July & August 2020

In the previous post, we shared a short story of crossing off an important point out of our « French Bucket List » – Cirque de Gavarnie. However, it was merely an appetizer to what followed the next day, namely the first true pic ascension since our hiking in Andorra (Pic de Coma Pedrosa – 2 943 m) eight years ago. Now, it was time for another conquest – Pic du Taillon (3 144 m). Even if its altitude is somewhat higher, the hike is considered pretty easy. Still, just as beautiful as a mountain hike could be. So, the plan was approved: first, a warming walk to the Cirque de Gavarnie, a long night of sleep in a tent and then a proper sporty ascension.

Morning

Mountains are like deserts – it doesn’t matter if it’s July with crazily high temperatures during the daytime, at night without a proper equipment you will freeze to the state of an icicle. And that was exactly what happened to us despite our polar circle sleeping bags. There was a bright side too though – a night in mountains means an incredible clear sky. We were too sleepy to take a picture of it, but if you want to have an idea – check out the post about our winter trip to the Pyrenees.

Ascent

Then 17 km of walking (there and back) started. I honestly didn’t think I could manage it, but here comes another aspect of the mountain magic – you don’t feel the distance. You are completely immersed into the surrounding beauty as well as in the walking process so you don’t really have time to appreciate and get scared of the kilometers. And even if one does feel the distance, the stunning beauty of nature justifies every effort.

This hike featured: ice walking and sliding, waterfalls crossing, steep hill crawling, vertigo suffering and “never-to-do-it-again” promises.

No need to hide, there was a lot of pride too. On each hike, all the way down I wonder how I could possibly climb all this at the first place?! Still, somehow we did. And this feeling of accomplishment is at least as good as the hike itself, though definitely not as good as the night of sleep that follows such adventures.

Pic de Néouvielle

There is yet another portion of mountain magic. Every time I swear to myself never to come back and to admit that I’m fine with skiing only as I have no interest in conquering new heights. Yet, one month later, resisting the call of Pyrenees was impossible already. Here we are – on our way to another summit. Pic de Néouvielle (3 091 m) is slightly smaller than our previous one, but the trek is much steeper and turned out to be a real test to our thighs.

This time we were ready to the starry sky – our friend brought a telescope, so that was our first clumsy initiation to astrophotography. The result leaves a lot of room for improvement, but we were very satisfied nonetheless – our personal photo of the Moon, how cool is that?

We felt the difference between two hikes almost immediately – the payment for the lacking 7 km of the total distance (Taillon trek was 17 km vs. 10 km for Néovielle) was a steeper altitude – our legs were not happy at all. Yet, we all arrived to the summit, ate our sandwiches and were very much proud of our efforts. Another sad fact had to be admitted – as one gets older, the phobia of heights increases accordingly. The last 500m of ascent will be remember as a true mental challenge.

The best part of this particular hike was not even a long night of sleep, but a swim in a cool lake at the foot of the mountains. Naked, free, young and happy – I want to remember this feeling at difficult moments.

🎞️ Kodak Color Plus 200

Epilogue

Hiking is one of those things that provoke a flood of philosophical and pompous rant. Overcoming a physical challenge, coming back to the mother nature, slowing down and blah-blah-blah. The worst part of it is that you have to live it yourself to understand that each of those grandiose words is true. You do feel challenged and rewarded, refreshed and emptied at the same time. I guess that’s why people do it again and again no matter how physically hard the mountains can be.