Le Palas

Le Palas (or Pic Palas)  is a highish (almost 3000 meters), rocky peak near the Refuge d'Arrémoulit. It can be climbed in a very long day, but I took the lazy approach and elected for an overnight bivouac near the hut. The route up to the hut starts with a long hot slog up a sunny valley to a col; the path then turns right and works its way to the Passage d'Orteig, an easy but very exposed traverse protected by a cable. You don't strictly need to cross the passage to reach the hut (it can be bypassed with an extra 45 minutes or so of hiking) and various signs dissuaded the inexperienced from taking it. But - of course - it was fun!

The refuge is a small, rather primitive one and lots of people were bivvying around it so I moved some distance away and found a nice spot at a small lake. The next morning I set off early and worked my way through boulders to the start of the (somewhat) technical climbing. A sharp exposed ridge on wonderful rock lead to the summit, with great views in all directions. The descent back to the car in the heat of the day seemed very long, but - a benefit of climbing with bivvy gear - I was able to stop at midday and cook myself lunch!

Some pics

Le Tour du Pic du Midi d'Ossau

The Pic du Midi d'Ossau is probably the most famous mountain in this part of the Pyrénées. I climbed it last year but there's an interesting long hike around it I've been meaning to do. There are a number of tempting extensions to this tour but the hike then gets a bit long for a day. But, as I've got some new bivy gear I wanted to try out, an overnight hike made a lot of sense.

The weather around Pau has been cool and overcast but with an inversion, so it looked likely the mountains would be above the clouds. And so it proved; after hiking up through the forest in the clouds I popped out to clear skies. Some gentle hiking took me to my bivouac for the night, at around 2200 meters, just below the Col de Suzon. During the night there was lightning on the plains to the north and it made for interesting viewing.

There was a lot of hiking the next day, much of it spectacular with the Pic du Midi always in view. The best scenery was out the west of the peak around the Lac Bersau and the Refuge d'Ayous. I finished the day with a climb up the Pic d'Ayous and then a long descent back to the car.

Some pics.