Becoming hardened in The Moñetas, 2200m 4-Abril-2010 (Picos de Europa)

Last Sunday Pablo, Damian (Pablos´s friend) and me went to Invernales de Sotres (1020m). Our intention was to ascend some of those peaks: Escamellau, peña Castil, Juan de la Cuadra or Tiros de Navarro.

In spite of getting up early, we arrived at Invernales at 11:15am. The snow began quite up.

They could put their skis and I could put the snowshoes at 1500m, after 500 of desnivel on the rucksack (In Spain we usually say: "portear").

The terrain of Picos is very chaotic, and this, is particuraly, chaoticer. We were linking the Jous. We tried to lose the less height as it was possible.

Pablo is looking the Tiros de Navarro (2600m), which was for a little period of time our aim.

NO, It is not the summit of Tiros de Navarro. The time and the snow condition (deep snow) didn´t let us to reach that summit. We stopped at 2200 in a "hill". The sights are wonderful.

Alpine skyline...

The descent was very strange. It was not continuos. However we enjoyed the different slopes or part of it, into the particular enviorement of Picos.

In the pic below was where we were not able to descend more.

We were mountering for 8h and we made 1350m of desnivel. We were rather tired.

The Picos de Europa don´t provide larges descends or "useful" tracks for ski, if you let me say that but, apart of the awesome enviorement, like I say in the tittle: we have become hardened a bit more.

I suppose that I will not able to do too much "snow-hikking". The line of snow-covered is very high. We need the last snowfall...but it hasn´t fallen this year yet.