Day 12 - Expectations

Wednesday 6th September - Expectations

Lots of mice, a concrete floor, and probably the MSG filled dried meal making us thirsty all conspired to give us a poor night's sleep. But it's sunny, and only a gentle Northerly, so we are excited about the possibility of a good day. A mouse has chewed the end of this pen - I hope it has left my reserve alone. 11:55am and we're sitting on the ridge-top drinking tea, nervous and excited. Today is a day of high expectations. It's nil wind and the air is cool, the sun is hot. The anabatic flow is just starting to come up the South face, and the crowds of vultures are showing us the house thermals. There's a feeling of tension over choosing the right place, the best moment, the best route. But there are so many unknowns that it hardly pays to think too much. Will we fly all day? Will we fly for only an hour and land in some hideous valley? Will we fly at all? As I sit in the sun trying to relax my mind races back over mountain flights we've had, and over Lou and my little expedition in the Kakahuetta gorge which lies potentially on today's route - and how scary a place it would be to fly over. Soon it will be time to fly and we will just get on with it....

[Simon]

... Sadly, today did not live up to our expectations. Instead of the South faces starting to work in the early afternoon the gentle Northerly drift set in and slowly strengthened while the high stratus slowly weakened the sun's heating. We later learned that we were brushed by the edge of a weather system in the Western Pyrenees. It felt like a now-or-never decision, so I launched and headed round a 1.5 mile wide bowl to explore what thermal triggers there might be. Credit where credit's due, it was a spectacular glide in glorious scenery. Gently sustaining air with no turbulence. Landing on the far side of the bowl I radiod to Tim to give it a go and, naturally, he had better air and arrived with more height as the sun started to reappear. Suitably encouraged I trudged slowly to the top of the col above me in case I could re-launch. Tim top landed another 400' up to wait and I was lucky enough to hook a good enough cycle and soar up to join him. We discussed tactics. There seemed little point in waiting as the sun was getting paler by the minute. Tim re-launched and I chased him ever Eastwards towards the next grassy bowl. Tim won the 'lard' angle competition by about 3 metres. We packed up, sad at not getting away but happy that we were now very close to the high peaks and the weather prospects were great, for the next few days at least.

Being higher our choice of biv sites was getting less obvious, i.e. no wood for our customary fire and a source of water more difficult to find. We opted for a force march to a hut which appeared to be reachable by dark (just!). It was soon apparent that we were getting fitter. Even though we were contouring and our loads were lighter by a couple of kilos, we kept up a good pace with only a couple of stops for water and a quick phone call on the mobile. There seems to be unbelievable coverage here, even in remote areas. If this were Wales we'd have had no chance. Tim had yet to miss a check in and this was the wildest location yet.

Despite our pace it was 8:15 before we came in site of our goal and it took another hour to descend from the pass in the gathering gloom. With weary legs we took a wrong turn towards the first lights that hove into view at the bottom and stumbled about behind a barbed-wire fence that separated us from a large and starkly lit building. The refugio didn't look very friendly. However, after consulting the map the reason became clear. I wasn't a refugio after all. It was a military barracks. The refugio was another 1km slog further up the road. We turned around and trudged back up the hill, not at all convinced that we'd find anything as we'd seen no other lights in the vicinity.

Some of the guarded (manned) refugio's are seasonal so our target may have already closed for the winter, but we pressed on in hope. Imagine our relief as the welcoming lights eventually came into view. Yet another 'low save'. Despite the landlords initial reluctance we got the full works and managed to pack in a 3 course meal with wine, coffee and liquors in the space of 45 minutes! A very full day in many respects!