Tuc de Montanhèro, 2581m March, 2nd 2013

Eventually, there was a sunny weekend. I was on the verge of going to Andorra since there are a couple of pretty good summits to skiing that I d like to do this year. For some reason val d´Aran attracted me again. On Saturday I actually went to the same place as Wednesday (still powder for sure), but this time I went higher (low risk of avalanche) to one of the famous peaks here.

This piece of piste took me and the bunch of people going up that day from 1300m to Cabana deth Pontet. Well, there are so much snow that the piste got lost and at some point we simply went through the forest.

There, the cabin is. 

First time I saw people Heliskiing. Those guys were fortunate! I was hoping the helicopter didnt drop them off  where I was going..

From the cabin to 1800 there wasnt forest. Upper 1800m there were some pines scattered. 

This was the most dangerous part in terms of avalanche risk. Anyway, I didnt feel it unsafe and there were people going up before me.

After that part, the "valley" opens and the coll is much closer. 

Once in the coll there are two options: either Tuc de Montanhero (2581) or Tuc deth Port de Vielha (2604). I chose the first one, because the last slope untill the summit of the second one was very rocky due to the strong winds of the previous days. 

As you see in the pic, it looked much better....

What I didnt know was that this peak had a last surprise. To get the summit hands are needed. Easy climb thanks to the lack of ice, otherwise I would have needed a rope.

After that "adrenalin climb" - it reminded me of Picos de Europe, where you usually need to climb at least the last meters of the summits there - , I got this good view of the Aneto massif.

Then I descended and got ready for the descent. First on the ledge...

Then I got the coll again and kept snowboarding down from it with pretty good snow.

Afterwards, I got the pines again. It appears to be that snow remains better in the woods. This was Utah powder again....

Riding down this tube was a complete pleasure...

Although It was delightful enough, there was still 200m left through the forest as skiable as Wednesday...

I overnighed in Vielha. The following day I would go to a peak which offers steep slopes to enjoy with corn snow (on the south side of the tunnel). Tomorrow´s conditions fit the bill to give it a shot and try that corn snow!