Planned tour end of January

[pinkyuk]

I am planning to do a tour in the last week of January.

1.) I intend to start from Trevelez (having picked up a gas cartridge at the camping there) and ascend via Mirador de Trevelez to Siete Lagunas where I want to camp and ascend Mulhacen and Alcazaba. Afterwards I want to traverse to the collado de Veleta and either descend to the ski centre or climb up to the Elorietta hut using the low level route (I have done the scrambling on Tajos de la Virgen in summer and I don't feel confident doing it in the winter). I know that below Cerro de los Machos and just below the Elorietta hut are Avalanche blackspots but am not aware what the current risk levels are. Alternatively, I am thinking of following the main ridge NE from Puntal de Vacares and descending to the Lagunas Juntillas from where I can return to Trevelez. Again, I have done this in summer and remember some light scrambling but wonder what the conditions are in winter.
2. I don't know what snow conditions to expect and will either carry snowshoes or crampons/ice axe but not both (because of pack weight). People seem to regularly use snowshoes on their ascent through the Poqueira hut and at the lower height they may be really useful in deep and soft snow. Even though I am used to walking with snowshoes in alpine terrain, I fear they may not be of much use on the steep traverses along the main ridge line.
3. What is the latest news about the fox problems? I'd hate to have my tent ripped as some people have reported.

Many thanks for your advice,

Martin Kuster

[El Perro Negro]

Hi Martin
Sorry for the delay to your questions.
(1) Best way to Siete Lagunas from Trevelez is via the SE flank and Campanuelas, not via Mirador de Trevelez, which involves ascending Mulhacen or traversing avalanche prone slopes on the east side.
(2)Traverse to collado de Veleta ok if there is a track through the high angled snow. If not it can take a long time and does cross avalanche prone slopes below Cerro de los Machos at paso de los Machos.
Current risk.....medium. All fairly well consolidated but those blackspots I would still stay clear of.
(3) NE ridge to Puntal de Vacares and beyond. Arguably easier in winter when consolidated (as it should be on the ridges) snow and ice. Obviously careful crampon work is required.
(4) I would take snowshoes along as well personally. We are having a variety of temperatures though. One day soft snow below 3000m, the next day ice. To be sure take both.
(5) Fox problems. You may well get a visit if camping near the ski centre or Siete Lagunas. Elsewhere maybe not this time of year. Sleep with tent door open and stone to hand!
Good luck. Let us know how you go on!

[daveporter]

Sounds like a brilliant trip Martin, good luck with the weather. Be a bit careful IF the big cold winds happen to be forecast.

Can you post a trip report when you get back. I want to get back into these wonderful mountains but haven't been for a while since our Fox related incidents from a couple of years ago. Let us know if you have any camp visitors. I know that Richard has been experimenting with Anti Fox equipment lately!

All the best.

Dave Porter

[daveporter]

To inspire the trip you could try listening to "Journey to Alcazaba" by Johannes Linstead (try You Tube). Atmospheric and evocative music - a blend of Greek and Spanish. We fluked on this in a music store in Toronto!!!

Dave Porter

[El Perro Negro]

Best anti fox deterrent is definitely a dog ;D but makes for a rather smelly tent companion!

Been up on Cerillo Redondo today. Snow very soft in the springlike temperatures. Snow consolidated though.

Update....Poqueira hut guardian has been putting people off traversing to the Cariguela. He reckons you will need a 2 axe traverse to do it. Full on mountaineering at the moment.

[pinkyuk]

Well I am back from the trip.

As you all probably know the wheather in this week was pretty bad.

On Monday 24th, I went up from Trevelez to the Siete Lagunas (You can guess what is coming...) in reasonably good wheather. I took me around 4 hrs and because it was only lunch time, I set up camp and climbed up Alcazaba. Snowshoes worked fine as there were only slightly icy patches on the windswept areas. The last bit up to the summit was tough going because the snow was quite soft and in combination with the thin air I was fairly spent when I reached the summit. Descended uneventfully back to camp. Some pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/scheisseuk/SierraNevada#

I was cooking in the tent porch at around 8pm when I heard fast-paced scratching on the tent fabric at the bottom of the tent and I started shouting. I was able to look backwards over the side of the tent and saw the fox in the torch light standing there. He was about the size of a Husky. By the time I had retrieved my shoes from the tent and safely moved the pot with boiling water and the hot stove out of the way, the fox was gone and no tracks to be seen. It turns out that it had ripped a hole into the groundsheet that was about 40 cm long (fortunately the tear is right where groundsheet and inner are joined together so should be easily repairable) and the main bag of food was gone . The whole raid only took about 4 seconds. I was so annoyed that I decided to finish cooking and eating and then reset camp at a lower altitude. By 10pm I was back in my sleeping bag after having moved all the food into the porch and having left the outer door slightly open (I had planned to do the same at the Siete Lagunas site but obviously never got that far). This was at the location where the summer path crosses the rio culo del perro. At 6:30 am I was awoken by the sound of a plastic carrier bag being, well, carried away. By that time I was not really bothered anymore and snoozed for another 2 hrs. The wheather was slowly turning for the worse with fog moving in from below but there were still patches of blue sky visible. I decided to return to Trevelez because it was pretty clear that I could at most scale Mulhacen before I would need to descend to a lower altitude anyway as camping anywhere near the ski centre was now obviously out of the question. Before leaving, I followed the clearly visible fox tracks and was able to retrieve most of the contents of the bag. Apparently the fox neither liked spaghetti, tomato puree, parmesan cheese nor soup. I am pretty sure it was a second fox because I later saw tracks leading in and out of the Refugio Carihüela.

From Tuesday afternoon until Thursday afternoon I was holed up in my tent at Camping Trevelez with two days of almost constant rain occasionally switching to snow. It may well be that the wheather above 2500 m was better but to find this out you would have to ascend through 1000 m of humid clouds. I didn't quite fancy that so late afternoon Thursday I took the bus back to Granada and the mockingly fine evening wheather gave me a glimpse at how brilliant the Sierra looks in sunlight.

I won't say that I won't be back but the fox issue really means that I have to rethink how a future trip should be carried out. In any case I am off to the Pyrenees at the beginning of March.

Martin Kuster

[elperronegro]

Thanks for the information Martin. Shame you just got in the middle of a bad spell of weather. We had to abort all our plans for 3 days too. We finally got up to the Poqueira on Friday afternoon but deep snow meant that we couldn't actually get up the Puntal de la Caldera or Mulhacen as planned. Very cold too (-15). Returned Sunday.

We really have to think of a deterrent for these foxes. They are spoiling the experience. Maybe I should hire out our husky to mountaineers???? Dogs are the best deterrent. We have yet to prove that the "beacons" work correctly in cold weather.

BTW I remember camping at the crossing of the Rio Culo del Perro in October. My night was spoilt there by a herd of cows who arrived there just after sundown.

Enjoy the Pyrenees, and I hope you will return to enjoy the Sierras in the future.