Alba Summits

Me (a little tense), Jordi and Xavi on top of "Gendarme de Alba" (3054m)

On Friday the 25th, after work, Xavi and me headed to Benasque first, and from there, after a brief dinner, on to a parking and picknick area called "La Basurta". That place is the most common entry to the "Natural Park Posets Maladeta", for it's where the normal route up the highest Pyrinee summit, the "Aneto", starts. There we planted our tent next to the car and turned in for the night. On Saturday then, we got up at 6 am and at 7 we were geared up in order to start a demanding day.  

Detail of the hiking map with our planned route

Our aim wasn't to summit Aneto, but the 4 Alba peaks: Aguja (or Gendarme) de Alba, Pico de Alba, Diente de Alba and Muela de Alba, at least according to the best case scenario.

click here to read on

Still in the dark and with our headlamps beaming in full power mode, we passed by the mountain hut "La Renclusa" that stands at an altitude of about 2140m. For those who didn't begin their trip at la Basurta, that  is the place where the walking starts. 

Dawn at "Ibon de La Renclusa"

Jordi and me, Tuca Blanca in the back

There, at la Renclusa, our path branched off that of the masses of mountaineers who wanted to climb Aneto. In fact, it wasn't until about an hour later, that we saw another person: a couple headed up the same way as us for a while, and whenever one of our tiny groups stopped, the other took over the lead.

A while after Xavi and me had crossed a saddle called "Collado de Paderna" we didn't meet the couple anymore, but we instead met another guy, Jordi, with whom we started a conversation. It turned out he too wanted to climb "Gendarme de Alba" so that we spontaniously decided to join forces. Jordi, as it turned out made an excellent companion, for he didn't only know the area from previous visits, but also inspired us much confidence. 

Interesting lenticular clouds

Our next milestone was the crossing of the crest between Tuca Blanca, a very beautyful 2800m summit, and Pico de Alba. From the spot where we crossed, we had a good view at Alba's Eastern Crest and spotted what we thought was the Gendarme de Alba - a protruding peak in the ridge, adorned with a well visible cairn on it. 
As soon as we got there, however, we suspected this one not to be the summit we were looking for. One criterion of a summit is, that there must be at least a distance in height of 10m between the peak and the lowest point that seperates it from a higher neighbouring summit. In this case, the three of us agreed that this criterion wasn't met. Since we were close to that pseudo-summit, we proceeded anyway towards its top from where a look downwards the Eastern ridge revealed the Gendarme de Alba's true position . 

Jordi belaying me

It was close, but in order to get there we still had to cross an intimidating gap. Xavi chose a straight way to make to the other side, but Jordi and me decided to lose a little height first and get there on a less exposed route. It took us a while to make it to the other side of the gap. There, we realised, that we'd better get out the rope, because the Gendarme's top was quite exposed. 

Xavi about to make the day's first summit

I was first to make it to the top while Jordi was belaying me. Soon, I was joined by the other two and we mutually congratulated us to our day's first summit.

For security reasons we opted for abseiling our way down. A belay station close to the top was quickly enhanced with a piece of rope from Jordi and a maillon of Xavi's and mine common equipment. Our 60m rope allowed us to make it to a well suited spot that could accomodate the three of us.  

Me abseiling as seen from below...

... and above

 Since Jordi's only alpinistic objective of the day had been the Gendarme and he furthermore had familiar businesses to meet, he let us know that he would retreat. After a last photo and some farewells Xavi and me were alone again.

Without further incidences we made it to the top of Pico de Alba, the easiest of objectives of the day.

Pico de Alba (3107m)

To continue our way towards the two remaining summits we wanted to visit, we had to get down from Pico de Alba on its far side. There, the route wasn't as easy as the one we had come up, but at least some cairns indicated us where to go. They finally led us to a place where three old looking, rusty pitons and two slings offered a belay station. After abseiling down from that uncomfortable place, we defenitely could stuff away the rope for the rest of the day.

By now, the both of us felt very tired and although the route towards La Diente and La Muela de Alba wasn't overly difficult, the loose, rotten rock as well as the strong and cold wind that blew from the south without interruption requiered much effort and concentration.

Xavi at Diente de Alba (3120m), Punta Delmás, Pico Mir, and Sayó in the background 

Myself at Diente de Alba

Tuca Blanca as seen from Muela de Alba

After reaching Diente de Alba and Muela de Alba (3111m), we went on to Collado de Alba, a col from where we could easily make it down again. During the first, say, 100m we still had to pay much attention in order not to cause any rocks to tumble upon our companion, but as soon as the inclination got less, the only thing left was a 3 hours march back to the car. We made it there at 7pm, with the last rays of light and about 12 hours after we'd left in the morning.

Collado de Alba

Note: Depending on the consulted source, the exact altitudes of different mountains may vary. In this text I opted to use those that are indicated in the piece of map at the beginning of the article. This way, I hope, it will be easier for the reader to understand where exactly the different photos have been shot.