we hear the sound of the river.

The path it was created by the hotel owners and later used by the miners looking for cooper and uranium. It’s funny to find a radioactive warning sign at the middle of the path. The mines have been abandoned for a while, but you can find the tools and houses as they left them.

A country with a very short history, anything older than 50 years is considered archeological relevant. You are asked to not remove broken glass bottles provably left there by drunk miners.

The Grand Canyon is packed with impressive caves, we had the opportunity to do a short visit to one of them.

The guide was happy that for once he did not had to baby sit an aged couple with the wife on high-heels, so he kept pushing me, and I was not complaining, I really wanted to see as much as possible…

But the return path, was challenging, we had already done more that was supposed to be done in a single day. When we arrived to the base of the Rim, I knew the last 400m ascend will be difficult, and I reduce a bit my pace, but kept trying to go follow my guide, he is the expert and he knows what is the best pace to get back home… right?

Well, when we got to the car, he told me that he was impressed, that the other guides will take about 8h to do what we have done in 6h. That was the final boost I needed to finish an incredible journey…

Well that and a chocolate and mint cheese-cake!

Puigllançada

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 16:52:00 +0100

Aquest Nadal vàrem voler fer amb l'Angel, la Isa, en Jaume, la Neus i els cunyats de l'Angel. El temps no pintava massa bo, pero al final s'ens va obrir una clariana, el que va permetre a l'ultim moment organitzar una pujada al Puigllançada, al costat de la Molina. Després a dinar a Puigcerda amb la Montse i en Narcis.

Continue reading Puigllançada

Després de l’excursió al Matagalls des de Coll Formic, ens vàrem dir que per Nadal, tota la colla tenia que fer una sortida. Al Nadal sempre son dates complicades, i aquest any no seria menys difícil. Els plans estaven fets, però cada cop hi teníem menys opcions i el temps no acompanyava... al final sembla que el dia 2 de Gener hi haurà una treva i farà una mica de bon temps...

Dit i fet, volíem una cosa assequible, per que tothom pogués gaudir de la sortida,... ens vàrem decidir pel Puigllançada. Al final però, sols en Jaume i la Neus, la Isa, l’Angel i la Judit, la Núria, la Gemma i jo vàrem poder fer-ho. També es vàren apuntar els cunyats de l’Angel que estaven de visita per Nadal.

L’ascensió al Puigllançada es força senzilla, no esta gens senyalitzada, però és en línia recta. Tot comença a la carretera BV-4031. Hi ha un petit aparcament, no esta senyalitzat. Es abans d’arribar a l’estació de la Molina, i si mireu un plànol seria mes o menys on comença el barranc del Pedró.

Des del aparcament i mirant en el sentit de la carretera cap a la Molina, el Puigllançada ens queda a la nostra esquerra. Des de l’aparcament podem intuir la part alta de les pistes d’esquí, de les que passarem pel costat.

No hi ha camí, així que pel dret i cap a munt per les costes de l’Huguet, però sense arribar al Cap de les costes de l’Huguet, seguim fins a superat l’alçada del teleesquí .. i ara si, ja veiem el cim del Puigllançada.. seguim fins a trobar la carena, que remuntarem fins al cim.

Des del cim podem contemplar les vistes dels Pirineus, el Pedraforca i el Cadi, i les muntanyes del sud.

Coll Formic - Matagalls - Sant Marçal - Sant Bernat

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 16:56:00 +0100

L’excursió l’hem feta un dia clar d’octubre amb tots els colors de la tardor... Comencem amb una trobada Sant Bernat del Montseny, on deixarem un cotxe, ja que aquest serà el nostre punt d’arribada. Amb cotxe anirem a coll Formic. D’allà farem el cim del Matagalls, baixarem cap a Sant Marçal i tornarem cap a Sant Bernat.

Continue reading Coll Formic - Matagalls - Sant Marçal - Sant Bernat

Feia temps que no sortíem a la muntanya amb l'Angel, i ens havíem proposat de fer alguna cosa el proper cop que vinguéssim per Barcelona. Al final per raons diverses, sols vàrem ser la Judit, l'Angel i jo.

L’excursió comença amb una trobada Sant Bernat del Montseny, on deixarem un cotxe, ja que aquest serà el nostre punt d’arribada. Amb cotxe anirem a coll Formic.

A coll Formic sempre hi ha gent, i no son pocs els que s’apunten a pujar el Matagalls. El camí esta molt ben senyalitzat, no te pèrdua. El camí sols trobarem arbustos, terra de pissarra i unes vistes increïbles privilegi de que el Matagalls o més ben dit el Montseny s’alcen de forma solitària.

El dia ja feia pinta de fred hivernal, els colors començaven a pintar la tardor per les muntanyes.

La pujada al Matagalls des de coll Formic és molt agradable, mica en mica es remunten els 600 i pocs metres de desnivell, nosaltres ho vàrem fer en cosa d’una hora i mitja, l’alpina deia que serien 15 minuts més.

Al cim una mica de vent, i una gentada com a la majoria de cims fàcils i populars, el que no ens esperàvem era una tropa de més de 50 bicicletes, ... però la majoria varen pujar amb la bicicleta al costat, ...

Un cop hem reposat... toca anar cap a Sant Marçal. En aquest punt, tenim forces i ganes d’intentar fer les Agudes i potser el turo de l’home. Des d’aquí dalt, semblen a tocar... el que no es veu es que Sant Marçal esta uns 650m metres més avall...

El camí de baixada comença sortejant la tropa de les bicis... ràpidament entrem en una fageda. Els colors de la tardor, les fulles taronges ens acompanyen i esmorteeixen la nostra baixada.

A coll Pregon, els ciclistes es varen para prendre el sol o a saber.. nosaltres continuem cap a Sant Marçal. El camí comença força planer, amb petites pujades i baixades... però és força llarg... més pujar al cim, aquí tot i ser baixada vàrem fer un temps de 1h 45m.

Vista la hora que era, que ja som a la tardor.. vàrem decidir no arriscar a tenir que fer la tornada de nit, així que decidirem d’anar directament cap a Sant Bernat.

El Camí es força planer, ple de castanyers... ens fem un tip de collir castanyes... ja tenim sopar. Això si es el tram mes llarg de tots. Hi ha un moment que sentíem veus i ens pensàvem que ja hi érem... però no, encara en teníem per una altre hora mes...

Al final, son 3 trams de mes o menys 1h 30m cada un, i uns 4km cadascun.
Un cop a Sant Bernat, ens donem compte que la clau del cotxe que havíem deixat a Sant Bernat esta a coll Formic,...

Via Ferrada Sant Feliu de Guíxols

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 18:03:00 +0100

Aquest cap de setmana que encara fa bon temps, hem aprofitat per anar a fer una via ferrada un tant especial, la via ferrada de Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Aquesta ferrada esta instal·lada en els penya-segats de Sant Feliu, a pocs metres de l'aigua. Es una sensació completament diferent, estar penjat d'una roca i veure als teus peus un kayak o un submarinista...

Continue reading Via Ferrada Sant Feliu de Guíxols

Tot just arribats a Barcelona, l’endemà a primera hora ja ens tens carregant el material de ferrades al cotxe, i cap a Sant Feliu de Guíxols... Havíem quedat amb la Neus, en Jaume, la Montse i la Isa ens a l’estació de servei de Vidreres per anat tots plegats cap a Sant Feliu de Guíxols....

Objectiu, una via ferrada que es fa sobre la mar... El camí comença baixant, i com era d'esperar vàrem trobar un munt de gent. Un cop a les roques estava clar que la colla de davant no havia fet mai res, i que tindríem que esperar un any per poder fer quelcom... així que en Jaume va desplegar una cinta i vàrem improvisar un trencall per avançar-los.

La via ferrada es molt senzilla, i l’experiència de tenir al mar als peus i de tant en tant poder xerrar amb submarinistes o gent que et mira incrèdul des de un kayak es diferent.

Un cop tancat el circuit, la Neus, la Judit i fins i tot la Núria es varen apuntar a refer el primer tram que ens havíem saltat...

En breu, una via ferrrada molt accessible, amb unes vistes gents corrents.
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Le Grande Jumelle (2215m)

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 16:07:00 +0100

Des de que vàrem fer l’excursió al llac de Tanay que teníem ganes de pujar a "Les Jumelles". Son unes muntanyes en forma d'enforcadura, recorden els encantats o el Pedraforca. Aquest cap de setmana ens hem decidit a fer-ho. La preparació va ser una mica mes difícil del previst, va costar força trobar la ruta. El camí no esta marcat, i els camins i rutes dels voltants expliquen com pujar al Gramont, però no a les Jumelles. Tot i això es fàcil de trobar "posts" que parlen de que l'han fet, però a cap d'ells hi ha el fitxer GPX o cap ressenya. Tots en parlem com si ja sabéssim per on anar-hi. Al final vàrem tenir un cop de sort i després de molt buscar, vàrem trobar un parell de fitxers GPX.
L'excursió es puja molt be al principi, la part final una mica vertical i acaba amb una grimpada molt senzilla.
El dia va ser esplèndid, una mica núvol per començar, el que ens va fer pujar frescor, sol al cim amb un mar de núvols impressionant al fons de la vall
I per acabar un rösti.

Continue reading Le Grande Jumelle (2215m)

L’excursió comença al pàrquing de Flon. El dia s’havia aixecat una mica núvol i anàvem una mica tard, com el camí des del pàrquing fins al llac ja l’havíem fet, i no volíem tenir que patir per la pluja, vàrem decidir de fer la primera part en taxi. Això ens va fer guanyar una hora ben bona.

Un cop arribats a la parada de taxis superior, el cel segueix tot cobert, enfilem el camí cap al llac una mica tristos però pensant que els núvols ens protegiran del sol. En arribar al poble, una escletxa s’obre i podem contemplar l’enforcadura de “les Jumelles” entre els núvols.

Des de el poble, agafem el camí que porta a Mont Gardy, s’ha d’anar amb compte per que el camí es bifurca a mig poble, un te la impressió que cal seguir la pista, però no, cal fer un gir a l’esquerra i remuntar el riu per l’esquerra.

El camí es força humit i relliscós, però es puja molt be, el pendent no es molt fort, però sense donar-nos compte anem remuntant metres i ràpidament ens trobem amb la pista. Una mica mes amunt, cap els 1’700m d’alçada hi ha una bifurcació, nosaltres prenem el camí cap “La Combe” que es un refugi lliure al costat d’un llac a la cota 1’900m.

Aquest camí si be es més de muntanya també es remunta fàcilment. Aquesta cota hem deixat enrere els grans arbres i podem començar a gaudir de les vistes de la vall. Nosaltres vàrem tenir la sort de poder gaudir de un mar de núvols impressionat i els cims de les muntanyes davant nostre estaven tot enfarinats.

Arribats al refugi de “la Combe” ja no hi ha camí senyalitzat, comença l’aventura... segons les guies GPX que vàrem trobar hi ha dues opcions, una que voreja el llac, puja fins a la carena i després remunta fins els cim amb alguna grimpada... l’altre puja per darrera del refugi, i el camí esta mes ben traçat.

Nosaltres vàrem escollir el camí de l’olla,... be lo de camí sols son els primers metres... després cal remuntar l’olla com es pot fins arribar a la carena. En arribar a la carena tens un moment de “Oh”. Vistes impressionants, un coixí de núvols a sota, però un cel clar i vistes fins l’horitzó de muntanyes impressionats.
La carena esta traçada i es prou ample però no patir massa, però no es apte per gent amb vertigen.

Des de l’olla podíem veure tota la gent que havia anat a pujar el Gramont, rius i rius de gent, nosaltres tots sols gaudint de la muntanya... be sols no del tot, davant nostre un parell d’isards, després de la foto de rigor vàrem començar a resseguir la carena de l’olla fins a la grimpada...

En arribar a la grimpada, la sorpresa va ser que teníem mes de 50 isards davant nostre, i que no volien marxar. La grimpada no esta senyalitzada, i vàrem tenir que triar entre un pas sense massa mans ni peus, o un d’exposat, vàrem preferir el primer i amb els genolls, i les arrels vàrem remuntar els 7 o 8 metres d’aquest primer obstacle...

Un cop superat, esperàvem que els isards marxessin, però no.. això és casa seva i no va ser fins que els vam tenir a tocar que van decidir anar a pasturar a un altre lloc.
D’aquí a l’antena meteorològica no hi ha cap risc, un parell de pedres, i ja i som. Des de l’antena veiem que el com no es l’antena, que hi ha una creu més enllà. Per arribar-hi cal fer una sèrie de grimpades amunt i avall, però res de l’altre mon.

Per evitar la grimpada de baixada, vàrem decidir tornar per l’altre camí, i la veritat és que ho vàrem encertar. El camí esta força mes traçat, que no senyalitzat, i en un dit i fet ja estàvem al refugi de “La Combe”.

En veure l’hora ens vam proposar baixar una mica ràpid per arribar a temps al poble de Tanay i poder menjar un “rösti” al refugi de Grammont. Dit i fet, en menys de una hora i quart ja érem a taula.

Les Chaux - Chau Ronde - Taveyanne

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 16:09:00 +0100

At the highs of Gryon ski slopes, there is a small mountain village called Taveyanne. You can only get to Taveyanne by car in summer; in winter the road is fully covered by snow and you will have to access with snowshoes or skies. It’s a typical high altitude Swiss cluster of home in the pastures.

The hike starts at the “les Chaux” cable-car exit; first you walk the ski slope to get to the Chaux-Ronde summit. The summit is signaled with a huge wooden cross. From there a narrow trail traces the crest of the mountains, the trail will then go down trough the pastures, forest and finally to Taveyanne, where we will take the 4x4 track to get back to the cable car.

Continue reading Les Chaux - Chau Ronde - Taveyanne

We start our journey in Gryon, we take the cable car that will bring us to “Les Chaux” where we will start our hike by walking along the blue ski slope that brings to the “Chaux Ronde”.

Quite soon we will be able to see the “Miroir d’Argentine” at our right, the start of the mountain group that becomes the Diablerets Glacier behind the Chaux Ronde, and the sky slopes of Villars with Roc d’Orsai at our left… a bit far on the horizon we can also easily identify Leysin mountains.

The hike to the Chaux-Ronde summit is quite easy, nevertheless is the blue ski slope, you only need a bit of patience and you get there. But things change once you get to the summit. There is very narrow trail tracing the crest.

The trail is not suitable for people suffering from dizziness, it’s not the narrowest, neither the one with the biggest hole I’ve crossed, but in a windy day and with a large backpack you can end up at the end of the valley.

The reward to your courage will be the impressive views of the “Miroir d’Argentine” and the Anzeindaz pastures. You can easily see the mountain huts and the path we hiked only a couple of days back.

The highest point it in this trail it does not have a name, is an small summit on the “Rochers du Van” at 2085m (6840feet) of altitude.

The descendent trail to Taveyanne is quite upright (or downright), starts with alpine vegetation, to become a pasture until we enter the forest to become a pasture again when we reach the village. The path is slippery due to the soil and humidity.

From Taveyanne we can return to the cablecar by the 4x4 track in about 30 minutes, or you can walk down to Gryon by the forest in about 1 hour an a half.

Creux de Champ,Diablerets

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 16:10:00 +0100

Creux de Champ has been a surprise. Our intial intention was to strech our legs, but the hike has surprised us with incredibles views and majesitc waterfalls with the source on the Glacier 3000 glacier.

Continue reading Creux de Champ,Diablerets

Després del dia intens d’ahir, avui volíem fer una passejada curta per estirar les cames. Hem decidit anar cap el sector de Diablerets. Hi ha una vall, que ens tenia intrigats, quan agafes el camí del coll de la Croix, veus al fons una majestuosa paret vertical que s’enfila fins mes amunt del Glacier 3000.

Així doncs avui ens hem decidit a fer l’exploració de la vall, es diu “Creux de Champ”. El camí comença en l’esplanada de una fabrica de ciment o d’àrids que recuperen del riu. És un camí fàcil, de fet la primera part es del “parcours vita” uns recorreguts per fer esport esponsoritzats per una asseguradora.

Quan hem vist que el camí començava a donar mitja volta, hem decidit seguir pujant, aquest cop per un camí de turisme pedestre, els de Wanderland.ch... el camí s’enfila per una carretera, que ràpidament esdevé una pista forestal...

Un cop hem sortit del bosc, unes vistes de postal, una paret immensa en la que hi comptem dues o mes rescloses de dalt a baix, rescloses formades pel desgel del les glaceres. Les vistes et fan pensar el la mort d’en Sherlock Holmes juntament amb en Moriarty, si be no son les mateixes, i son molt mes altes que les de Reichenbach.

Les rescloses es veuen, però ens falta molt per poder-les tocar, de fet el camí s’hi apropa força, i les podem veure força be, però tot i així estan lluny. Si revisem els plànols, no hi ha cap camí que passi aprop de cap de les dues...

Ja tenim excusa pel proper cop, anar a l’aventura i obrir camí entre els prats fins arribar al peu de la resclosa principal.

Miroire d'Argentine tour

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 16:12:00 +0100

Miroire d'Argentine is an impressive group of mountains located in Bex municipality, in Canton Vaud, Switzerland. The formation majestically rises above Solalex pastures.

Continue reading Miroire d'Argentine tour

We started early morning at Solalex parking; this hike is close to seven hours and most of it you don’t get any shadow. We followed the 4x4 track instead of the hike trail. The track is a bit longer, but is less pitched and we wanted to save energies for the long day.

There is an option for the lazy ones, you can take a taxi to the Anzeindaz (1875m) and that will save you 400m.

Anzeindaz is huge meadow where you can find 2 mountain huts, Giaccomo and “la Tour”, both serve great alpine food, and you can also stay overnight.

From Anzeindaz, we take direction to “Col d’Essets” (2029m), the climb is gentile, and cows will accompany you. Col d’Essets is the highest point in our hike, you have not finished to climb, now we start a descent down to 1750m, to an incredible meadow, it’s free from any human constructions. While we walk down, you will have incredible views of the back of the “Arête de l’Argentine”.

At the end of the valley, there is another typical Swiss hut, “la Vare”. Here you can enjoy great food, stop to drink something while you enjoy the views. We decided to continue this path, which is again a 4x4 track even if that will go down to 1717. They views will pay for the extra climb we will need to do to compensate this descent.

There is a shortcut that will avoid few vertical meters… you can take it before you get to the “Vare” hut. It’s well signaled.

After all the walk we have done and with the sun in it’s climax, the climb we have to do it will be painful, simply stop once in a while to contemplate the great views of “Pont de Nant”, and look back to the path and enjoy what you have accomplished.

Once you get to “la Motte” (1940) you will have climbed almost all the positive ascend, now it’s time to start following the high ground trail, with gently sloping up and down until to follow the orography of the mountain.

At last we get to the “Roc du Châtelet” pass, from here all is downhill but don’t think it will be easy. The initial steps of the descent are on humid and vertical soil. There is a chain to help us get down in security.

Once we get to Solalex parking, a quick shower in the fountain and cold beverage at one of the restaurants.

Roc du Châtelet desde Solalex

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:17:00 +0100

Avui hem anat a fer el que tenia que ser una passejada, en realitat hem fet una excursió molt interessant. El cami comença a la cabana de Benjamine, que esta a un parell de curves d'arribar al parking de Solalex.

Solalex és una esplanada o pastura increible que hi ha al final del cami del mateix nom que surt desde la plaça de la Barbaluouse a Gryon.

Continue reading Roc du Châtelet desde Solalex

El camí va per dins de un bosc d'avets i s'enfila molt ràpidament. Hem remontat els 513m de desnivell en menys de 1h i mitja. És un camí de cabres, esta molt ben senyalitzat i podem trobar runes de velles muralles, i una casa de la que sols en queden 3 partes, però el camí és molt estret, hi ha moments, que no tens clar que puguis posar els dos peus un al costat de l'altre. Avui el camí estava molt mullat, sort hem tingut dels pals per evitar més d'una relliscada.

Les vistes s'obren a mesura que pujem i els grans avets deixen lloc a vegetació de més altura. Fins i tot en un dia de boria com avui, podem veure fàcilment, Gryon, Les Chaux, i a mesura que remontem podrem veure el fons de la vall.

El cim esta a sols un 10 minuts del coll, es de molt fàcil access... be, si no fos per que la part més alta del cim esta en una altre roca, i que per anar-hi cal fer un salt per sobre d'un barranc de decenes de metres de fondaria. Avui amb tot humit, herbes per tot arreu i amb un salt que acaba en tenir que fer una mica de grimpada, ens hem comformat en veure les vistes desde una aresta menor.

Desde el coll, el camí de tornada comença divertit... tot mulllat, tot enfangat, vertical... sort de la cadena que hem fet servir per ajudar-nos a baixar els primers metres..., després les coses es normalitzen i tot i que baixa força ràpid, podem fer-ho amb seguretat. El cami travessa un parell de cops la torrentera que ve del cim, amb un rajoli d'aigua. Les vistes de Solalex i la seva tartera son impressionants.

En total hem fet la volta en unes 2h i 45m (incloent parades)

Puigmal desde Núria

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 21:52:00 +0100

Aquest estiu hem fet una petita estada a la Vall de Núria, ens hem refrescat als rius, hem muntat a cavall, hem descansat, i també hem fet el cim del Puigmal (2.910m) des de el Santuari de Núria. Per començar vàrem fer una petita parada per dinar al costat del Freser, però no a ribes, sinó que a la part alta del riu, a Queralbs. Després de dinar, agafem el cremallera i cap a Núria. L'endemà ens llevem d'hora per sortir d'hora a fer el cim, no volem que el sol ens no ens deixi arribar... de baixada, una refrescada al riu, activitats, sopar, dormir i qui vulgui dormir en tenda, i l'endemà a fer una passejada en cavall, baixar amb el cremallera, i per acabar aquestes mini-vacances en refrescant se al salt del grill.

Continue reading Puigmal desde Núria

Diumenge 12 Juliol 2015

La Gemma, la Núria, la Neus, la Judit i en Jordi de Barcelona direcció de Queralbs amb tota la calma del mon, el cotxe ple de material de muntanya, moltes ganes de passar-ho be. En arriba a Queralbs, ja era hora de menjar... clar que sempre hi ha gana. Així que abans d'agafar el cremallera, vàrem buscar un raconet ombrívol on poder refrescar els peus al riu Freser, i menjar una mica de pasta que ens havia preparat la Gemma.

Amb tota la calma del mon, vàrem enfilar cap a l'estació per agafar el cremallera, no teníem pressa, no podíem entrar a l'apartament fins a les 16:00, així que anàvem en mode turista, carregant motxilles i una nevera plena de teca (i gel).

Un cop instal·lats, tocava descobrir que podíem fer, les nenes varen descobrir el parc aventura, on vàrem fer una mica de tubbing, coltxonetes, i altres activitats... però avui toca anar a dormir d'hora, que dema s'ha de matinar si no volem que el sol ens faci desistir de les nostres intencions de fer el Puigmal (2910m).

Dilluns 13 Juliol 2015

El dia comença amb mal peu, la Gemma no ha pogut dormir mes que 4 horetes per que un bretol s'ha despertar a mitja nit i ha tirat totes les cantimplores, i la Judit s'adona que s'ha deixat les plantilles de les botes a El Masnou, però es que per no portar no porta ni les normals... però al mal temps bona cara, preparem l’entrepà de la Neus, la teca per la resta, ens posem crema, omplim les cantimplores i a les 8:30 comencem a caminar.

La primer part del camí ja la coneixem... és el mateix que vàrem fer ara fa un any quan vàrem anar a fer el Finestrelles... El cel esta clar, no hi ha un sol núvol, i la temperatura es correcte, però hem fet bé de llevar-nos d'hora, fa pinta que tindrem calor.

Semblava que tot anava be, no hi havia massa gent, però ens han passat una parella i una dona fent sky-running. Nosaltres els seguim, el camí esta molt clar, va al costat del riu, no hi ha dubtes, hi ha fites... fins que la parelleta que ens ha passat torna enrere per dir-nos que no es pot passar que el camí esta tallat... mirem el GPS i veiem que el camí va uns 100m més alt i cap a la dreta... no entenem com ens ans perdut, de baixada ho revisarem... després de revisar les opcions, veiem que la mes simple es seguir un camí de cabres a l'esquerra que fa pinta anirà a trobar el camí del Puigmal que surt del Santuari i va per l'esquerra del Roc de l'Ortigar...

Dit i fet, ràpidament retrobem el bon camí, i seguim avançant, fins que seguint el riu sec veiem una resclosa amb molta aigua, i ens preguntem on va a parar tota aquesta aigua, ja que el riu esta sec... en acostar-nos el misteri es resol... l'aigua va a una cova, impressionant. Seguim remuntant el camí, que es fa molt fàcilment, aviat veiem la tartera del Puigmal davant nostre, cada cop mes a prop.

A la plana abans de la tartera, la Gemma decideix que prefereix no arriscar i es queda prenent el sol mentre la resta ens preparem per remuntar el 450 metres que ens queden. Ja portàvem unes tres hores de camí, val a dir que havíem fet un parell de parades per picar una mica. La resta del camí es de ràpida ascensió, els 450m els vàrem fer en menys d'una hora, i cal tenir en compte que a 150m del cim estàvem fets pols i vàrem parar a fer un mos.

En arribar al cim, una mountain-bike comença a baixar cap a Font-Alba. Al cim la foto de rigor, una parell de nectarines, l’entrepà uns ous passats per aigua... el de sempre. Feia un bon dia, i feia ganes de prendre el sols, reposar i potser fer el Pic del Segre, però no volíem deixar la Gemma sola, pel que sols ens vàrem estar uns 45 minuts al cim.

La baixada es molt ràpida, si no tenim en compte els 30 minuts que ens vàrem prendre per refrescar els peus al riu, el temps seria de 1h 30 minuts, i sense córrer.

Un cop a l'hotel, una bona dutxa, i a plantar tenda, que la Judit i la Neus volen dormir al ras, una mica mes de activitats al parc aventura, i a sopar al bufet de l'hotel on vàrem repetir les patates al forn unes 4 vegades.

Dimarts 14 Juliol 2015

Avui es dia de tornada, però ens ho prendrem amb calma... res de llevar-se d'hora... però les amazones no vàrem tenir tanta sort, a les 6:30 les vaques ja fan sonar els escallots. Mentre elles esmorzen, un servidor desmunta tenda. Després d'esmorzar, una passejada amb cavall pel camí de les creus, i ja son les 11:45, corre, corre que tenim un cremallera a les 12:00.A Queralbs, una parada tècnica per comprar una mica de fruita i ens tornem a trobar la parella de Castelló, els que es varen perdre i amb el que ens hem creuat 5 o 6 cops.. sembla que ens perseguim.

Ara si, aparquem el cotxe i cap al Salt del Grill, diu el rètol que son 20 minuts.. i si ho fem en 19 minuts, però quina calor, mira si feia calor, que la Gemma es volia banyar... i cop al Salt del Grill, una refrescada al llac, una dutxa al salt d'aigua i a dinar...

Aquí teniu la ruta del Salt del Grill si hi voleu anar

I això s'ha acabat, cap a casa, i a saludar en Narcís!

Llac Tanay - desde Miex - Flon

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 24 May 2015 21:54:00 +0100

You can get to the small village of Tanay by Taxi, or by a 4x4. Otherwise, you have to park your car at the car park in Flon, from which point on there is a path for you to hike to Tanay. Nevertheless, in entering the town of Flon, there was a person organising where we were meant to park our car who did not appear like he would let us go on even if our car fitted the requirements.

There is a path that is well signaled to the right of the trail, right after the car park. The path goes through an alpine forest which protects us from the sun, but that doesn't stop us from sweating, seeing as the slope is so steep. Throughout our excursion, we met with several people, the majority of which were mountaineers - but do not be surprised to meet someone wearing ballerina shoes, struggling to climb the steep slope, slipping on the moving rocks under their feet.

As we arrive to the col of Tanay where the taxi stop is, we can see the first few houses. As we descend to the lake we can see the mountain refuges and restaurants.

The village of Tanay or Taney is the perfect base for the ascencion to the Grammont or Les Jumelles, but it is not time today. I am looking forward to coming back when we have more time.

Continue reading Llac Tanay - desde Miex - Flon

La Givrine - Haut Mont - Le Vermeilley

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 10 May 2015 21:56:00 +0100

This weekend we went on a small excursion to the Col de la Givrine. The Col de la Givrine is situated above Saint-Cergue before arriving at the border between la Cure (Switzerland) and France. Surprisingly, the majority of the path is paved.. Next time we will take our bike instead.

The path is slightly uphill, and it is very well signaled, and is surrounded by many other paths which inspire us for future excursions.

Here, during the winter season, we can find people snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing, and even riding on dog sledges.
In the summer we find people riding their bicycles and most of all, a lot of people in the mountain restaurants to taste the typical swiss cuisine.

Continue reading La Givrine - Haut Mont - Le Vermeilley

Panta de Santa fe del Montseny

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 05 Apr 2015 17:53:00 +0100

El Panta de Santa Fe del Montseny is one of the first natural parks I have ever visited. The walk was very calm - the greatest risk would involve getting angry at a tourist who thinks the mountain is an amusement park, or a space where everyone can have a barbecue without any sort of consideration or respect for the environment.

We arrived when there was still some space for us to park our car at the parking lot. It was a cloudy day and it was cold, which was why we decided to have a brief walk. We had work to do, and little interest in feeling cold.

The walk wasn't much more than an hour of stopping to take pictures at each flower sighted...

When we arrived at the parking lot, it was a total mess. Very chaotic, almost like the exit of a football stadium.

A recommended walk. If the weather happens to be nice, take advantage of it and make the excursion longer!

Continue reading Panta de Santa fe del Montseny

Bois de Chêne

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 22:58:00 +0100

Continue reading Bois de Chêne

It appears that spring has started and with such sunshine, it is a delight, being able to stretch your legs in the forests around you. At the town of Begnins there is a forest of oak trees, which is a scientific reserve. Like everything around here, it is well maintained and signaled. It is a rather flat path - no inclination. In the middle of the forest we crossed a stream and small, clear lakes with an impressive mirror effect.

In the forest, all you can hear is the sound of the water from the stream, and we were lucky enough to hear a woodpecker and a bunch of other birds that accompanied us in our little excursion. Towards the end, we were accompanied by three leaping deer.

El Joc de l'Oca - Montserrat - de baixada

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 23:00:00 +0100

For the christmas festivities, an excursion to Montserrat to burn up turrons and other christmas foods as well as the stress of the latest few days, hiking uphill from Collbató to the top of the Canal del Joc de l'Oca and then a descent by rappeling.

Continue reading El Joc de l'Oca - Montserrat - de baixada

Caution: This excusion is quite easy but it is required to bring all the neccessary material and it is important to know how to rappel, and know how to set them up. The type of gear neccessary includes a rock-climbing rope - in our case, we used a 70 m one. Rappels aren't usually this long, but it was the only rope we had. It is also important to bring a Harness, carabiners, and your favourite rappel device. It is recommended to bring several slings, carabiners and gloves.

The excursion begins in can Jorba. I tried to put the exact point on the map, its not difficult to find, but is not well indicated.

From Can Jorba, we follow the trail until we reach a shortcut that invites us to climb, as the path is a rather strong uphill. I did it in summer and winter and I recommend you do it in the winter, as it is too hot in the summer. The way up is about 45 minutes long if walking at a good pace.

Once we are there, we follow the downhill canal. At first it looks like a dry river with sand and beach stones that remind us that Montserrat emerged from the depths of the sea. Gradually, the inclination becomes steeper, and we find some rocks we have to jump over, and some we have to acrobatically descend - be careful, especially if the rocks are wet, as they are rather slippery.

The first rappel is easy to see, it is under a tree. There is a rope through which climbers return from their long tracks. I do not recommend descending using the rope unless you have a lot of experience and arm strength. For the climbers, it is easy and probably more than one group will overtake you, perhaps even without any sort of rope. It is important to remember your level of experience and think about security first.

The path is quite entertaining, with impressive views. There is a rappel that involves passing through a cave ... if you have claustrophobia, you can mount the rappel from the side.

Highly recommended to burn turrons for Christmas.

Puigpedros (2.914m)

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 22:03:00 +0100

This weekend, we hiked the Puigpedros with the people from Gels.

Continue reading Puigpedros (2.914m)

The excursion begins at the refuge of Malniu.
The refuge can be reached by car from Meranges.
The parking costs 3 € and if it is a sunny day, it is normal to find it full of people.
The refuge is rather small, but has bathrooms and showers.

The fact that the refuge can be reached by car, makes it full of people ... and not everyone respects the mountain as they should.

The path starts at the left of the refuge, going through small hills until you reach the peak of the mountain of Puigpedrós.
At the bottom of the path we find little water springs sprouting from everywhere that form streams that feed the lower lakes.

Summit and tour of the Moleson 2.002 m

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 22:05:00 +0100

The mythical mountain that can be seen in the background of the photos of the castle of Gruyères is the Moleson. An important elevation of 2.002m in the middle of nowhere. The excursion begins at the parking of the ski station of the Moléson-Village. From the summit, there are impressive views of plains, pastures and meadows to the west, and magestic glaciers of the Alps to the east. Bored of seeing so many people, and seeing that there was another summit close by to the col, we decided to take a short trip towards it.

Continue reading Summit and tour of the Moleson 2.002 m

The mythical mountain that can be seen in the background of the photos of the castle of Gruyères is the Moleson. An important elevation of 2.002m in the middle of nowhere. The excursion begins at the parking loz of the ski station of the Moléson-Village. We took the path that went to the left of the cable-car station.

The first part of the path is rather tiring, with a strong vertical slope. In our case, we had to endure it alongside the strong heat emitted by the sun, and with a bunch of tourists that overtook us with their their little party shoes. After a 400 m climb, we are at the level of the superior cable car station. Here, most of the people have left us, probably to take the cable car until the summit.

From this point on the path circles around the summit, without any sort of slope. What altogether makes this part of our excursion more pleasurable is the fact that we finally have some trees to cover us from the sun, and there is a little wind - and this allows us to finally take a breath.

Once we are at the back side of the mountain, the path once more rises steeply towards the summit. During this part of our excursion, we encounter some goats as well as people, but this time the people are proper mountaineers.

Once at the col, we can sight the superior cable-car station and a bunch of tourists acting foolishly at the terraces. From here to the summit there is little to go. But the path seems to extend neverendlessly - we crossed a mother that could not manage her son to walk a single more step, people with party shoes and.. once we are at the summit, surprisingly there are benches, but they are all occupied... the summit is occupied by about 100 people.

We stop for lunch, and enjoy the views with impressive plains, pastures and meadows to the west, and magestic glaciers of the Alps to the east. Bored of seeing so many people, and seeing that there was another summit close by to the col, we decided to take a short trip towards it.

The descent is very vertical, in fact, in the winter it is a black ski slope. Once having once more arrived at the cable-car station, we find the via ferrata trails - one that is 'easy' and another that is more difficult, and both meet at a secondary summit.

If you want to do it, remember to bring sun-cream, a hat, and disgraceful-tourist repellent.

Rochers de Naye

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 09:03:00 +0100

Above Montreux, there are the Rochers de Naye. The initial idea was to go from the col de Jaman to the summit, but in the end we decided to take a shortcut by taking the train that leaves from Montreaxu. The route taken by the train has some very impressive views. The excursion is rather vertical - it climbs about 500 metres in about two hours of walking. The most annoying part is that at the beginning, you constantly climb and descend, only to be at the same level. Once you arrive at the canal, the path climbs towards the col with impressive viewes of the Leman lake.

Continue reading Rochers de Naye

The Rochers de Naye is a mountain you can reach by taking a cog train, which is very typical for Switzerland. At the summit there is a small hotel with a small exposition about the mountain fauna, especially about marmots. They have examples of dissecated mountain animals, but there is a series of cages where you can see marmots representing the different species around the world. There is also a botanic alpine garden, where we evidently find edelweiss.

It is a rather steep mountain, and on one of its facades, there is a via ferrata we will probably do another day. But as one could expect on this type of mountains, the other side is very accessible.

The excursion began at Montreux where we took the cog train to the station in Jaman. The train is a bit expensive - if you like, you can take the car to the col of Jaman, but it takes 45 minutes longer.

Once arrived at the station of Jaman, we have the 'Dent de Jaman' right next to us. From this point, we have to descend to find the path - it is 30 metres we go down that we will soon have to rise before arriving at the next train station, from which point on we will yet again descend until an elevation of 1.672m, passing beneath the Rochers de Naye. At the end of the descent we can find a canal that climbs vertically until the col - it is rather vertical but it is still feasable without the use of hands. The path is full of little stones, which is why it is important not to slip.

Once arrived at the col, the views are impressive - we have the Leman lake below us, with the Alps in the background. Behind us, we can see the antena of the summit of the Rochers de Naye. From the col, we have 20 minutes of hiking until the train station, and from the station about 10 more minutes until the summit. From the summit, if the day is good, we can enjoy 360 degree views - we have the Leman lake and the alps on one side, and if we look towards the Botanical garden, we can sight the Hongrin lake. From the summit we can see the 500 metre vertical slope we have climbed up, and the station of Jaman is directly below us. If we feel like walking further, we can walk towards the end of the via ferrata or we can descend between the cages with the marmots and then take a walk through the botanical garden, where we can see the edelweiss.

Núria, Finestrelles & Queralbs

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:56:00 +0100

On the weekend of the 12th of July, together with Jaume, Neus and Narcis, we wanted to hike from Núria to Carança but due to the bad weather, we decided to simply hike to the summit and return. The initial idea was to go up the Puigmal but as the excursion is long and a storm had been forcasted, we decided against it. Instead, we decided to hike up Finestrelles. When we arrived back at the Vall of Núria we realised we had lost the last the train, and as if we hadn't hiked enough, we were forced to walk all the way back to Queralbs, and ended up walking for 11 hours.

Continue reading Núria, Finestrelles & Queralbs

We stayed over at the apartments in Núria, which were very luxurious in comparison to where I had stayed previously around this area. We awoke with the sound of the cog train, realising it was already 9 in the morning. Luckily (or not) Jaume was also a bit late, and his train arrived at 10 in the morning. Somehow, we ended up walking at 10 in the morning. No comment....

The excursion starts behind the sanctuary of Núria, where we take the path that goes towards Finestrelles. which passes through the camping zone. It is rather well indicated, although we did do it the day before the race - cursa de l'olla - for which there were marks and indications everywhere.

The first idea was to go and hike the Puigmal, and that was the direction we were going in, but Narcis had already gone there, and the weather was not very convincing, so we decided to do Finestrelles instead.

Once we arrived at the 'Roc de la Maula', we decided to go along the ridge, rather than following the path. It seems much easier than what its like, and we struggled a little to reach the summit.

Once at the summit, we eat and take a picture. The food, sun and the break helps us retain our strength.

To descend, we take part of the tour of the mountains, in the direction of the Pic d'Eina. We had the intention of going there, but the clouds were worrying us... so at the col of Eina, we take the return path, which takes to the Coma d'eina and to Núria.

During our descent, we crossed the path of several chamois, and at the foot of the Coma d'Eina there was a herd of cows and horses... some marmots came to say hi and when we began to walk again we crossed another herd of Chamois that came to give us company.

When we arrived at Núria, a cog train was leaving. We had one in 30 minutes, and then another in 1 hour 30 minutes. Which gave us time to have tea and a little snack... the waiter was not very quick in serving us, and we were not in a hurry either, and before we knew it, the first 30 minutes had passed, but we thought we still had an hour until the next train came... but to our surprise, there was no such train - it only left at that hour on fridays...

The hotel was overflowing with people, as the next day there would be the race - cursa de l'Olla...

Solutions? Walk all the way to Queralbs... a descent of 3 h 30 m

In the end we walk for 11 hours, but despite the clouds, a fantastic day.

Creux de Van

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 11:51:00 +0100

At the Vall de Travers, in the canton of Neuchâtel, we find a singular circ formation named the 'Creux de Van'. We were lucky enough to find a family of mountain goats - they were calmly grazing at our side as we were gaining altitude. The sights from the superior part of the circ are scary and it is rather annoying to see someone on a mountain bike or a stroller for children right next to you, right after your exhausing walk... but of course, they took the road to get here...

Continue reading Creux de Van

At the Vall de Travers, in the canton of Neuchâtel, we find a singular circ formation called the 'Creux de Van'.

We started the ascencion at the town of Noiraigue, after having left the car in the parking lot where there is the station of the 'service de feu'. We could have followed to road until the 'Ferme Robert' which is a refuge/restaurant and that would have saved us part of the climb, but then we wouldnt have been able to return on the other side, or we would have to climb to get to our car.

The path starts with a strong vertical slope that barely curves. It goes through the forest, the shade for which we were very thankful for. In arriving at the Robert farm, the path becomes flatter, in order to find the centre of the circ.

Once we arrive at the 'Font Froide', the path begins to climb strongly once again, and this time it curves much more. From here we can begin to se ethe circ, and in our case, we saw a family of 7 mountain goats.

The forest is so thick it is difficult to see the rock formation. I think that before the font-froide we simply had an intuition, and then when we climbed, we began to see the outline in between the trees...

Having overcome this climb, we arrive at a clearing and we begin to see the hole. The views are impressive. After a deserved break, we walk around the circ to descend on the other side.

Just after starting to descend, we see the restaurant/farm 'Le Soliat'. The descent is much stronger than the climb. Careful with your knees, they get rather tired...

When we arrive at 1.000 m altitude, we find another restaurant, Oeillons, and there are horses, geese and chicken...

With so many restaurant/refuges, this excursion seems more like a gastronomic route than anything else, but its part of the swiss culture - here the people like to go grazing and then have a good meal in a mountain refuge.

Le Grand Salève: Corraterie, la Grotte d'Orjobet i trou de la Tine

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 11:54:00 +0100

Just in front of Geneva, we have Le Grand Salève. The mountain is not very tall, but it does have a very vertical facade. In the superior part of this facade, there is an aerial passage that almost goes through the rock - it is the Corraterie. From the Corraterie we can see the Trou de la Tine, an impressive rocky formation, which seems, from far, an immensive cave, a hole in the wall but when you are inside you see there is no ceiling. Following the path a little more, we cross the Grotte d’Orjobet, a cave that is adapted with stairs that allow you to climb from 'Le Coin' until the Corraterie. The excursion is very aerial, with impressive views of the Montblanc, the region of Geneva and the Jura.

Continue reading Le Grand Salève: Corraterie, la Grotte d'Orjobet i trou de la Tine

The route begins at the superior cable-car station of the Salève. You can get there by car without any difficulties. The first part of the excursion goes very closely by the road, it is full of people that come to have a barbacue at one of the terraces of the Salève, or at the observatory.

We start walking by a path that comes from the posterior part of the cable-car. We cross the road twice by a path in the middle of a forest. After some time, we arrive at a paragliding base, with good views of Geneva and the lake. Further up, we arrive at the observatory, which isn't more than a restaurant and a base for radio-connections, with many people that have arrived by car to take a picnic. At this point we have great views of the Montblanc on one side and the Leman lake on the other.

Now we begin to see that we are leaving people behind, and that we are becoming closer to a strong cliff at our right. The path enters the forest in descent until it arrives at the Corraterie. It is quite an easy path, with very aerial views. You must be careful with your head, the corridor between rocks is not made for tall people. The views of the villages beneath are excellent.

Towards the end of the Corraterie, we find an immense hole through the rock. It seems like a cave. To get to it, we must enter the forest and descend a little more. From the forest, we see that we have to climb through a little path of stones until we get under the arc of the cave. Once inside, we see that the cave has no ceiling, we are at the 'Trou de la Tine'.

Following the path for the descent, we arrive at the 'Grotte d'Orjobet'. It is a cave that has an exit from the top and bottom, where they have put some stairs. It forms part of the path to go from 'Le Coin' until the Corraterie. From here we turn around and get back to our car.

The guides recommend to tie your children up for safety, but that is a little exaggerated. If you follow the normal rules of precaution of mountaineering, and you are not afraid of heights, this is a very simple excursion and reccommended for everyone.

Gorges du Chauderon

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 11:57:00 +0100

It wouldn't cross your mind, that from the centre of Montreux, and passing beneath the bridges of the highway, there are gorgues like the 'Gorges du Chauderon'. It is an easy walk, but with strong vertical slope. The path is very walkable, it is full of stairs to help us with the ascencion. The change of vegetation changes a lot from the bottom part that reaches Montreux where it seems more like a tropical forest, and the top part is more typically swiss.

Continue reading Gorges du Chauderon

The 'Gorges du Chauderon' surprise you for many reasons. The first is that they start at the middle of the 'viex village' of Montreux. We start going up some stairs until we reach the forest. The second is that they are below the bridges of the highway. Luckily, the pillars are so tall, that at this point, you only hear the water, and you don't hear the sound of any car. Anyway, a little further, when we are at closer to the level of the highway, we begin to hear the traffic.

One of the things that surprises us is how vertical the gorge and its vegetation. It reminds you more of the caves of Batu in Malaysia than a Swiss landscape. The atmosphere is
shady, dark and humid, which we appreciate on a day of summer heat.

Once we cross the second bridge, the gorge becomes less vertical, and the vegetation becomes more typical swiss.

Its a very pleasant walk, although you are rather lazy to start with such a slope at the beginning. On the positive side, the descent is much more comfortable and fast, perhaps in a third of the time you take to climb.

If you have time, you can continue until 'les Avants' and there take the train 'Golden Pass' to return to Montreux.

La Tine de Conflens

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:59:00 +0100

A simple 40 minute route from the train station of la Saraz. The climb is of about 100 metres. In 40 minutes you arrive at the dam. Its a magical place filled with energy from the forest fairies. There are two dams and a small beach. The water doesn't seem too clean, but its from the amount of organic matter there is in the forest.

Continue reading La Tine de Conflens

From the train station of la Sarraz, we cross the village until we arrive at the bridge that crosses the river. Once we have crossed the river, we take the road that follows it about 200 metres uphill. After having passed a 'brocante' at the left, we find a path indicated with the typical yellow swiss pedestrian tourism arrows. Here we find a sign that says danger, that there is a shooting range. If the fence is open, you can pass without problem. At this point we enter the forest, in which we climb about 100 metres of vertical slope.

As we approach the dam, the path goes slightly downhill, and this is made easier by some stairs - but you must be careful as it tends to be humid and slippery. At the end of the path we find a little lake and the dam, and if we go deeper into the lake or we go to the small beach there is to the left, we can see another dam hidden at the bottom of a small gorge. The water is a bit cloudy, it seems dirty but further down it appears to be very transparent, which makes us think that it is the excess of organic matter in the forest that gives it this brownish colour.

It is an easy and short excursion, with strongly recommended views.

le sentier de la Ballade à Béatrix, Saint-Cergue

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 31 May 2014 12:05:00 +0100

If you feel like taking a walk after lunch at Saint-Cergue.. there is a walk you can take, called 'le sentier Ballade à Béatrix'. It is welll indicated, with 16 points of information. It starts with a little steeply, but the forest is very pleasant, the views from the old castle are impressive, the invisible ruins, and it goes through a series of rocky formations with interesting caves.

Continue reading le sentier de la Ballade à Béatrix, Saint-Cergue

Le Sentier - Vallorbe

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 18 May 2014 12:08:00 +0100

A simple route, strongly recommended, with very little uphill.

It starts very calmly near the 'Lac de Joux'. There are quite a few people, but these tend to be people that respect and love nature. At around the middle of the lake, you must climb a little to arrive to 'Le Lieux', where we continue touring the lake but this time at a higher altitude. In this route we have been fortunate enough to sight two deer or 'chamois' and they haven't shown themselves to be shy.

Continue reading Le Sentier - Vallorbe

It starts very calmly near the 'Lac de Joux'. There are quite a few people, but these tend to be people that respect and love nature. At around the middle of the lake, you must climb a little to arrive to 'Le Lieux', where we continue touring the lake but this time at a higher altitude. In this route we have been fortunate enough to sight two deer or 'chamois' and they haven't shown themselves to be shy.

When we finish to tour the lake, we descend to the village of 'Le Pont' where we continue touring the lake until the end of the village, where we climb the mountain decidedly to arrive at the col.

Once we have reached the highest altitude, the rest is a descent. As we arrive close to the caves of Vallorbe, we continue following the path that is next to the river until we reach the centre of the village.

Vallorbe-Romainmotier

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 11 May 2014 12:09:00 +0100

We start at the camping place of Vallorbe, with a strong vertical slope untin we cross the col. From there, we descend through a minor road until Vailion. After crossing the village we enter once more at the forest, where we cross a defensive system (the toblerones) where we start once more to descend, following the river. In the last part, we walk next to the river and cross wooden bridges several times.

Continue reading Vallorbe-Romainmotier

Shali Peak, Himachal Pradesh, India

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 13:12:00 +0100

My work brings me to many places around the world. Lately, one of these frequent destinations is India. The city I visit is very close to New Delhi, and the large Himalayan mountains are not too far, only around 400 Km away. But in India, this means 10 hours of driving. Last time I went, I had a monday free, which gave me a three-day-long weekend and the perfect excursion for me to escape to the mountains.

Continue reading Shali Peak, Himachal Pradesh, India

Many times we associate the Himalayas with Everest and mountains that are 8.000 metres tall. But in reality, the Himalayas are an impressive extention - of about 2.400 km long and 400 km wide. The mountain system counts with the largest summits of the planet, but we can also find summits of modest heights, such as the Shali peak, which is about 2.830 metres.

The adventure starts at Delhi, where we take a car to go to Shimla, which are about 400 km away. We take 10 hours to arrive, due to the condition of the roads in India. At the time of the British Empire, Shimla was the summer capital of India. As it is in the mountains, the temperature in the Summer is more agreeable. Shimla is a rather vertical city, with modest houses, small, of many colours. Like all the cities in India, you cannot help but notice how dirty the roads are, and even, how dirty the forests and mountains are.

During my stay, I stayed at the house of my guide. The people of India are special, I don't know if it is the culture, religion, or traditions... but they are very welcoming and they are always there to help you without asking anything in return. Vishal, the guide is proud of his Land and traditions. During our hike he tells me a bit about history, traditions and his own life.

The excursion to the Shali peak starts with car ride of about two hours to get to the foot of the mountain from Shimla. The path is rather easy, it reminds me of the meditteranean forests, with pine and toot tries. At the start, we approached a farm, and the farmer invited us to tea, as it would have been impolite to refuse. So we stopped for tea and talked a bit with him. He was a poor farmer, with a pair of starving cows, but who wanted to invite us for lunch nevertheless. We told him that we would next time, and we continued hiking. He accompanied us for a bit, to prevent his neighbor's dogs from annoying us.

The path to the summit is a cart track, in fact it was a postal road at the time of the British Empire. At the summit of Shali Peak there is a Hindu Monastery.

From the summit we can see the white Himalayas, the 8.000 metre summits and it makes you realise the immensity of the mountains that form the Himalayas.

Via Ferrata de Vallcebre

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 19:01:00 +0100

Via ferrata at the foot of Pedraforca. There are three tracks, one for children, and two more serious ones. The first is a bit difficult, the second one has quite a bit of overhang, as well as overhang at the descent - it is only recommended to those with experience and arm strength.

Continue reading Via Ferrata de Vallcebre

Toubkal 1992

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Thu, 16 Apr 1992 18:01:00 +0100

During the easter break of 1992, Albert, Anna, Angel, Budri, Ermelinda, Jaume, and I undertook one of the most exciting adventures - climbing to the summit of the Toubkal (4165 metres) in the Atlas mountains, in africa. It would be 10 very intense days, 4000 kilometres in a classic Landrover cazorla. We slept in a stone quarry, at the home of the porters of Imil, on the snow and the parking lot of the ferry of Ceuta. We were in the middle of a protest demanding the dimission of the government delegate, and we had to sleep with the propane gas bottles in our sleeping bag to cook breakfast...

Continue reading Toubkal 1992

On the 10th of April 1992, Albert, Anna, Angel, Budri, Ermelinda, Jaume and I were preparing in the courtyard of the building of la Salle in the street Lluçanès for a great adventure, the Atlas. We met with each other in the evening. We first had to check our material, food, then try to put it all in our bags and say good-bye to our friends. The journey would be long.

We drove the whole night. We took turns, some tried to sleep while at the front, two of us tried to be awake and attentive. Our car, the Landrover, was quite good, but you could not go very fast... Somehow Anna managed to make it run at 130 km/h. The Gasoil was a pain, we had two deposits, but the indicator of the second did not work - so we counted the kilometres...

On the 11th, we crossed the strait and we drove for many kilometres in Morroco. When it became dark, we decided that driving in the night once was enough, and we tried to find a path, we climbed it, and when we arrived at a flat surface, we prepared ourselves to bivouac. We put all the material inside the car, closed it, and slept on our mattresses with the stars as our blanket.

On the 12th a chicken shepherd woke us up. We had parked in a stone quarry. It was time to eat breakfast, and we still had a bunch of kilometres left to arrive at Imil. When we arrived at the village it was already dark. We found the parking lot, where we left our car. We asked the parking manager where we could sleep, and he put us in contact with a local guide, who let us sleep at his house. The next day, we found out that his family had slept in the barn to let us sleep comfortably.

The 13th starts with the negotiation on how much we have to pay for porters - they let us use two mules and porters at a good price if we left Ermelinda behind. In the end, we prefered to pay a little more and we all started our journey uphill. We all carried our own backpack, and we carried an extra one with all the food. I shouldn't have to explain the weight of this last backpack - when the porter lifted it, he moaned, and being very considerate, we decided to take a packet of cookies out from the backpack... then he thought it to be a fair deal.

The uphill path usually is done on top of a mule.. but we go by foot, as the mules carry our back-packs. When there starts to be snow, and the path becomes narrower, it is time to carry our back-packs and continue upwards. Yes, we did struggle a little, Albert, Angel and I had to carry the contents of another back-pack, that of Ermelinda I think. Our porter was probably already at the base camp, while we were still putting our boots on.

While we were climbing, we saw about everything, I remember seeing a spanish couple, and the woman could not go further. A porter offered to carry her back-pack, but her husband wouldn't accept having to pay the same amount half-way than down at the village - and the sad part was that we were talking about 50 pesetas at the time, which even for us was not that big of an effort.

Having arrived at the base camp, it is time to plant our tent and have dinner. The first night was cold, but we were so tired it did not take us long to fall asleep.

14th of April - today we must start doing some acclimatization. The day starts difficultly - the gas we use for making breakfast barely works, the propane gas bottle is too cold and our boots are frozen. This day, we climbed our first 4.000 metres, the Aougdal Boutiona (4.040m) and the Afella (4.043m). It was a very warm day, very vertifcal slopes, and very little water. At night we decide to sleep with the boots in our sleeping bag, our back-pack under our sleeping mattress as an isolator, the propane gas bottles between our legs.

15th of April, second day of acclimatization. Today we climb to 3 different summits of more than 4.000 metres. The Akioud (4.030m), the Ras Ouanokrim (4.083m) and the Timesguida Ouanokrim (4.089m). It was an easy day, we started becoming used to the cold, of sleeping on the snow and eating directly from the cooking pot.

16th of april, day of the ascencion. We woke up early to climb the Toubkal (4.165m), I think we climbed to the summit by midday, with fantastic sunlight and impressive views. From the summit, we went to the Toubkal west (4.100m). The descent was quite fast, with a large collection of butt-sledging which put our skill with the pickaxes to the the test. Once at the base camp, we had a good shower with glacier water...

17th of april, we had planned to stay a day longer, but as we had completed everything, we decided to descend, this time without porters. At half-way of teh path, in finding a group of local boys we offer them some cookies, fruit and marmelades that were spare. We then realised that they kept it for later, to share with the family.

Once at Imil, we hear a voice that says 'Catalans'... it was a guy from Mallorca that was with his girlfriend from Morroco that had lost the bus they had to take, and asked us if we could bring them to the next stop. As we were going to Marrakesh, we offered to bring them.

We wanted to eat some couscous, and we asked them where the best place to eat it would be, it seemed a logical question. The girlfriend offered to cook it herself, at her home, in the condition that if we wanted it made from meat, we would have to buy the meat ourselves.

Once arrived at her home, her brother brought us buying at Zoco, where Albert bought himself the typical drums while the rest of us looked at mats, back-packs, shoes, hats, as one must. Once at home, it is time to help peel vegetables. The couscous was delicious, and not because we had spent a whole week eating from conserves....

At night it was time to start our route back, we had 2.000 km ahead of us. When we arrived at Ceuta we risked not paying the bribe, it wasnt in fact hard for us to cross the border. It seemed we were already at home, but no, in arriving at the port, we heard the news that there the ISNASA ferry company had a strike, and they made us park the car in a place - we went to lunch, and in coming back, the car was alone, in the middle of nothing... they had moved the queue.

Those were two very stressful days, having little money, with the shops closed, without bread, the civil police handing out firewood, with protests against the civil government to demand the dimmission of the politicians. We were on the local newspapers, we slept in the parking lot, we managed to get bread, and in the end we managed to to come back from one of the most exotic and authentic adventures we have ever lived.

Travessa de Sallent de Gallego - Ordesa

joduba@iwith.org (Jordi Duran i Batidor) — Thu, 25 Jul 1991 18:02:00 +0100

During the summer of 1991, a group of friends decided to cross the pyrenees. The route we chose went from Sallent de Gallego to the Vall d'Ordesa. The idea was to cross from the top and reach all the summits possible in 10 days. And as we didnt have too much money, we would sleep in a tent, and we would carry all our food for the 10 days at our backs. It was an incredible adventure, where we fully enjoyed the mountains, and we went hungry until we ate bread we found on the floor or collected the left-overs from the plates of the refuge of Goriz that people wouldn't eat. That said, we did eleven 3.000 metre-mountains in 9 days.

Continue reading Travessa de Sallent de Gallego - Ordesa

The adventure begins on the day of the 18th of July at the Espluges de Llobregat, where we had to fit 5 people, 5 back-packs, mountain equipment and food for 10 days in a renault clio - luckily we had a Thule. From Esplugues we took the national 2 highway in direction of Sallent de Gallego, where we arrived after lunch. Sallent de Gallego was where we started to hike, but our arrival was at the National Park of Ordesa, so we divided ourselves into two groups - three of us stayed to buy bread and look after the equipment, while Angel and I went to leave the car at Ordesa. Our intention was to come back by bus, but at the end, an elderly french couple brought us there by car.

It was then time to spread the weight evenly between us, the tents, the equipment and starting to hike. I remember that nothing more fitted inside my 90 litre back-pack, and on top of that I was carrying my mattress and my pickaxes, and some other equipment that was hanging from the top of my bag. It wasn't like we were carrying too many changes of clothes - I think we only changed once in 10 days - our back-pack was packed with food.

The first night (17/07/1991)

As you may imagine, after a whole day of car-ride, it was hard to load. After loading a few hours, when it started getting dark, we arrived at a lake - I think it was the Ariel alto. Once at the lake, we were so tired, that all our plans went out of the window... we sat down, opened our back-packs, and started eating some bread with chocolate, a bit of dried sausage. We didnt have energy for anything else. We ate about half the chocolate we were carrying.

And planting the tent...? We were out of strength, the night was starry, so we decided to bivouac. Our exhaustion helped us fall asleep, at the fresh breeze of the morning helped us wake up very early.

Day 2 (18/07/1991)

One of the first decisions we took was to be more disciplined with our food - as we would have to return in two days if we continued eating at the pace we did on the first night. So we split the amount of cookies and sips of milk each person was allowed to.
Once having cleared these points out, carrying our back-packs, it was time to start walking again, and this was now serious. We had to reach the Balaitous (3.144m), a solitary summit crowned by a sort of metalic structure in the shape of a pyramid and a geodesic point. Having made the first summit we were already exhausted. From the summit we descended in direction to the Gran Facha, which we did on the 19th. This night we did plant the tent and we could rest a little.

Day 3 (19/07/1991)

The third day, I recall hiking a lot - it wasn't that we was a lot of slope, but a lot of distance. The Gran Facha (3.006m) was quite quick to reach, we decided to leave our back-packs at the col, so that enabled us to get to the summit quickly and continue walking towards the Vignemales.

Day 5 (21/07/1991)

We had already spent four days walking and everything hurt. Some of us had many blisters on our feet, but the most interesting part of our journey was approaching us. On the 5th day we arrived at the refuge of Vignemale, we left our back-packs, went to hike the Petit-Vignemale (3.032m), which we did in only 30 minutes, we were quite strong. While we were descending we heard someone speaking in Catalan, and the voice was familiar.. it was Jordi Lòpez, a mate from GELS with his friend. It was a lively night, a storm with impressive electric storm. Each time there was lightning, the tent would light up, and the thunder would make it tremble.

Day 6 (22/07/1991)

Climbing the Vignemales from the refuge is rather quick, and it wasnt the first time climbing a glacier, but putting your crampons, pickaxes and wear a short-sleeve shirt is not very normal. Safety goes first and although crampon made us struggle a little, we climbed the most important summits of the Vignemales: el Grand Vignemale (3.298m), Cerbillona (3.247m), i el Pic Central (3.235m), and if that wasn't enough, we entred the coves (caves) de Russell. Once having made it to these summits, it was time to descend to go to the circ of Gavarnie.

Day 7 (23/07/1991)

During this day we climbed a summit of 2600 metres called the Pico de San Andrès. Days had passed since we had last ate some bread, and arriving at the port of Boucharro, there was no one, but on the floor there was a piece of bread, and without asking whether it was good or bad, we simply ate it. From the port, we could see some impressive views of the Roldan breach, we had to climb some more to sleep at the refuge of Sarradets. That night we slept at the refuge but we did not eat there as we did not have enough money.

Day 8 (24/07/1991)

From the refuge of Sarradets to the Roldan breach seams to be there, but the truth is that the breach is immense, precious. From the breach we climbed the Taillon (3.144m) and the Casco (3.006m) , and we visited the cave of Casteret. We spent the night at Goriz, but we slept in a tent. The blisters were hurting and Oriol had his feet covered with blisters so we decided to shorten our route and return after having arrived at the Mont Perdut. That night we ate at the refuge to celebrate, we were so hungry we counted the number of spoon-fulls of soup and when the people saw this, they offered their remains. One of our mates, in returning his tray, realised that people were leaving a lot of chicken and bread and so he put himself in the queue and collected the trays and took the bread and chicken that people were throwing away. Its a shame we didnt think of doing that before in the preious refuges we had stayed at.

Day 9 (25/07/1991)

The next day a couple approached us and offered us their spare marmelade... yes, the only thing we had was marmelade...
Our plan of the day was to climb the Tres Sorores, which include the Mont Perdut (3.355m), the Soum de Ramond (3.254m) and the Cilindro de Marboré (3.325m), and we did them... During our way back, we collected our tent at the refuge, descended by the grades de Soaso, got into our car and went home.

A unique adventure!