- Distance: 15.2km (219.4km total)
- Ascent/Descent: 1650m up, 267m down
- Time: 7 hr 22 min
Today we knew was going to be long--a slow but steady climb to the Col d'Ayous, then drop down to the refuge by the same name. Cool and shady in the morning, after lunchtime and above treeline it was warm and breezy, but not hot, and then a closeup view of Pic du Midi before the refuge.
The first part of the day, through the forest, featured a curious track along the Chemin de lat
Mâture, an oddity from the 18th century
carved into the limestone of a gorge to haul timber for masts for the French Navy. I imagined
something like a 50cm wide path with a 200m drop, but no, it was wide enough for a narrow car.
A real narrow car.
After the cut, there were more steep uphill sections, interrupted by mostly level bits, then more steep uphill, and then a longish climb up to the col on a pretty decent smooth trail. It was just slow and steady, maybe 22C if that, and the wind was nice, but the sun was a bit hot so I put on my "Stevie Nicks" outfit, a flowing white-ish (ecru?) long sleeve shirt to keep the sun off my forearms.
Up and up, then at the col the reward: a full view of Pic du Midi, just staring us in the face, sunlit and just looking a bit like some alien artifact, not really part of nature but something else, but definitely part of nature. We just stared and rested for several minutes before heading down to the refuge.
And the refuge. Sigh. We got there at 3pm, but they wouldn't let anyone in, so we sat in the shadows under the deck, and wondered how many of the hundred or so people around were actually staying in the refuge. It can't be that big?
No, it wasn't. The Scouts all wandered off a few hundred meters to the south and setup tents, some daytrippers went down to the lake and made picnics and were harrased by horses looking for handouts, others just squatted on the picnic tables, which had the ratio of slightly less than two people per picnic table.
We got our room at 5 (no towels, no shower, no toilet paper) and took a quick nap, met our roommates--a Norweigian family of five, dad, mom, three daughters--and dinner at 6:45 of white rice and chicken-noodles-tomato sauce. It was OK, but there wasn't much. Bed early at 8pm after our long day. It still feels odd going to sleep two hours before dusk.