31.07.2008 Thursday
Refuge d’Arremoulit to Refuge de Pombie (2032 metres)
We started with a descent to 1392m into the valley leading to Col de Pourtalet. We surprised ourselves by a time of a bit over 4 hours for 8 miles and 800m descent and 600m ascent. The view of the back of Pic de Midi d’Ossau revealed it to be a 500 meter scree slope and during the 3 hrs watching no one was on it so we have decided not to do the pic but press on tomorrow to Col de Somport and meet up with Karl and family in Spain. The view back towards Balaitous and Refuge d’Arremoulit is fantastic and the little refuge d’Arremoulit (29 beds plus a big party tent) is not only in a suberb position but also the guardienne is an excellent cook, feeding 46 people on soup, pork and prunes with rice, cheese, and a sweet all produced in a tiny kitchen and some very large pressure cookers.