The Mighty Face Flannel

Ford Prefect almost got it right when he advised Arthur Dent that a towel was the most important thing to take with him, but personally I’d always take a face flannel if space or weight were restricted. The flannel has proved its worth time and again: you can wash with limited water supplies, e.g. using a bucket; if you want to wash in a cold stream it limits the amount of cold water splashed around and you stay warmer; in a shower where you have only 3 pushes, it adds flexibility; and of course, if you wring it out, you can use it as a towel, so Arthur would have ben fine.

At Refuge de Pombie, where I’m staying tonight, a shower token buys you three 30 second bursts of hot water. Simply having a shower makes it better than Refuge d’Arlet where I was on Saturday, but there’s more space too - generally much more satisfactory.

I was supposed to be camping tonight, but about 30 seconds before I got to the refuge the heavens opened. For the third day in a row I was lucky to avoid the worst of it - I sprinted for the refuge and once I was inside it was hard to imagine camping being much fun. I need to kick this refuge habit though, as I can only afford one more before I reach Gavarnie on Friday.

I’m not feeling too bad about tonight though - there was a huge thunder storm during dinner with some amazing views of the lightening hitting the valleys below us (we’re at 2,031m). I didn’t manage to catch the lightening but the second picture below is of the aftermath, looking east from Pombie.

Today began very slowly, which I’m blaming on the wifi. As well as catching up on the news and a few urgent emails, I logged onto Skype and had a chat with Ez, one of the team from the original trip to the Pyrenees 14 years ago. We’d always hoped to be able to have another go at the challenge together, but he has a family and a job now so can’t just walk out for 2 months.

The main feature of today was a big climb around the Pic du Midi d’Ossau (1st photo), up to Col de Peyregret: 650m of steep ascent, which took just under 2 hours. It was another humid afternoon so it was a sweaty start, but higher up (the col is at 2,315m) it got much colder. There was a lot of snow near the top, but all do-able without crampons.

Last night I called Refuge d’Arrémoulit to check the snow conditions on tomorrow’s route and the guy there said it should be ok. I asked again tonight in Pombie and they agreed that it was passable with crampons. When I mentioned I had an ice-axe as well they commented “very well equipped” so I’m hoping it will all be OK. It’s a long day though, so I think an earlier start might be in order this time.