Spain, Spain and more Spain.

Me, relaxing (knackered) at the top of the mountain after climbing around the top of it. The valley below us is the Ordesa Valley, which was brilliant, very deep but brilliant to be at the top of it. We were climbing around a shale mountain side. Looking down down down into the Ordesa Valley....
And down further into the valley.....

We invade Spain, slipping in undetected across the border...

Taking a break before beginning another mountain assault. To the left of this, over that ridge was the second shelter, but we took the more scenic route and climbed around another mountain. I was a little over the crampons at this stage.The valleys just dropped away, and dropped down deep.

Walking down from the Breche and into Spain we walked passed this cave, full of bats and Julian. I'm striking a pose pointing towards France
The view across the Spanish side.

And now into Spain, and more snow and mountains.

So we made it up and over the Breche. Here's how we had to get down from there, ker-ching!! You can see the path we had to follow, right along the top of the snow against the mountain side. A fine balancing act.

And again, looking back at the Breche. It was pretty different on the Spanish side than the French side.

Julian, power walking ahead of me again.

I think I'm chewing on some nuts here, and just taking in the view.

At the top and looking back.

Yes!! I made it before the clouds closed in around me.Looking back down at the shelter on the French side, we made it after some time.

Standing atop the Pyrenees, in the Breche de Roland

This is the inside of the Breche.And looking into the Spanish side from the Breche.

Looking across the mountain tops of France.
Standing in the Breche, and looking across the top of the Pyrenees into France.

The shelter on the French side of the Breche.

The was the level of the snow outside the shelter, taken through the window.The clouds closed in around the shelter, I was glad I didn't get caught in this and we'd made it to the shelter with plenty of time. I was knackered by the time I made it there.


Looking up to the Breche, this is what we had in store for the next day. You can see tracks coming down the snow, they were tracks of skiiers who took the easy method of descent.

Nearly at the shelter, and the end of the first day.

Looking back at the way we had just climbed up. We soon learnt this route was closed because it was a summer only route. We should have come up the winter route.... The best news was that the shelter was open. We had the cold beers, orangina (bloody awesome), hot food and a bed. Truly fantastic. The shelter was manned by a French couple and only had six other hikers in it.Julian and the Breche over his shoulder, we were going to climb it the next day. To climb up to that opening took me about an hour and a half up that slope.
We made it to the shelter. This cloud was chasing us up the mountain and I was worried that I'd get caught in it, which would have been a shocker, and made it really difficult to get to the shelter.
The top of the range, the Pyrenees thoughtfully stayed covered in snow for us.
We climbed around a corner and saw this. This is the Breche de Roland, the doorway into Spain and were aiming to get through the next day. We had another hour or so to get to the shelter. The snow was still a couple of feet thick.

Towards the shelter and nearing the Breche.

On our way over rock and snow towards the shelter, my shadow over Julian's pack.Looking back towards the Cirque.
We take a break, eat some of our precious supplies and take in the view.
The crampons, at this stage we realised how lucky we were to bring them along. This shot is looking back at the other side of the Cirque. Behind us is the direction of the Breche, and a well deserved rest, eventually.

Upwardly mobile, beyond the cliff and towards the Breche.

We continue towards the top and the shelter. We had been told the shelter wasn't open but we could camp in a room that would be open under the shelter.This is the view from the top of the cliff path, incredible views when we go to the top, but then we realised we had to hike through the snow. Luckily we had our crampons.


About to climb. We had to go up a cliff path after discovering the route markers didn't really give us an option but to go up.

The Cirque, the ascent and the snow.

This is where we began the cliff ascent, leaving behind us green and heading towards snow, and crampon country.

Day three - the dream begins the ascent, Gavarnie and beyond.

This is where we were headed, just outside Gavarnie. To the right of this shot, at the top of the mountains is the Breche de Roland and the doorway into Spain. This end of the valley is called the Cirque de Gavarnie.The Cirque again, but more of a view of the valley leading up to it. It was really green and lush then at the base of the cirque still covered with snow and ice.
Julian, fulled packed and wearing the hat he eventually lost.
Me, the cirque and the ice cold mountain stream gushing passed me. Little did I know at this stage what was in store.
Setting off for the cirque and the breche. This was after we bought supplies in Gavarnie. A bag of jelly sweets, a bottle of whiskie and several salami sticks. The salami was bought off some dodge french bloke who tried to rip us off. After we had picked out the ones we wanted he ended up putting some old rank offcuts into a bag and gave them to us. Lucky we found them before we went up the mountain.