05+06-08-2013
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| El Querforadat |
It is so
crumbly, I am surprised that there is anything left of the Sierra del Cadi and
its highest point Vulturo/Canal Baridana. It is not just the small scree stones
that move. Rocks as big as loaves of bread readily roll under your feet and
occasionally so do ones the size of supermarket shopping baskets. And, when I
was displacing rocks as large as supermarket trolleys I knew it was time to get
away, slowly and carefully.
There was no point in trying to get away by
scrambling up the escarpment face, in the few places it looked possible, as
solid looking handholds came away and footholds too.
My first
attempt at Vulturo (Major, 2647m, P872, JMH52, N42.28591 E1.63580) went wrong
at an early stage as I missed a turn in the pista. When I realised, instead of
returning to the turn, I bushwhacked my way through the pine trees in the hope
of finding the right trail higher up.
In his book, JMH includes sketch maps of
the routes that I copied on to pieces of paper, if I did not have a map. Usually,
if the route includes a collado he depicts it with a = symbol – in this case he
doesn't, misleading me into thinking that the way up was to the east of the collado
between Vulturo and Puig de Les Gralleres.
16.61km
1407m total ascent.
Overnight at
El Querforadat (1393m) – I was too tired to worry about whether I was
irritating the villagers by using up one of their very limited parking spots or
not. I fell asleep debating whether I was going to have another go at Vulturo.
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| No parking here, then |
On the
second day there was a bit of a breeze and patches of cloud which meant it was,
thankfully, a bit cooler. I do not think I really made a conscious decision to
have a second go, I just set off. There is a tiny car park (1393m) N42.32427
E1.63619 at the entrance to the pueblo. There is no point driving past here as
there is virtually no more authorised parking and within a short distance there
is a no entry sign on the pista.
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| And, no entry here |
The pista goes past a large house with a
walled garden and electric gates and then comes to an area of scrubland with
various cattle tracks which can be used as a short cut if you know where you
are heading. The easiest short cut to find starts at (1448m) N42.31857 E1.63582
and all you do is keep on the pista, and ignore any cattle tracks, until you
reach the main track (1538m) N42.31448 E1.63377. Turn right and then right
again at (1636m) N42.30944 E1.63144. The pista soon deteriorates into a rough
path that comes out on the broad grassy Collado de Josana (with a pointy
memorial stone to Jaume Mata 1952-1970) (1746m) N42.30402 E1.63247.
From here
there is a choice of paths east and west. The one on the west side is better
engineered, but it bypasses Collado Superior de Josana and results in having to
find your own way up the lower part of the canal.
Now all I
had to do was get down. Some sections of the scree were fun, some were not.
Just occasionally you get scree where the stones are the size (and colour) of
almonds and the slope is just right and you get a ride that feels silky and
sensual – the earth moves for you. However, most of the time the stones are too
big, too few or the slope is too steep/not steep enough.
16.55km
1854m total ascent.
My advice to
anyone else wishing to bag Vulturo:
1.
Buy a map
2.
Find a different route up – why not arrange
transport and/or take a bivvy or tent and do the full ridge of Sierra del Cadi?
3.
Bag another mountain instead – like Cap de
Gallina Pelada or Pedro de Quatre Batlles.
Overnight by
the N260 at La Collado des Toses (1791m)
I said
goodbye to the N260 at Ripoll, although I caught a Daliesque glimpse of it in
the centre of Figueres and headed off in the opposite direction from my home to
the north-west by going south-east to bag Turo de l’Home in Macizo del Montseny/Montseny
Nature Parque. It may be only 1706m high, however it is P1125 and number 19 in
the JMH Iberian prominence list, so had to be done and, hence justified the odd
way of setting off home.
There are
various routes to the top – a popular one starts from Font de Passavets (1230m)
N41.77979 E2.45234. However I did the lazy thing of driving up to the carpark
under Puig Sesolles at (1495m) N41.77133 E2.44065 and walking the final
kilometre up the barricaded paved road to the summit with a raised trigpoint
N41.77649 E2.43484.
To make up
for my laziness I semi-jogged to and from the alternative and more interesting summit
of Les Agudes N41.78938 E2.44393 – which
in some lists is given the same height, in others it is a metre or two lower.
