Ben dropped in for a visit from Andalucia and he was keen to get into the mountains. 20 years ago I climbed Pic de Certescan from the path between Etang Hillette and Etang Alet and 16 years ago Ben and I looked at climbing to the summit from the long ridge starting at Point de Rabassere. We turned back because of poor weather. It seemed the perfect objective.
We started from Gerac at 9.00am and made quick progress to the Etang Reglisse, crossed the breche in the north ridge of Point de Rabassere to reach the Port de Colatx in 2 hours 10. Here we were on the frontier ridge between france and Spain which we would follow for the next 4 hours.
The first part of the ridge over Pic de Colatx, Point 2434m, Pic de Couillac and Pic de Soune starts as easy walking but gets progressively narrower and more rocky. After col beyond Pic de Soune the climbing starts and we put away our walking poles and put on our climbing harnesses.
looking down on Lac de Certescan from the first part of the ridge. Our overnight at the lefthand edge of the lake and our objective the dark peaks in the clouds.
The long dragon back ridge to the summit of Certescan Nord alternates between narrow sections of climbing at II and III and easier sections of easier scrambling. There's a short section 'au cheval' with one leg either side of the narrow ridge, and several hand traverses all on good granite. The crux is a breche with a short 15m abseil followed by a cracked slab III.
The pinnacle we abseiled
Ben about to abseil
Finishing the cracked slab
The we moved together on the rope for a short section then for the rest of the ridge climbed separately. It is long and exposed but with great views and weather stayed perfect.
about halfway to the summit (pyramid on the left) looking across to Montabone
After 6 hours we finally reached the summit of Certescan Nord 2840m and had a late lunch. The views were immense in all directions!
From the summit looking towards Flamisella 2800m and Lasaugède 2728m over Lac Gueroso
Retrospective of the ridge from summit of certescan Nord 2840m
Next we had to leave the solid granite of Certescan Nord and cross onto the loose Red Gneiss. A down climb to a col then a reascent to the slightly higher summit of Certescan Sud (also called Flavisella) 2853m located in Spain.
Downclimbing the loose Gneiss rock
We had to check every hold on the Gneiss as many were loose, but we quickly reached the summit and highest point of the day. Here we were met by a small group of Iberian Ibex.
From Certescan Sud looking to Certescan Nord and the long ridge of our ascent to its right.
The overnight was comfortable and there were only 8 of us for the night.
The following morning there was a marked change in the weather. We left at 8.00 into low cloud, drizzle and cold. We climbed higher and higher passing the lakes of Estany de Romado de Dalt, Estany de Seno and Estany de Colatx.
Estany de Romedo de Dalt
The higher we got, the stronger the wind became, the heavier the rain, the colder the temperature and the poorer the visibility. With numb hands and about 50m visibility we had to resort to GPS and compass to evntually find the Port de Sounou 2371m. From here and to the North at 2527m was Pic de Turguilla which we had to attain to find out descent into France. We climbed up steeply through granite slabs, gispet and bilberries buffetted by strong gusts which sometimes had us holding onto to anything solid, to eventually land on the summit.
We were a little more sheltered on the Franch side and the visilibility improved as we descended but occassional strong gusts continued and I was blown off my feet at one point. We were happy to finally reach the Cabane de Turguilla were stopped for a lunch out of the weather.
The descent from here we've done many times and we were soon ascending the ladders and back at the car in Gerac.
It had been a grand adventure! Amazingly at home, an hours drive away it was 28 degrees and sunny.
Aucun commentaire :
Enregistrer un commentaire