15+16-07-2013
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| First peek of Pic from Portalet |
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| Pic from Col de Soum de Pombie |
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| Portalet |
Pic du Midi
d’Ossau, Major, Iberian prominence number 23, 2886m P1092, France
N42.84301
W043806
The hardest
part of the climb up to the Pic du Midi d’Ossau is at the point where walking
turns to scrambling and walking poles have to be put away. Marked on the map as
the 1ere cheminee it is not easy to find N42.84539 W0.43114 (2315m). A couple
of French women who had been in the same dormitory as me at the Refuge de
Pombie N42.83553 W0.42694 (2029m), had got up at 5.00am – I waited until 6.00am
because I had ordered petit dejeuner and that was the earliest it was
available.
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| On the way from the refuge to Col de Suzon |
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| Pic from Col de Suzon |
As I was getting near to the scramble in the rain that had started
as I reached Col de Suzon, they were coming back down. They said they could not
find the route and, anyway, the rock was too slippy because of the rain. I
decided to have a look, anyway. And they were right. However, I decided to wait
and see, maybe it would stop raining, maybe the sun would soon dry off the rock
and maybe I could find the route.
The path is
obvious up to the cheminee.
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| 1ere cheminee |
The worn path then seems to go to the left and
right but not up.
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| 1ere cheminee |
There is a little evidence of previous feet in several places
but none of them seemed promising – least of all the cheminee which had the
least signs of wear.
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| Not to the left then |
To the left
you end up looking at the next photo – that is for rock climbers only, wouldn't
you agree.
To the right
it just peters out.
So I tried
the narrow chimney.
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| 1ere cheminee looking down |
Part way up
a large rock has fallen and got wedged – and it blocks the way. Whilst wet, I
did not fancy trying to clamber past. And, anyway I was not convinced this was
the right way. So, I dropped back down and waited. I could see the two French
women were talking to another couple – part of me wished that this couple would
come and show me the way, especially if they were to be carrying a rope; part
of me was hoping they wouldn’t as it be embarrassing to show that I could not
even start up.
As it happens they dropped over the other side of the Col du
Suzon. I was on my own. The rain ceased, the rock began to dry.
At the refuge, the night before the extremely friendly and interested staff had put all the
English speaking people together at the same table for the evening meal – we called
ourselves the Commonwealth table as there were two Australians, a Canadian and
his French wife and me. The two Australians were trekking, however, they had
made an attempt at the Pic and had turned back at a planned turn-around time
because of worries about getting caught in the regular afternoon thunderstorms.
Two things they clearly told me were it is not a climb you do in the wet and the key was
finding the metal peg in the slab of rock.
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| Peg |
Well, it was
no longer very wet – at least for a while – however, where the hell is this
peg? I had another look at the cheminee, scrabbled inelegantly over the blocking
rock and then I found the peg high up
this large slab.
There was
the remains of a peg that had been inserted at the bottom of the slab and this
would have meant it was relatively easy shimmy up the slab. I had a go but
could not figure where to put one foot to push up high enough to get my other
foot on the peg. I tried again. No. I considered giving up – if I was going to
find this so difficult what other difficulties would stop me in the 2eme and
3eme cheminees? However, I had another go and somehow managed to get my foot on
the peg and grip the top of the slab and stumble up. I know you should never go
up something if you are not sure you can get down again – but I thought I will
worry about this later. From the slab there is a scrappy bit of rock with a
boulder blocking the way at the top – the boulder has several belay slings on
it – so hoping that at least one of them would hold my weight I used them to
help me get around the boulder.
From thereon
the climb is very steep, with the occasional bit of exposure and lots of small
stones on narrow ledges to make it feel unsafe but it is not overly difficult
as long as you keep to the route. There is even one or two more helpful pegs. I
confess I lost the route for a while and ended up scrambling up some rather
dodgy looking rocks. I found the route again by heading for a cross on top of
one of the Pointes. 
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| Lac de Bious-Artigues |
And, I was
in luck the clouds cleared enough and long enough for me to get a spectacular view
when I finally reached the twin summits – the Puente de France and the Puente d’Espagne,
which is the true summit. And I had the whole mountain to myself – except for a
few Alpine Chough and a mouse that ran across the summit, near my feet.
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| Puente d'Espagne |
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Espagne summit
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| Down to the Col de Suzon |
As I was
slipping and sliding down the 3eme cheminee there was an ominous single clap of
thunder. I was already going as fast as I dared in the terrain so there was
nothing I could do to beat the storm, if it came. I found the correct
route down from the cross – it was only
marginally better than the one I had used. I spotted where I had gone wrong –
someone had built a little wall to discourage people going on the wrong path
and I had obviously stepped over it without seeing it on the ascent.
Then came
the 1ere cheminee. Those belay slings didn’t seem as useful as on the ascent.
The pegged slab was dealt with by sliding and hoping that I could stop myself
falling too far down the rest of the cheminee, the blocking rock was dealt with
inelegantly again. And there was me and a Gryphon vulture on the ridge back down to Col
de Suzon N42.84704 W0.42352 (2119m) and the walk back to the refuge for a bowl
of mint tea, before following the easy trail back over the Col de Soum de
Pombie N42.82654 W0.42577 (2099m)to the start in the Col de Portalet/Cabane de
l’Araille N42.81559 W0.41740 (1734m) |
| Vignemale et al from the refuge |
Was I
pleased with myself? Unashamedly and big-headedly, yes. Some decades ago when I
used to frequent town centre pubs there were a couple of slightly older men,
Tom and Tony, who were in the same loose collection of people I hung out with.
One summer they spoke passionately and animatedly of their plans before and
their experience after summiting the Pic du Midi d’Ossau. I recall having mixed
feelings – surely it cannot be that great a mountain, it isn’t even the highest
one in the Pyrenees; a tinge of jealousy that they had the means and the
opportunity to visit such an exotic location; and a determination that one day
I would summit it too. That day has come.
19.5km 2047m
total ascent
Overnight in
ski station carpark near Portalet
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