Carros de fuego. Ski touring High Level Route. Pyrenees
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Place
Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici-Pyrenees, Cataluña España
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Duration
5 days
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Season
Spring
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Level
⤤See table
Program in PDF
GALLERY
THE TRIP
If there is an area in the Pyrenees that can accommodate a High Route, this is the National Park of Aigüestortes and Sant Maurici, and if there is a route that can be categorized as high route, this is “Carros de foc”.
The story of “Carros de foc” began a little over twenty years ago with the courtesy visits between the mountain huts guards in the park, but it has become quite a classic in the Pyrenees.
The park treasures all the elements that characterize the high Pyrenees and it features the water, either in the form of snow, rivers, waterfalls and lakes. With its varied orography dotted with nice mountain huts as Restanca and Ventosa and Calvell, among others, and famous summits like Montardo (2.833 m), Punta Alta (3.014 m), Tuc de Saboredo (2.833 m) or Tuc de Ratera (2.862 m).
THE DESTINATION
The National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici is one of the fourteen national parks in Spain. Located in the Catalan Pyrenees, together with Ordesa and Monteperdido National Park (in the Aragon Pyrenees) and the Pyrenees National Park (In France), it is an excellent representation of the Pyrenees main ecosystems.
The water is the main sign of identity, which flows in the rivers, canyons, waterfalls and it creates lakes and peat lands. All around more than three thousand meters high mountains, leafy forests of hooked pine, fir, wild pine, birch and beech.
In the park there is a large network of huts that let the mountain lovers to discover all the corners with ease and at any time of the year. In winter, when the park is covered by the snow and their more than 200 lakes freeze, making it the perfect stage for ski touring or snow shoes walks.
Middle Ages left an important mark in de Boi Valley through the Romanesque Art. The church San Climent de Taüll with its square base slim bell tower, is the most famous church between the eight ones built under the influence of Lombard Romanesque and declared a world heritage sites by UNESCO.
This land has natural products used in their traditional cuisines, such as garden vegetables, game meat, mushrooms, berries (cranberries, wild strawberries, currants and raspberries) and honey. Some of their typical dishes are the “civet” made with wild pig, “olla aranesa” and “truhada”.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Visiting a famous Spanish National Park.
- Ideal landscape for various days’ routes.
- Wide network of High Mountain huts.
- Optional choices in case of bad weather.
- Good snow conditions.
- Good traditional gastronomy in the valley.
MORE INFORMATION
Equipment required
It is important to carry a light back pack in order to ski comfortable, so it is recommended to carry just light and indispensable equipment. If you don’t have all the equipment you can rent it, please consult us.
- Backpack (between 30 and 35 litres) with ski tapes.
- Ski touring equipment (skis, boots, skins, blades, batons). An extra skin.
- Safety equipment: ARVA (with extra battery), shovel and probe.
- Crampons and ice axes.
- Helmet
- Technical clothes:
- Socks
- Ski touring pants
- Thermal t-shirt (base layer). An extra one for the hut.
- Extra tights for the hut.
- Fleece jacket or similar (second layer)
- Gore-Tex or similar jacket and trousers (third layer)
- Primaloft jacket or similar.
- Neckie.
- Light and thick gloves.
- Woollen cap.
- Sun cap.
- Gorro para el frío.
- Gorra para el sol.
- Goggles and sunglasses.
- Head lamp (extra batteries)
- Sheet-sleeping bad
- Canteen or camelback (minimun 1 litre). In the case of camel back please considet that it could freeze.
- First aid kit and essential toiletries
- Sunscreen and SPF lip balm
- Camera
Notes
Date Flexibility
Aside from the regular travel trip dates, we are flexible to reconsider new dates if those are more convenient to the client’s leisure plans. Do not hesitate to contact us should you have any different dates in mind.
Time and meeting point
One week prior to the trip departure date, an email will be sent to each participant to give away the meeting point and time along with the guide contact information. At this point any information considered essential to the trip organization will be shared.
Plane tickets (if applicable)
If case you wish us to handle you plane ticket, please contact us with airport arrival and departure details and number of needed luggage. Before issuing any ticket, Price and details Will be send to the client for its approval.
Muntania fee for plane ticket management is 20€ per person.
If, otherwise, you handle your plane tickets, please coordinate with us before hand to check on arrival and departure information.
Please take into consideration getting with you on your carry-on luggage some set of clothing in case of checked luggage lose.
Insurance policy
This activity includes a basic insurance policy; however, we highly recommend to add, for wider coverage, an extra specific travel policy. This extra policy can be contracted exclusively for the activity dates or annually (flexible starting coverage date), covering not just Muntania Outdoors trips but any other sport activity you may carry out throughout the year.
Extra insurance coverage with cancellation option, will allow you or a family member, in case of incident, to get back the total paid amount (or a percentage if you are already travelling) either for plane tickets or any trip service you might have hired. Moreover, through this coverage home return expenses will be taken care of.
Intermundial insurance company is our supplier for extra coverage insurances; thanks to the signed agreement between parties, Muntania gets to offer lower prices than handling directly with them. The travel insurance with cancellation option offered by Muntania will covered up to 900€ for national trips and 2000€ for abroad travel. In case your total trip cost is higher than the given coverage limit, an extension is always possible (please consult).
Further information
- It is not cold in the huts. The primaloft jacket will be used during the activity if the weather is very cold.
- Sleeping bag it is not required, but a silk or cotton sheet sleeping bag would be necessary.
- It is recommended to carry just a few provisions so it can be bought in the huts.
- Slippers are available in all huts, so it is not necessary to carry extra shoes.
- There could be any chance in the huts’ choice depending on the availability and the booking and cancellation conditions that they require previously. These changes will not affect the intended route (just a little shortening or lengthening of any of the stages).
PROGRAM
RELATED TRIPS
- Places available
- Confirmed departure
- Last places available
- Group completed
5 days