Table
of Contents "On the road to Kabul and other short stories of treks"
3. Parador puddles puttering up the Picos peñas
Refugio Cabaña Veronica with the Peña Vieja mountain (2619 m) in the back ground. Trail up through the highest snow field.
Crisanto was waiting for us near the top of the Peña Vieja mountain of 2619 m. He said he did not want to go up the last 140 m to the top by himself as it was a steep scramble. He was 78 and squinting with eyes. I noticed he had trouble with his eye-sight, probably just sufficient to see the trails in the mounains but not the views.
The Picos
The Picos de Europe is a rugged mountain range with up to 1000 m high cliffs in North-West Spain, similar to the Dolomites in Italy. When flying from Madrid to the Asturias airport near Oviedo, you can often see the 2500-2600 m high white limestone peaks and towers sticking through the clouds. The climate is mild and wet with an average summer temperature of only 19 Celsius at sea level. The country-side is very green, resembling Holland or Denmark, and is dominated by cows in green grassy meadows. The Asturias Province is Spain's milk country.
The Picos are 150 km from the Asturias Airport. Fuente Dé is at the South side and can be reached through Cagnes de Sotes or Potes, a 2-3 hour drive from the airport.
Fuente Dé
Fuente Dé is a tiny hamlet dominated by a Parador, a large 5 star hotel. Paradors are state owned hotels built in attractive places and often made in old buildings like castles and monasteries. The interior design tries to reflect the local Spanish cultural heritage.
Refugio Cabaña Veronica, 2300 m
The weather was poor this morning, light rain and only 10 degrees Celsius. We decided too take the cable car anyway to go to 1850 m saving a 800 meter walk up. At the top of the cable car station, the rain changed to dense fog as we were now in the clouds. We followed the easy path up to Cabaña Veronica and quickly walked out of the clouds around 2000 m. Here we had full sunshine and it was getting warmer, 16 degrees Celsius compared to only 10 degrees Celsius in Fuente De at the bottom of the cable car.
Cabaña Veronica is a tiny Refugio at 2350 m. It is made in the shape of a silvery metal iglo and has only 4 sleeping places including the warden. For visitors, like us mostly day trippers from Fuente Dé, it serves as a local cafeteria.
Cabaña Veronica, Peña Vieja far to the right in the clouds. Janes and James from England (middle, sitting) studying the map. Day trippers getting a tan.
The terrain is extremely rugged, a mix of solid rock, scree and snow fields. You could do several mountaineering trips taking routes indicated on the map but these are mostly unmarked. Most day-trippers just go up to the Refugio and down to the cable car, a 4 hour trip, about 500 m up. Some also go to the pass towards Refugio Urielles but stay up as going down would be a 300 or 400 m scramble down.
The Refugio is also the half way point of the main trekking trail though the highest Picos from Refugio Urielles to Refugio Diego Mella, around 2000 to 2350 m. Cabaña Veronica serves as a shelter for trekkers in trouble and the warden will search for them if trekkers are reported missing which happens he said. The on-going route Sout-West to Diego Mella is not marked but the warden will help you out. Jane and James from England, classical Brits in their fifties, with more character then physical shape, looked in disbelieve when the warden pointed them first to a steep rocky ridge as the on-going route and next to distant snow fields just below a high and steep pass they had to cross, ‘solo una hora’ to get there. It was already 2 PM and at their pace they would not be in Refugio Diego Mella until 7 or 8 PM, but the ‘lost empire’ never gives up. They slowly disappeared into the distance, moving carefully and hesitating at every obstacle. They originally planned to do the mountaineering route across the Torre de Llambrion (2642 m) next Torre Blanca but the description did not tell them how difficult this would be.
There were several Spanish and French day trippers trekkers and the young Spanish and French girls were well-dressed in their shorts but it looked chilling. Luckily it was warm today, 16 degrees Celsius with a burning sun. We noticed a silent old man in his late seventies. He already tried a high route to one of the 2600 m peaks, which I thought was brave as their were no marks. He retreated early.
Peña Vieja, 2619 m
We started to get restless as at 2 PM we hadn't done much. This morning we ony walk up for two hours and sat around at Cabaña Veronica.
At the recommendation of the warden we dismissed the ascend of the Torre de Llambrion (2642 m) and Torre Blanca, 'muy difficile', he said, but decided to try the 'muy fascile' 400 m ascend of Peña Vieja, with 2619 m only 25 m less than the Torre Cerredo of 2644 m, the highest peak in the Picos. The route up 'esta evidente', he said.
A rough trail in poor condition although it used to be wide, leads up to Peña Vieja and here you need to scramble a bit on scree and snow fields. At a pass, the Collado de la Canalona, we were half way and a clear trail lead us to the last 140 m up. We could also have gone to the Picos the Santa Anna of 2602 m. The last 50 m to the top are steep, a mix of solid and loose rocks with a slope of 30-40 degrees but well-marked by cairns.
I was wondering why the trail to the pass used to be so wide and so well-built. In Spain many high mountains have chapels and at least once a year the villagers have a pilgrimage. A mountain with the name ‘Santa Anna’ could certainly have a religious function.
At the top we had a nice view at the clouded lower valleys. The temperature was still around 16 Celsius at 2619 m at 4 PM. We did not realize how lucky we were with the warm weather today as the next few days the high peaks would be totally in the clouds with near freezing temperatures, rain, hail and strong wind.
The old man from Santander
We noticed someone approaching along the route we took behind us and was waiting at the foot of the mountain. After going down on the slippery rocks, we met Christano, a Spanish man of 78 from nearby Santander.
Peña Vieja, 2619 m, last 140 m to the top. Cristano bottom right.
He was the old man we met earlier at the Refugio. He was happy to see us, started a lively conversation and said he did not want to go up by himself as it would be too risky. It was to late to suggest him we could go back up. I noticed he did not really look at us when talking like the blind and one eye was almost shut. He could not have seen much, just sufficient to see the trail but nothing in the far distance.
On the way down, Christano was leading in a steady pace
View down at the main valley with Cabaña Veronica with the trekkers pass of 2350 m from Refugio Veronica to Diego Mella in the far distance, middle.
and with very sure steps on the poor trail. At a steep scree slope, we moved to the steep snow field and he took the lead in aming the steps in the snow and asked us to be careful.
Cristano leading going down on the snow field, much steeper than in the picture, slope around 30 degrees.
We walked back to the cable car in a good pace and offered him a glass of whine but had to say ‘adios’. He had to go back, meeting his children back in the valley and it was already late so he could not accept a drink. We went to our luxurious, very comfortable Parador.
Lying in a bath tub, fully filled with warm water, I thought of what big stories to tell about todays adventure at home. We made it to the roof of the Picos, above 2600 m, but so did Crisanto and he was 78 years old.
