Garmo Negro

The experience

Garmo Negro really began the previous day, with the climb from Baños de Panticosa to the Ibones de Bachimaña refuge. Spending the night there was part of the experience and also part of the strategy: we wanted to leave before dawn and reach the summit before the clouds forecast for midday covered the views. For me there was another important element as well: this was my first experience of winter mountaineering and the opportunity to reach my first three-thousand-metre summit.

We set off while it was still dark, moving by headlamp as crampons, ice axes and helmets stopped being equipment carried in our packs and became part of the ascent itself. Spring snow made progress slower than expected and our planned summit time gradually slipped away. Even so, the Pyrenees remained open around us for much of the approach, providing some of the finest views of the entire day.

The final section concentrated most of the difficulty. The slope exceeded 45 degrees and hail began to fall as we gained height. Our pace slowed and every step demanded attention. Some groups we encountered during the day chose to turn around before tackling that final ascent. We continued and reached the summit at around one in the afternoon, by which time the clouds had already begun to obscure part of the surrounding landscape.

Reaching Garmo Negro meant more than standing at 3,066 metres. It was my first three-thousand-metre summit, reached after an ascent completely different from the hiking routes I had experienced before. We celebrated, ate something and began the descent with the sense of having completed a day that combined snow, steep terrain, changing weather and a group with whom every part of the effort had been shared.

During the descent we saw a mountain rescue helicopter operating nearby. A rescuer was being lowered from the aircraft to assist an injured person. We watched the operation from a distance and continued on our way; it was a difficult image to ignore and a very tangible reminder that the same terrain we had been enjoying only hours earlier could quickly take on a very different character.

The day ended back in Baños de Panticosa, this time at Casa de Piedra refuge. Between the night at Bachimaña, the ascent on crampons with an ice axe, the hail on the final slope, my first three-thousand-metre summit and everything shared with the group, Garmo Negro became much more than a summit. It was my first complete winter mountaineering experience in the Pyrenees and one of those routes where the journey matters as much as the highest point.

Route highlights

• First 3,000-metre peak and first winter mountaineering experience
• Progress using crampons and an ice axe
• A steep final section in hail