Garmo Negro, 3066m...first incursion in the Pyrenees! December, 25th 2007

This activity belongs to a mini trip Cesar and I did to the Pyrenees in December due to the lack of snow in Asturias. Our first jump into another mountain range.

Since we havent skied that year yet we wento to a pair of ski resorts first -Formigal and Astun-, and we left one day to reach our first 3000 on snowboard. We chose Garmo Negro peak, because its long and safe descent under that snow conditions.

Having waken up early, we crossed the pine woods at nigh. We received the first lights at 1900m aprox (the departure was at 1600). That moment was peaceful.


Cesar went out of the last pines.


In the Mallata Alta at 2150m, after a bit more of 1hour of tracking up..

From there we could see the Algas peak in the left hand side and Garmo negro towards the other side.

We followed the ski track of the weekend.

Before the summit, we are supposed to get the col at 2900m.

The last slope was quite hard because of the firm snow. From the summit the views were wonderful. The Pirineo is huge, we thought.

As I said before the worst part was the slope from the summit to the col. The snow was quite hard and the sloping was about 30º-35º. In spite of it, we could make turns carefully...

...till the col. From there the snow was completely diferent. It let us making wide turns, although our technique on this kind of snow was pretty poor at the time.

This was the refuge where we slept.

Pico Rebollosas, 1927m...Option B due to bad weather! April, 9th 2007

Our intention was to go to Huertos del Diablo peak, but the bad weather prevented us from going that far. However we did a faster peak in order to return at home a bit satisfied.

Going up to Rebollosas peak, we could see at the background some high peaks of Ubiña´s massiff.

Southwards the weather didn´t get better either.

On the summit of this modest peak we could see the huge slope of Colines peak and a numberless horizon.

Lastly, a photo of Ferreirua peak, the highest peak in Teverga.

Pico Agujas, 2140m...Starting on my own... May, 9th 2007

It was a hot week in May. I read on internet that there was still snow left in San Isidro. I was quite tired because of  Sun and my bad fitness. I reached the summit of Agujas peak, the highest of the place. From there, we could check the zone. I deciced to go down through Requejines because it kept more snow.


Picos de Europa at the background, an in the foreground the slopes.

I remembered that day like something special, but with the years I realized the snow usually keeps there till the end of May. To end the day I went to the beach!

Torre Blanca, 2617m...a classical from the north! June, 2nd 2007

It´s a classical activity to end the "winter" season. The cableway makes the ascent easy. The top of the lift is at 1900m. The covered snow is generally near to the top station in June and there are some slopes big enough to be skied.

I looked forward to going there. Snowboarding in June was something quite weird for me. I ´m used to stopping skiing in April, when the ski resorts close down its season.

Finally, I was successful. Marina, Chema and I went to Fuente De. The clouds always threatened our day.


Horcados Rojos coll, with the famous view of Naranjo de Bulnes.


Me with Torre Blanca and LLambrion.

Us on the summit.

Poor photo, but there is only one pic of the descent.


That activity was my last day of snowboarding in 2007. With just a pair of activities that year, 2007 was the beggining of my passion for this sport.

Pico Samelar, 2227m...The day when all began! April ,6th 2007

It was my first day of snowboarding in Picos de Europa and first time I took the snowboard to the mountains! Since I was a child I like mountains and any terrain that can be adventureous. For me taking the snowboard away from a ski resort represented a big step and my determination to discover a new side of adventure: riding mountains.

In spite of going early, the parking of Jito de Escarandi was completely full. We hardly could park. It was foggy when we arrived. The first half hour we were pretty disappointed because of the lack of visibility.

Some time later, the fog disappeared and Sun shone all the day. Ahead of us, we had some hours to reach our goal.


Diego with Pica del Macondiu at the background.


Once we got the  Trasmacondiu coll, we could look at the summit of Samelar peak and the slope where we would descend.

The following three photos were from Samelar´s summit.

The descent was quite difficult in some parts due to my inexperience of riding totally off-piste. Anyway, It was an exhilarating experience! I was snowboarding in Picos de Europe -unknown and misterious terrain for me in Winter-.