Wednesday 16 October 2013

Mountain High

 The flights down cost £14:95 each - it would have been rude not to! Ariège has been the same as ever; peaceful and with great weather. I know we are never here in the high season, but the tranquility of the place is always quite remarkable.
We had one cold wet evening which dumped snow on the higher hills so we had a plodge around the Plateau de Beille before it all melted away. There will be loads more where that came from once we are back here at Christmas time.

Left: Autumn Crocus at the Col de Agnes- 5200'

We had news that the Ariège guide won a "Highly Commended" at the Outdoor Writers and Photographers annual bash - recognition is always nice.
The climbing has been excellent, everything is very dry and in good condition. I had a hope of getting up on the Dent d'Orlu and doing one of the longer routes there but Colin is still hors de combat - maybe next time?


Right: Plateau de Beille- 6500'

One more day then a quick visit back to the UK to repack before heading for our Autumn Break in Kalymnos. We will be arriving about 4 weeks late than normal; Octobers have always proved hot and crowded and with the Festival this year sounds worse than normal. Hopefully by next week they will all have gone home!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Chris, sounds like the area has some great climbing, what's the weather like in April, would we have a chance of getting long routes done on the Dent?

Unknown said...
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Chris Craggs said...

April could be too early, depending on the winter snowfall, though the East Face is always the 1st to clear.

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