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Alpine Walking Holidays in The Pyrenees
This is a 5-day hut-to-hut walking trek in the French/Spanish Pyrenees. The route includes 2 crossings of the main Pyrenean watershed, the ascent of the Pyrenees’ 3rd highest peak, Mt Perdido (3355m) and the circumnavigation of the Ordesa canyon. The trek will take place on good quality hill paths and no technical climbing equipment will be required.
The trek starts and finishes in the small French village of Gavarnie. The village stands at the end of a steep-sided valley at the foot of the Cirque de Gavarnie, a curved amphitheatre of towering rock, snow and ice down which plunges the highest waterfall in Europe, the Grand Cascade.
The trek lies within the Pyrenees and Ordesa National Parks - both UNESCO World Heritage sites. The outstanding geographical feature on the Spanish side is the Ordesa canyon, a 1000m-deep cleft of vertical cliffs. Trekking between Gavarnie and the Ordesa canyon involves a steep climb across the Pyrenean watershed, a line of 3000m mountains along which the French/Spanish international border runs. On returning to Gavarnie, the border is crossed at the Brèche de Roland, a 100m vertically-sided gap in the watershed and the key crossing point for trans-frontier trekking routes in the area.
Accommodation is in hotels in Toulouse and Gavarnie whilst on the trek we stay mainly in remote mountain huts with one night in a valley hostel.
Animals which are likely to be seen on trek include the izard (the Pyrenean chamois, a member of the antelope family), marmots (large, burrow-inhabiting hibernating members of the squirrel family), and red and roe deer. Large birds-of-prey we may see include the griffon vulture, lammergeyer (bearded vulture) and 3 different types of eagles. A wide range of alpine flowers will also be in bloom.
We meet in the French city of Toulouse (cheap flights available from a number of UK airports) where we spend the first night. We then take hire cars to Gavarnie for the trek itself. The cost of the holiday includes guiding services, hotel accommodation in Toulouse and Gavarnie, car hire and all food and accommodation on the trek.
