Blog Entre Montañas
Archivo de la categoría ‘Hiking’ 
This past summer (August 2009) we hiked the GR-20 in Corsica, a long distance route of over 180 kilometers (about 110 milles) from the north to the south of Corsica in 15 days, from shelter to shelter.
In this post I want to explain how the shelters work the in Corsica. It can be summarized this in one word: BAD, and if you want more details I will say that Corsica shelters are the WOSRT.
Let me explain with a little more detail why I think that the Corsican shelters are a disaster in all aspects:
- First of all, the booking in the shelters is a total chaos. It seems that until the last year, we weren’t able to book in advance: when you arrived at the shelter if there was room, perfect, but if not you had to do bivouac. But begining in 2009 you are able to book in advance through the Internet at www.parc-corse.org
The problem is that when you book your reservation upon arrival, maybe the shelter is full and you don’t have any place to stay. The reason is that the keeper doesn’t know how many reservations have been made over the Internet every day. If a large group comes without reserving, the keeper makes the decision to place them or not.Several times, during our trek in Corsica, we saw people who arrived too late to the shelter with a reservation an they had no place to stay because The keeper had already given the places to other people.
- Secondly, they are very dirty. When you go to shelter, you know that they aren’t hotels and you have to adapt to what you find. But Corsican shelter are really dirty. On several occasions we literally got eaten alive by bugs, with our arms and legs full of bites. An unpleasant experience. So if you will be hiking the GR-20 don’t forget to bring a good antihistamine. Furthermore, the services such as showers, toilets, laundry, etc, are virtually abandoned without any maintenance or cleaning.
- Food is scarce and poor. The pasta dish every night, inedible. And the list continues.
But for me the worst thing wasn’t the food, or bugs, or dirt, etc. Without a doubt, what most bothered me was the keeper’s rude behavior.
In short, if you decide to hike the Corsica GR-20 in shelter don’t forget some food, a good antihistamine and above all a lot of patience.
There is another option to not suffer the Corsicans shelter, and it is to bring your own tent. In all shelter, without exception, there is a free camping area. In this case, you pay for the use of the services such as toilets, showers, etc.
This is a very good option if you want to minimize the inconvenience of the Corsican shelter.
GR20 Córcega
Centralita
A few days ago I spoke about Las Tablas de Daimiel Park; it was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and Wetland of International Importance in 1982.
At the end of last year an underground fire put this weak ecosystem in very grave danger. The astonishment news spread in all the news TV programs. Personally, I had never heard of this type of underground fire.
But it seems that underground fires are a phenomenon much more common than we think: Currently, there is a town called Centralita in the United States, located four hours from New York City, that has been suffering from an underground fire since the 80s. Only with time, at least a century or two, will put it out.
The fire was declared about a half a century ago, in a large underground pocket coal reserve. Today, the fire continues to consume the coal strata in this region.
In 1962 a burning pile of trash came into contact with the coal subsurface layer in the locality. The fire spread through the bowels of this area. The Centralita inhabitants took numerous actions to extinguish the fire, but the fire spread through the old coal mining tunnels and nothing could be done.
Years passed, and the Centralita inhabitants realized the danger of living in this area: the rate of carbon monoxide in the air was increasing and in 1981 a child died when a crack opened under his feet.
Centralia Today looks like a ghost town, only a handful of residents have refused to leave the area while the bowels of the earth are consumed slowly.
Some weeks ago we went to Ordesa and Perdido Peak National Park (El Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido) in the Huesca Pyrenees.
There are a lot of excursions in this park that you can do. Most of them are of medium difficulty, without any technical complications. Most trips begin at La Pradera, where you can find a bar, a restaurant, and some services such as a shop and a park information office. It is also the busiest area, but luckily most people just follow the river up to La Cola de Caballo, a beautiful waterfall inside in the Soaso Range. In fact, this trip is known as the Superhighway to Ordesa. If you have been in the park during Holy Week you will know that this name isn’t an exaggeration.
When we went to Ordesa Park, we hiked the Hunters Route (La Ruta de los Cazadores), a nice trail halfway between La Pradera and the Soaso Range on the southern slope. The next day we hiked Faja de Racún, the same route but this time on the northern slope.
Both trails are great and you can get an idea of the park ecosystem, as you walk away from the bustle of La Pradera and surrounding areas.
Before we went to the park we heard talk about the famous “clavijas“. They are a few air steps in the mountain walls, created by metal pins inserted into the rock, like stairs. So we couldn’t contain our curiosity and, from the Faja de Racún, we approached to Las Clavijas de Cotatuero.
Just say that we tryed to climb up them, and I wasn’t able to climb over the first step. Once I was stopped in the first pin, after looking under my feet and seeing a free fall of about 200 meters, I decided to return to the starting point.
Then we saw people climb up them, but honestly I think it’s crazy to climb them without a harness to secure ypurself and minimize the risk of falling.
We now have an excuse to return to the Ordesa Park: We will go to climb Las Clavijas de Cotatuero but next time we will go with a harness to avoid unnecessary risks).
Clavijas de Cotatuero
The question we are asking these days, amid this storm of cold and snow and where the Eurpean continent seems a Siberia landscape, is if this cold weather is normal.
It seems that while Europe has had some of the most severe storms in recent decades, other parts more used to this kind of inclement have had a milder winter. In fact, Greenland and Alaska are living an extremely mild winter with temperatures 10 degrees above what would be normal for this time of year.
Has the weather gone crazy? Experts say this storm is due to a reversal in the atmospheric currents that defins the weather in the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Which in more technical terms, is a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation.
Not to worry, or no? It appears that this phenomenon is repeated often enough, but experts don’t remember an extreme situation lasting like this in the last 50 years. In fact the Arctic Oscillation period wasn’t as bad since 1950.
Now, the next question we ask is if this unusual whether is a consequence of climate change.
Climate-change skeptics insists that one thing is the natural variability of climate and another is the global warming from the accumulation of greenhouse gases. So, every heat wave or cold winter can not be attributed to climate change. The only way to know if it is the consequence of climate change it is studying these changes over time and seeing how it has evolved in number and intensity.
Perhaps, when we are certain that these problems are caused by the emission of greenhouse gases it will be too late.
I here are two images explanatory (in spanish):
North Atlantic Oscillation
North Atlantic Oscillation
A few days ago I spoke about Madeira. We had the opportunity to enjoy some days in this Atlantic island and go hiking in its mountains.
As I already commented, hiking is the main tourist attraction in Medeira. Madeira has 2,500 miles of trails and Levadas and in this post I wanted to explain to you with a little more detail what the “Levadas” are.
The Levadas are an endless network of canals to carry water between the different parts of the island. They were originally created to provide water for the southern region, drier than the northern region. So in the mid sixteenth century, the island inhabitants began building these water channels along all of Madeira.
As the Madeira orography is very mountainous, the construction of these channels implied a large effort by the inhabitants of the island. Many Levadas are literally carved into the cliffs of the mountains, and often goes through tunnels. In fact, there are over 40 kilometers of tunnels throughout the island of Madeira.
In total there are over 2,200 kilometers of Levadas on the island, just so you can get an idea of the magnitude of this hydraulic engineering.
Well, these Levadas can be walked, meaning that we can follow many trails that run parallel to these wather canals or sometimes on the same wall of the Levada.
Some Levadas are in hidden corners that provide the traveler with a great experience in remote and beautiful landscapes in the interior of the island. Other times they are located along cliffs at the seaside.
To hike one “Levada”, it is indispensable to carry a flashlight and a waterproof raincoat. Also in some of them you must be extremely careful because they have very aerial zones without protection.
All the tours that we propose here are the most spectacular of the island (in Spanish):
- 25 Fontes – Cascada do Risco
- Boca do Risco – Espigao Amarelo
- Caldeirao Verde
- Camino de la Costa de Sao Jorge
- El balcón de Ribeiro Frio
- Levada Nova
- Península de Sao Lourenço
- Pico Arieiro – Pico Ruivo
- Pico Ruivo
- Ribeiro Frio – Portela
We´ve also left the link to download the tracks and waypoints of all these routes: Tracks and waypoints hiking in Madeira
And if you prefer the PDF: PDF Hiking in Madeira
Senderismo en Madeira
Madeira is a complex island for its orografy, with strong contrasts between the south coast, warmer and populated, and the north coast, green and wet, dominated by a central mountain called Ruivo Peak (with 1,861 meters of altitude) and a large plateau.
Hiking is the main tourist attraction in Medeira. It has 2,500 kilometers of trails and “Levadas”, an endless network of canals to carry water between the different parts of the island.
In general the routes are well marked. The “Levadas” don’t present any difficulty, and the other many trails are marked with appropriate signs of PR or GR.
To do one “Levada” it is indispensable to carry a flashlight and a waterproof raincoat. Also in some of them you must be extremely careful because they have very aerial zones without protection.
All the tours that we propose here are the most spectacular of the island (in Spanish):
- 25 Fontes – Cascada do Risco
- Boca do Risco – Espigao Amarelo
- Caldeirao Verde
- Camino de la Costa de Sao Jorge
- El balcón de Ribeiro Frio
- Levada Nova
- Península de Sao Lourenço
- Pico Arieiro – Pico Ruivo
- Pico Ruivo
- Ribeiro Frio – Portela
We´ve also left the link to download the tracks and waypoints of all these routes: Tracks and waypoints hiking in Madeira
And if you prefer the PDF: PDF Hiking in Madeira
Senderismo en Madeira
In this post I’m going to share with you a wonderfull walking path very close to Barcelona: The “Camino de Ronda” of “Costa Brava“.
The “Camino de Ronda” is a path that runs along the “Costa Brava“, close to the sea, at times on cliffs, which used in the past by the “Guardia Civil” to prevent smuggling.
Today, it has become a wonderful promenade overlooking the sea in one of the most beautiful coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula: “La Costa Brava“. This road has been restored in recent years.
Part of the “Camino de Ronda” goes on the GR 92. The GR 92 is a long distance route that crosses Catalonia and never deviates too far from the coast.
It begins in Portbou in Alt Empordà, and finishes in “Puente de l’Olivar” in Ulldecona, Montsià region. But El camino de Ronda continues to the north in France and to the south in Valencia.
We had the opportunity to do a small part of the GR 92, from Portbou to Roses, through Cadaqués and Port Lligat and across the entire park of Cap de Creus. Without a doubt, a splendid journey in the Costa Brava.
Camino de Ronda
I’m going to explain to you in a series of post, three applications for the Iphone 3G that leverage its incorporated GPS technology that can be useful for our excursions in the mountains:
- GPS KIT
- MyTrack
- Trailguru
In this post I’m going discuss the features of the GPS Kit application.
The price of this application is € 7.99 in the App Store and it allows us to obtain certain information such as speed, average speed, altitude, distance and position (longitude and latitude, etc.).
One of the main features of this application is that it helps us to create “tracks”, ie the application is capable of storing the position each few seconds and then drawing our route on Google Maps or Google Earth. At the end of our tour we can send these tracks by email in a KML file.
On the other hand, It also allows us to create Waypoints, which anable us to highlight the important places of our journey.
One interesting option is the Map, which helps us place ourselves in Google Maps with sufficient accuracy. To do this, obviously we must have GPS coverage, and also 3G coverage to download maps from Google Maps, which in the mountains is unlikely.
Some features of this application are:
- Maps (Google Maps)
- Quick View route and direction arrow
- UTM coordinates
- Several tracks storage
- Unlimited track points
- Waypoints
- Stadistics course (length, time, altitude, etc)
- KML Routes
- Lock screen and brightness controlThe only drawback of this application is that to trace one route the iPhone must be turned on all the time while using the GPS,. This means that the battery will drain quickly. When the application is turned on, the battery life is little more than an hour.
From two weeks ago, I’ve been practicing spinning or cycling regularly, twice a week.
As you may know, spinning (also known as cycling, indoor cycling or cycling roof) is an aerobic activity that is performed with a stationary bike in a room to the beat of music.
It seems like it was created by an American cyclist (Jonathan Goldberg) in 1992 when he was looking for a group aerobic exercise like aerobic, steps, etc.
This activity has a many health benefits:
- Strengthen the cardiovascular and respiratory system.
- Burn calories.
- Lower cholesterol.
- Strengthen legs.
- Etc.
I must say that prior to the first class I had my doubts: All these kinds of classes with loud music and with a screaming instructor, they seemed unattractive to me. But a friend persuaded me to go!
The first class, I didn’t love it very much. Riding a bike and pedaling for an hour didn’t seem the best way to spend time. But I went again and again.
In the third session, the class was improving. Everything is in getting the rhythm of the music, and strange to say but once you catch the trick it’s like dancing on the bike.
It’s Very fun and recommended. The most important thing is that you don’t realize that an hour has passed and you have done an good aerobic exercise. You feel refreshed after a boring day of work at the computer.
A good experience worth trying. But above all, don’t despair in the first sessions: try three sessions in a couple of weeks, you’ll see that you’ll feel better every session.
Spinning
Mountain enthusiasts know that weather in the mountains is unpredictable. The morning might begin as a beautiful day with sunshine and in the afternoon the worst of storms is declared . So we know that we must always be cautious and not be trusting, even though the forecasts are good, and always carry warm clothing and some food with us, just in case.
Authorities could not confirm if this is the case of two sisters who froze to death on Saturday after being caught by heavy winds and snow in the Puigmal in the Catalan Pyrenees area (Queralbs – Ripollès). The Puigmal is one of the most emblematic mountains of Catalonia and one of the most traveled of all the Catalan Pyrenees.
The two women were among a group of five people who finished the ascent of Puigmal on Saturday November 7th. On the descent, the good mornig weather changed as the meteorological services had warned, and ushered in a heavy storm of snow and wind.
The visibility was virtually zero and the climbers were disoriented. The temperature fell to -2 ºC degrees, but the wind chill factor could have been as high as 25 degrees below zero celcius.
Not finding the way back, the group decided to split in two. The rescue personnel found the first of the climbers around nine o’clock, three hours after sunset. Firefighters and hikers were always in contact by mobile phone.
It appears that, despite bad weather conditions, hikers were able to follow the directions given by the firefighters, so inicially, the general managment of Civil Protecció Emergències didn’t find negligences.
When firefighters arrived at the first of the climbers , they observed that one had signs of severe hypothermia. In Campdevànol Hospital, where she was transferred, doctors failed to revive her. Neither was it possible to reanimate her sister who was rescued arround one o’clock AM in the other group. The remaining members recovered favorably.
Sad news that we would rather not have had to tell.
Top of Puigmal
