How to get there:
The town of Aines is a good point of reference. Drive east on a good Hwy. to Campo, taking the second exit
from the main traffic circle will keep you on Hwy. N-260, going north on the west side of the peak.
Exit left to Seira, then continue upo the valley on a good, paved, but narrow road serving the
tiny village of Barbaruens. A forest road goes left (uphill) just before you get to Barbaruens.
This road is a bit rough and gets rougher as you go. There are some water bars that may require a bit
of ground clearance to cross. Also, there is loose gravel making traction an issue for 2WD vehicles.
There is good parking in a left bend at location N42.50458, E000.37375, elevation near 1500 meter.
Most 2WD cars can make it to here. What remains is a pretty short stretch of road until it ends.
4WD vehicles can find parking there.
See here For a quick summary of the peaks climbed on this trip.
Route::
A well marked trail starts from the end of the road to
the self-serve Refugio de Armena.
This trail has pretty good views along the way.
It descends a bit before a final level section leading to the refuge.
This hut mainly serves hikers on the GR-15 trail that continues north from the refugio,
There is a pretty good trail with cairns all the way from this hut to the summit. However, there
are also various segments of trail with cairns along the way, it is easy to loose the (best) route
unless you keep attention to cairns and the (current) trail at all times.
Head west, initially on the rocks, but soon exit (left) and follow the trail that runs on the grassy ridge.
There is a brief section of rocks a bit later, but this trail generally stays away from the rocks. It will
lead you into the immediate area below the clear col, ascend more steeply on scree and end up at the base
of a small gully, pretty much as high as you can get without any scrambling.
Scramble into this gully, but immediately climb
right,(YDS class 2+), many easy possibilities
to get up onto a wide gully that
continues straight to the col above.
From the col, a clear trail starts the traverse to the south ridge. However, when crossing a small drainage, it is
quite natural to continue straight, but the trail descends a bit here. Look for the cairns, the trail exists and
is marked all the way across. The route ascends quite a bit at the very end of the traverse.
Here is a picture of this section, looking back towards the col.
Once you reach the south ridge a clear zig-zag trail will
run to the summit, quite a slog, but you will get there.
In summary, it pays to follow the cairned route.
It is easy to loose in several spots, but with focus it can be
followed from the refugio and all the way to the summit.
Comments:
I knew this would be a full day, therefore opted for an early start (skipping breakfast) from
our hotel in Aines. I was parked in the road bend recommended by Rob shortly after 0600. Ready
to start walking by 0620. Nice to do an early morning hike with a good (low) temperature. I walked
fairly fast and arrived at the refugio in about one hour.
There, I met a Dutch woman, she was hiking the GR-15 trail and had arrived the previous afternoon.
We had a nice chat (Dutch people speak English), but after 15 minutes I continued my walk. With full
attention to the cairns, I followed the route all the way to the key col. The scramble was easy, fun to
notice the goats up on the rim looking down at me.
However, in the traverse to the south ridge, I did
loose the cairned path. A mistake easy to do, I ended up too high. This was all corrected on my
return hike. Still, I got across without much trouble, there are several horizontal ledges that one can
walk along.
After what had been an interesting route, the final slog up to the summit was utterly uninteresting, but
I got there. The time was 1035, so 4 hours up.
I spent about 30 minutes at the summit. The return hike was easy and I focused on keeping to the
path with cairns. I made a brief stop at the refuge for some water as the afternoon turned quite hot.
In all, my walking time from the summit to the car was 3:05, making the total trip, including stops
an 8 hour outing.
Happy to schedule an early start, I was still back at my hotel in Aines with much time to spare
before dinner.