Espelunciecha - Vertice de Anayet - Canal Roya: Backcountry Riding and Ice Climbing

It's Tuesday and I'm still tired! It was a great weekend in the Pyrenees. We couldn't have asked for better weather nor better conditions for riding in the backcountry and ice climbing in Tena Valley's infamous Canal Roya.

Friday night we started out from Valencia to head up to Formigal ski area to bivi in the parking lot. At 6:45 the following morning we were up and at em to prepare our heavy packs for the weekend's activities.

(An always exciting, Joan Toledo, preparing his pack)

We skinned up and out of the Formigal ski area to the NW slope of the Espelunciecha. From there a steep zig zag that my splitboard could only take me about half way. I switched over to my crampons and added the heavy splitboard to the already heavy pack. I quickly converted to type 2 fun (see Kelly Cordes fun scale) for about 30 mins. Once we made it to the pass, the packs were dropped and a few meters more, we were on top of the Espelunciecha at almost 2400 meters (7872 ft.). It gave us nice views of the Vertice de Anayet, Anayet's North Face, and the Midi d'Ossau's wicked South face.

(Fresh and ready to go, Photo courtesy of Carlos Vives)

(Carlos working his way up the slopes)

(Almost out of the ski area)

(First pass of the day, Anayet in the upper right and canal roya in the bottom center, Photo courtesy of Carlos Vives)

(Overlooking the Ibones de Anayet)

(Last steps to the summit of Espelunciecha)

(Vicent sporting a summit smile)

(Overlooking Formigal and Midi D'Ossau from the summit of Espelunciecha)

(All 6 on the first summit of the day)

We ate lunch at the pass and skied down to the Anayet lakes to set up our base camp for one night. From there, we decided to attack the Vertice de Anayet instead of the longer but shorter Anayet, mainly because we could ski down and make it back to base camp before dark. With lighter packs, it was type 1 fun the whole way and made for an very enjoyable descent on the splitboard.

(Preparing packs after lunch to descend to the Anayet lakes, Photo courtesy of Carlos Vives)

(Anayet Pass with Pt. Anayet in the background, Photo courtesy of Carlos Vives)

(Excellent shot of our ascent of the Vertice ridge, Photo courtesy of Carlos Vives)

(On top of the Vertice de Anayet, 5 of us on the second summit of the day, Photo courtesy of Carlos Vives)

After 3000 vertical feet and back at base camp, we prepared for the night, ate dinner and I was the first in bed to enjoy my warm and comfy Marmot 800 fill down bag, uuuuwwwyyyy. Slept like a baby. The next morning, Carlos, Vicent and I set out to look for a way down to the base of the Canal Roya for some spectacular ice climbing. We finally found a rappel point that Vicent wasn't so sure about to later find out that it was the normal way down from the Anayet lakes.

(Vicent first down to Canal Roya)

Then for the most fun of the whole weekend. Some easy and enjoyable ice climbing where I could put my knowledge to practice and open my first pitch of ice on Opera Prima!!


It was already 1:30 in the afternoon by the time I got down from the anchor. We quickly packed up and made it back to the bottom of the Formigal ski area by 3:00. At the ski area restaurants, we filled up on hamburgers and beers to top of an awesome weekend in the Tena Valley.

Come visit the Centre of Excursionist on Thursdays in Valencia where you can meet the rest of the Mountaineers Section (see blog here). There's enough experience between everybody for some great conversations between cold beers.