Climbing in the Pyrenees Mountains
At the end of his first year at university, Viv and Chris were in the living room of their flat in Cromwell Road, Plymouth. "I'm thinking of going climbing in the Pyrenees mountains in the holiday. Do you fancy coming with me?", asked Chris. "Yeah, ok", Viv replied. A month later both of them were leaning on the guardrail on the bow of a ferry on their way between England and France. They had met at Chris' house on the Isle of Wight a few days before setting off, and the holiday had already started. The nightlife was great on the 'Isle' and the yachting festival of Cowes Week had just come to an end in a huge party. After sailing into Cowes on a twenty-foot yacht owned by a friend of Chris', the two friends watched the fireworks display from the balcony of a pub overlooking the harbour.
They took a train to Lourdes in the south of France, where Viv found the religious fever in the city strange, and the commercialization of religion unsettling - plastic bottles in the form of the Virgin Mary were being sold, it was said with 'holy water' inside. They found a quiet wooded area and slept in the open air - not very comfortably. There was the rather difficult choice to make of either sweating completely covered by the sleeping bag, or letting the mosquitoes feast! Next day they took a bus to the town of Gavarnie, nestling within a circle of snow-topped mountains. The tent was pitched*, provisions bought and there was time for a beer or three before getting some sleep. In the morning the view was really spectacular, and it was possible to see, seemingly up in the air, a small gash in the circle of mountains which was the crossover point between the French and Spanish side of the Pyrenees. There was only one way to go - up! Carrying heavy packs the two teenagers, after taking a quick look at a glacier, followed what appeared to be goat tracks which zigzagged up the steepest parts, and went directly up the parts which were just steep! At about 6pm they found a plateau to pitch the tent and the next day, continued rising up the mountain until at about 4pm they arrived at a mountain hut just below the gash in the mountains they'd seen in the distance from the town. After a quick break to eat something, they started the final stretch *2 which was across snow. It was a hard climb after two days of a heavy ascent, but on reaching the 'gateway' between the mountains (called the 'Breche de Roland), Viv got a shock. The French side of the mountains was cold and either snowy white or green, but on crossing over to the Spanish side the landscape was completely different. It looked dry and arid down below. Although nearly exhausted, they continued walking around the far side of the circle of mountains until it got dark, then pitched the tent. The evening meal, as usual, was dried food and melt water cooked on a small petrol stove. They had camped at the foot of Monte Perdido (The lost mountain) and the plan was that next day they would both climb to the top (11,007 feet / 3355 metres). They started off quite early the next day, but only one of them would reach the summit. Three quarters of the way up the mountain, climbing on shale, the tiny rocks meant that every two steps up would result in falling back one step. During the climb, Viv started hearing his heartbeat pounding*3 in his ears - both exhaustion and altitude combined to demonstrate that he had reached his limit. He stopped and told Cris that he was returning to the base camp. Chris continued to the top and was able to appreciate a view which must have been something to be remembered. The two young adventurers returned to the pass between the mountains, and at the mountain hut on the French side where they had stopped previously, they decided to split up temporarily. Viv decided to stay the night in the hut, while Chris headed on down the mountain. Viv was certain he'd made the right decision. The huge and delicious meal served to the those staying in the hut helped bring strength back to weary muscles and just one night sleeping on a bed with a roof above left him with his batteries*4 fully recharged. The next morning, while descending down the side of the mountain alone, he was treated to a sight which made him stop in his tracks. The sun was shining, but below him the entire centre of the ring of mountains was filled with what looked like cotton wool - he was above the clouds! As he continued the descent he eventually entered the clouds and emerged below to a wet, rainy day.
Viv met up with Chris at the cafe in Gavarnie and they enjoyed a delicious brown beer together. Then it was time to break camp and begin the next stage of the trip. They took the road out of the valley which hugged mountains on the left. The sun came out and the two young men walked steadily through the day until a path left the road and entered a forest. After the forest they were once more climbing up into the mountains on the way towards Vignemale. After a week in the mountains eating only rehydrated dried food, both of them were beginning to feel the need for a change in diet, so they descended to the nearest mountain village to their current position. In the village square they were able to buy mouth watering French bread and ham, cheese and tomatoes to make sandwiches (from the photo Viv took at the time, there was also a band playing, but I can't remember if the music was as enjoyable for us as for the Frenchman!) . It was then that Viv had a genial idea. French bread is delicious if eaten the same day it's baked, but after not much more than 12 hours it becomes virtually inedible, dry crisp bread. "Why not use a damp towel, wrapped around a couple of sticks of French baguettes to keep it fresh?", Viv thought. He carefully put this plan into practice and the two mountaineers retraced their steps back up into the mountains carrying a plastic bag with supplies for more sandwich making. The sun was setting when they finally made camp, and they decided to celebrate by having another French bread sandwich using one of the baguettes Viv had tried to preserve.
That night, Viv woke up and knew instantly that something was seriously wrong! It seemed like his stomach had decided that it didn't want to stay inside his body any longer. He opened the tent zipper as quickly as possible and made it as fast as possible some distance from the tent to relieve himself. "Oh my God", he thought. "Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to wrap the bread in a towel I'd been using to dry myself with for the last week!". Viv went back to the tent to try to get some more sleep when five minutes later Chris shot out of the tent as well. Viv could hear a horrendous groaning coming from outside and when Chris returned he said "Viv, I've been shitting and puking simultaneously out there!". That was the first of three cases of violent dysentery that Viv has had while travelling (the others were in the Welsh mountains and on Samosir Island in Sumatra). There was nothing to do except spend the next day drinking as much water (sterilized with tablets and with salt and sugar added) as possible and waiting until the gastric storm had passed. Needless to say, the remaining stick of French bread was left for the mountain animals to eat if they dared.
After recovering the two climbers continued their journey and reached the top of a mountain called Grande Fache (3005 metres), on which they planted a plastic Union Jack that Chris had brought from the UK, then descended from the mountains for the trip back to England. During the climb down from the Pyrenees they passed a beautiful mountain lake. After two weeks in the mountains Viv was the fittest he has ever been in his life, and had learnt that apart from the incredible feeling of conquering a challenge, mountain climbing has another positive effect. When you return to sea level again, the extra oxygen in the air leaves you feeling like superman for a few days!!! :-)
* Verb - definition 2
*2 Noun - definition 3
*3 Verb (intransitive) - definition 3
*4 Noun - definition 6
*5 Noun - definition 6
