PARQUE NATIONAL DE ORDESA

The isolated Ordesa canyon and the great Monte Perdido dominate this
dramatic national park on the Franco-Hispanic border Biosphere Reserve,
ZEPA, European Diploma , World Heritage Site15,608 ha (38,568 acres)

Ordesa is magnificent enough when the sun is shining but absolutely awe-inspiring during a thunderstorm. I've been caught in several of them, for even during the summer months there's always a good chance of rain in the high Pyrenees. I remember one particularly violent downpour when it seemed that we were being treated to a replay of Noah's flood: it was early July, but the skies opened up, water descended in sheets and hailstones ricocheted from my hat. All of this was pleasant enough at the end of a hot day, but then a mist began moving up the valley and as the rain continued to fall, great cascades of dirty yellow water came pouring off the rock walls, dislodging a shower of small stones that bounced and splashed their way into the valley. It made me think of the medieval Aragonese mountain-dwellers, fighting off invading armies of lowlanders by pelting them with rocks.The next day was clear and beautiful. We proceeded up the valley past caves and waterfalls, following the path of the Río Arazas. When we finally caught sight of our destination, the superb Circo Soasa, a young Catalan woman turned to me. 'I've never been to Canada,' she said, 'but this is what I imagine it to be like — this sense of space, a crystal stream, majestic mountains, this uncluttered landscape.' The Valle de Ordesa has always been considered something quite special and extraordinary by people with eyes to see. Of course, the local shepherds had always known about this isolated canyon but Louis Ramond de Charbonnières, a French alpinist, is regarded as its modern 'discoverer'. One day at the turn of the century, while looking down from the summit of Monte Perdido, he decided to go down and investigate the great sickle-shaped depression, which had been scooped out of the calcareous bedrock by Quaternary glaciation. He published a description of what he found in his Voyages au Mont-Perdu (1901).

Three of the national park's constituent valleys — Ordesa, Añisclo and Pineta — form the legs of a kind of tripod supporting the great massif of Monte Perdido ('lost mountain'), whose 3,355-metre (11,000-foot) summit lies just south of the Franco-Hispanic frontier, and whose northern slope includes the famous French gorge known as the Cirque de Gavarnie. The fourth valley, Las Gargantas de Escuaín, carries its mountain waters down towards the south-east and the village of Tella: it is the least known of the park's valleys but far from the least interesting, with its great flanking walls of rock, some of them reaching a height of 300 metres (984 feet), and the mysterious dolmen that stands in a meadow above Tella. Monte Perdido is the highest of the three high mountains known as Las Tres Sorores ('the three sisters') that dominate the park; the other two are El Cilindro de Marbore (3,328 metres/l0,920 feet) and El Sum de Ramond (3,262 metres/10,700 feet). The mountain chain was formed by cataclysmic pressure at the beginning of the Tertiary period. Then the glaciers began their slow work: in the Quaternary a frozen sea covered Las Tres Sorores and there were rivers of ice in the canyons that have become the Ordesa, Añisclo and Pineta valleys. What makes Ordesa geologically unusual is that it runs parallel to the main spine of the Pyrenees, unlike most of the other valleys, which are perpendicular to it.

The Ordesa valley is a tongue of green vegetation running for 15 kilometres (91¼2 miles) between two imposing walls of bleached, calcareous rock. Looming above the beech trees, the pines and dark green firs are the dramatic rock cornices known as fajas — balconies of stone formed by erosion — which afford magnificent views of the canyon and its many waterfalls.

Pyrenean chamois, currently multiplying at a furious rate, are fond of the vertiginous terraces of the valley. Ordesa has one of Europe's largest populations of chamois, but the Spanish ibex, or cabra montés, which the park was intended to protect, has not done nearly as well: there are said to be no more than 15 ibex in the park these days.

The lammergeier has one of its major European strongholds in these mountains and indeed is found only in the Pyrenees in Spain today. Formerly, it was easy to see at Ordesa, but sightings have been more irregular in recent years and you would be well advised to search somewhere else: the area of Santa Cruz, west of Jaca, has this grand bird, as do the towering pinnacles above the monastery of Riglos to the south. With a wingspan of 2.5 metres (eight feet) and a long, wedge-shaped tail, they are easily recognized, especially the adults which have golden-hued underparts and a habit of dropping bones to break them prior to extracting the marrow. The sheer cliff faces of Ordesa are also home to the elusive wallcreeper, a grey moth-like rock-climber that continually flicks its wings to show bright scarlet feathers. Higher up are snow finches on the bare screes and, lower, citril finches are found where the trees and bare ground meet.

Apart from these endangered species, Ordesa constitutes a favourable habitat for 171 species of birds, 32 mammals, eight species of reptiles and five amphibians. Wild boar are a fairly common sight, and there are otters and foxes in the valleys. There is one species of poisonous snake, the asp (Vipera aspis). The Ordesa valley is also home to a specific race of the Spanish argus butterfly (Aricia morronensis ordesiae), found nowhere else in the world.

In the valleys the predominant trees are firs and beeches that grow strong and tall up to altitudes of about 1,700 metres (5,575 feet); above 2,300 metres (7,550 feet) the only tree hardy enough to survive is the dwarf mountain pine whose short, contorted trunk reflects its struggle against the elements. The park's botanists take particular pride in its wild flowers, which include the edelweiss — in Spanish, el pie de león ('lion's foot') or flor de nieve ('snow flower') — gentians, orchids and anemones. The alpenrose (Rhododendron ferrugineum) grows in the shade of the pine, while violets and belladonna prefer the shelter of the fir forests.

BEFORE YOU GO

Maps: IGN 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 Nos. 146 and 178; IGN 1:200,000 Mapa Provincial of Huesca.
Guide-books: Enric Balasch & Yolanda Ruiz, El Parque Nacional de
Ordesa y Monte Perdido (Planeta, 1998); Oscar Díez Sanchez & Luis Lorente Villanueva, El Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido (Everest, 1997).

GETTING THERE

By car: : the simplest access to the Valle de Ordesa is via the E07/N330 Huesca-Biescas, followed by the C140, Biescas-Torla via the Cotefablo Pass, from where you can drive into the park. For the Añisclo, Escuaín and Pineta valleys take the C138, Ainsa-Bielsa, and side roads that branch off toward these valleys.
During Oct-Apr weather conditions, particularly snow levels, should be checked because often the park is inaccessible by car during these months.
By rail: one daily service runs from Madrid to Sabiñánigo and on to Jaca, and Regional services run on the Zaragoza to Canfranc line.
By bus: in July and August there are 2 buses daily between Sabiñánigo and Torla operated by Uberbus, T: (974) 21 32 77. From Torla during these months there are buses every 15 min to the park. Call T: (974) 24 33 61 for more information.

WHERE TO STAY

Torla has a variety of places, including the 3-star Hotel Abetos, T: (974) 48 64 48, F: 48 64 00, and the 2-star Hotel Ordesa, T: (974) 48 61 25, F: 48 63 81. There are several, also, in Sabiñánigo, including the Parador de Bielsa, T: (974) 50 10 11, F: 50 11 88.
Outdoor living:not permitted inside the park, but you can bivouac using a tent just for the night — provided you strike it the next morning — in the Ordesa valley above 2,100 m (6,890 ft), in the Añisclo valley above 1,800 m (5,905 ft), in the Escuaín valley above 1,800 m (5,905 ft) and in the Pineta valley above 2,500 m (8,200 ft).
Refuges: there are many in the park, on both the Spanish and French sides. In the Circo de Goriz there is the Refugio Delgado Obeda, T: (974) 34 12 01, open all year. The Brecha is the site of a Franco-Hispanic refugio, Turracoya. North-west of the Vignemale glacier is the Refugio Oulettes de Gaube, which is one of the most modern in the Pyrenees. The Refugio Baysselance nearby is open July-Sept. The Refugio Brecha de Rolando is open in summer and has an out-building open all year. South-east of Gavarnie is the Refugio Paílla, open Sept-Easter.
There are some rough shelters in Duascaro, Celcilaruego, Rivereta, Cadiera, Carriata, Cotatuero, Frachinal and Loaso.

ACTIVITIES

Walking/climbing: from the Parador Nacional de Monte Perdido, a short walk takes you to the spectacular Circo de Pineta. The Añisclo valley also has its own access route: the regional road that branches off the Ainsa-Bielsa highway toward Nerín. The normal starting point for Ordesa is the village of Torla, on the road leading north from Ainsa along the Ara valley. Most of the trail-heads for the main excursion routes are located near the visitor information centre here. There are dozens of possible trails, though for good reasons the hike to the Circo Soasa — about 5-7 hrs of easy walking — remains the most popular.
An easy ascent to the fajas of the Ordesa valley is provided by a series of clavijas — iron rods driven into the stone to provide footholds in some of the more slippery places: the first of these were installed years ago by a Torla blacksmith at the behest of an English hunter. One set of 13 clavijas leads to the Circo de Cotatuero, which rivals the Circo Soasa as a natural amphitheatre. The Circo Soasa marks the eastern terminus of the Ordesa valley, but a trail leads further up into the massif, to the Refugio de Goriz, which serves as a base-camp for the more strenuous assaults on the higher reaches of Monte Perdido.
The trail to Cotatuero, on the other hand, leads on to the Refugio de la Cardiera and to the famous Brecha de Rolando, the mythical breach in the rock hewn by the mighty Roland with his great sword, Durandal. The Brecha is on the French frontier: walking due north will bring you to the Cirque de Gavarnie and finally down to Gavarnie itself, the first village in France. Following the ridge toward the north-west will take you to Vignemale, one of the last glaciers in the Pyrenees and still an imposing sight though it has been gradually melting away for many years. Behind it rises the Petit Vignemale 3,032 m (9,945 ft), very popular with experienced climbers, offering almost every conceivable kind of technical challenge. From the Refugio de Goriz it takes about 21¼2 hrs to reach the Lago Helado ('frozen lake'), which has not, however, been living up to its name in recent years. Another 1¼2 hr brings you to the summit of Monte Perdido, highest of the three sisters, Las Tres Sorores. Expert climbers are also fond of the Añisclo valley as it offers some of the park's most demanding ascents.
Mountaineering club: Federación Aragonesa de Montañismo, p16.
Mule rides: available around the Ordesa valley. Ask for details at the information centre.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Tourist offices:
Huesca, C/ Coso Alto, 23, 22003, T: 22 57 58. 
Park office:
Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido, Pl. de Cervantes, 5, Huesca, T: (974) 24 33 61, F: 24 27 25.
Weather information:
Información Meteorológica,T: (906) 36 53 22.