7:30 - 6:30pm with many many short breaks, 30mins on first decent next to river, 30mins at Ibn Azal Baxo, 120mins at Refugio Bachimaa and 20mins along pipeline.
Described as the most difficult day of the GR11, according to the cicerone guidebook, with the highest point of the trail, we were nervous but eager to go this morning. A ‘lovely warm up hill climb to the Ibn dero Brazato got our hearts going ready for the next stage of a steep scree climb. This is tricky, we thought, as we huffed our way up, but then came the moment we saw the steep gully; say whaaaaaat?!
With a safety rope on the left and just vertical rock in front of us we took a few deep breaths and went for it; hands were definitely needed here, pulling ourselves up bit by bit. It may not have felt so bad but doing it with big packs on made it feel terrifying. But we did it! Yey go us! And look at that view!wait how do we
get down? Yep, apparently by another vertical rocky path. Thankfully this bit was only short and quickly levelled out enough to catch our breath and make the heart slow down. Congratulating ourselves for surviving, we headed along the side angle scree path admiring the pretty ice blue lake below, as a man and boy (no more then 8) passed us. The lad looked so confident and cool as he approached this life threatening pass from the other way! So I guess maybe its not as bad as we make out, but for us, it definitely pushed us out of zone.
Having nearly died, we continued on with the now rocky boulder field descent, enjoying the view and noting several snow patches still around. Initially we enjoyed the hopping over boulders, but as the trail continued following the river over them, it didnt take long to tire of them. The scenery was amazing though, with many ‘land before time moments; in fact the whole GR11 has had many ‘land before time moments; just mesmerising.
The view soon became very populated again though, passing herds of people once more as we clambered closer to the Refugio Bachimaa in
the growing heat. A cold beer & tortilla was all we could think of at this point, so you can imagine our disappointment when we arrived to a closed Refugio. Thankfully, it was due to them expecting their delivery by helicopter any time soon, and they allowed us to sit and rest inside anyway. This meant we could use the toilet, charge electrics, meet some new hikers (An American and an Australian) and watch the skill of a helicopter drop off delivery. Plus, as we were chatting so long, we ended up still being there when they opened for that beer.
Feeling refreshed and saying bye to our new hiker friends, we decided to venture out again too. The actual GR11 goes steeply down to a town (Baos de Panticosa) and back up again, so instead we followed (as discussed with a few people) the pipeline route. This old GR11 path stays high to avoid such a descent and ascent and it really was incredible; possibly one of our favourite bits so far. Technical and edgy at times, but no climbing like earlier, this was much more our style as we hiked up and over mounds, along the tree
line, over a stream, pass a cave, along the old pipe, through tunnels, all with amazing views, until it eventually rejoined the official trail.
From here it heads up to the lake, but feeling pretty tired by now, we crossed straight over at the junction and found a stunning spot, flat, near a stream, all to ourselves. Sleep was now needed.
7:20 - 6pm with many short breaks, 30mins at first river on descent after the pass, 15min foot break further down the descent, 60min lunch break by first bothy, 60min drink break at Refugio de Bujaruelo
Waking to a beautiful view of the mountains and valley being slowly lit by the sun felt amazing.
