Last weekend, Carolina and I met up with Pete Bell and made an ascent of Pic de Tristaina in the Pyrenees. The 2878m summit lies exactly on the border between Andorra and France, although we made our ascent from the Andorran side.
The peak is at the head of a cirque of mountains that surround the Tristaina lakes. This is a very pretty valley and holds some interesting wildlife including marmots, vultures and alpine choughs.
Our route took us through the valley until we reached the headwall where we ascended a steep scree gully. This placed us on a ridge (similar in nature to Striding Edge) which we followed before making the final scramble up onto the summit.
The weather had been fairly wet and claggy for most of the day which limited visibility. However, as we approached the summit we broke through the clouds and were fortunate to enjoy great views, both down into France and Andorra.
We returned home on the Sunday and visited El Aventador crag near Xativa on Tuesday where we did a couple of routes in the sun. Hoping for an active autumn now as this summer has been far too hot to do anything really energetic. Some days reached over 40 degrees which makes anything feel like hard work!
