Trekking in Andorra
The Ascent of Coma Pedrosa - by Gareth Sear
We had a team of eleven. Eight Explorer Scouts and three leaders. Ahead of us was the highest mountain in Andorra, Coma Pedrosa, 2950m.
Andorra is a beautiful country, nestled wonderfully in the mountains of the Pyrenees at an altitude of at least 800m and the town that offered us accommodation was at 1500m. Even at this height it was hot. Sunny and hot. A welcome contrast to the wet, grey, gloom of England.
The day after we settled into Arinsal, we got our boots on and headed out for the warm up walk. The walk offered two route options. One of 4 hours and the other 6 hours. I luckily offered to take the shorter of the routes. Whatever route you went on, it involved lots of uphill, though this can be minimised by taking one of the shorter options, the option that I was on. When you are warming up for a long day, I thoroughly recommend taking a shorter, rather than longer walk.
Coma Pedrosa was the challenge for the second day of walking and what we were warming up for. This was to be a full on 10 plus hours day. Trevor, my fellow leader who took the long warm up option was feeling the pressure of the heat and steep initial ascent, getting the legs in shape well before the summit attempt.
The walk up was initially on the road, to the head of the valley. Roads are always good to start with, hard underfoot, uphill, heat reflecting off the tarmac and car fumes. A better start to a walk couldn’t have been asked for. A quick turn to the east and this was soon remedied. We were heading up the hills, a welcome stroll through shaded woodland, the smell of the damp pine underneath, mixed with the beautiful wildflowers. Following the path up, winding through the woods, passing small tinkling waterfalls, we came to a small plateau, with a mountain hut and a lake, both enticing us in, one with the option of ice cold cans of drink, the other with ice cold water to swim in.
Sadly no chance to stop. The summit was beckoning, quivering in the heat 700 meters above us, with a ridge walk that looked like we were going up the spine of a stegosaurus. I was a little concerned that we were going to trek along a ridge akin to Crib Goch in Snowdonia. On closer inspection it was a safe track, with plenty of room either side of the path before the precipitous drops into the valley below.
Before the ridge walk up, there was a patch of snow, just asking for a group of boys to play in, to cool off. Snowballs and face plants ensued before the trek to the top. The ridge was one of those walks that kept promising the summit at every turn, over every spine on the back, but it was still an arduous two hours to get there. Finally the last false summit was in front of us and behind us; the final push to reach the top of Coma Pedrosa was on. The fitter members of the group pushed on to be the first, as us older leaders followed behind them.
If was an amazing trek to get to the summit, the highest point we had been with our Explorer Scouts, the view was mesmerising as you looked across the Pyrenees, in all directions, the greens and browns fading out into the distance as the sun danced of their peaks. We had done it, arriving at the top of the highest mountain in Andorra. Welcoming and investing two Explorer Scouts into the unit at the summit was one of the most beautiful locations we had done an investiture. Now we had the long walk back to the chalet to complete, through small snow fields where rucksacks were used as sledges, across boulder strewn fields and past mountain lakes, reminiscing on a long, but wonderful day of walking in the Pyrenees.
