From the Ariege to the Big Apple

With the arrival of Spring and the rise in temperature, the brown bear population in the Pyrenees mountains is waking up after the winter hibernation.

The film shows the male adult brown bear Balou soon after leaving his hibernation site (16 March) The bear is attracted to this tree because a mixture of cows blood and mashed up sardines has been spread on it.  It is important to attract the bear to this point because nearby is an automatic camera. The captured image is one way to keep a track of the bear population. Another is by using radio collars like the one Balou can be seen wearing. The signal emitted by the collar helps to locate the bear and track its movements.

About 20 live in the Pyrenees at present. This number is growing due in part to the programme of introducing bears from Slovenia to boost the Pyrenean population and add new stock but the growth in numbers is slow and 20 is still not  a viable population.

At the end of the XIX century bear numbers were much larger particularly in the Couserans region of the Eastern Pyrenees. Life was very hard for the inhabitants and some had the idea to earn their living by becoming bear tamers.

Bear cubs, often left after the mother had been shot, would be trained to do tricks and would be displayed from town to town. The public would pay to see the bear perform. The men were called "montreur d'ours" — literally, "displayer of bears".

In villages like Ercé, Ustou, Aulus in the Couseran area of the Ariege, bear taming became something of an industry. Ercé even had a 'bear training school'

Some Ariege bear tamers travelled far from France including to America realising a better living could be made in the U.S. Some made money travelling with their bears dispalying them from town to town while others became animal trainers in the circus. Others changed their occupations completely and went to work in the mines or in hotels and restaurants, notably in New York.

In New York, it is in Central Park that the immigrants from the Couseran often meet near a rock formation called Ercé Rock, to exchange news from the Pyrenees or prepare for a new arrival from the the 'old' country.

It's Official.....

It's official, the Canigou Massif in the Eastern Pyrenees has just achieved the label 'French Grand Site'.

Pic Canigou

It is the first site designated as such in the Pyrenees. The site includes Pic Canigou the highest point in the site at 2 874m/9 133 feet and the sacred mountain of the Catalans. It also includes the St Martin de Canigou Abbey, the Cortalets and Marialles Refuges and 3 nature reserves.

The Canigou Massif is rich in wildlife like these Isard.

To earn the French Grand Site label from the Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development, the site must have implemented a programme of conservation, management and development that follows sustainable development principles.

The Grand Site de France logo.

Pyrenees Mountain Adventure plans to add a 7 night walking holiday in the Canigou Massif, including an ascent of Pic canigou, to its existing range of summer walking holidays for autumn 2012. Have a look at the PMA website for more information.

Chris McCandless

Chris McCandless (February 12, 1968 – August 1992)

Chris MacCandless grew up in a wealthy family and was gifted intellectually and athletically. He graduated from Emory University with Honours in 1990 and had plans to attend Harvard Law School. Soon afterwards however, he gave 24,000 dollars  that he had saved to Oxfam and went ‘walkabout’, severing all contact with his family and friends, creating a new life for himself tramping around the US. In April 1992 he hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wild. Five months later his decomposed body was found by a hunter.

A self-portrait of Christopher McCandless outside the 'magic bus' on the Stampede Trail which was found undeveloped in his camera after his death.

‘The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlesssly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun’

The story was told by Jon  Krakauer  in the 1998 book 'Into The Wild'

The story was also told in the 2007 film 'Into The Wild' directed by Sean Penn with music by Eddy Vedder and starring Emile Hirsch.

Here is a Charlie Rose interview about 'Into The Wild' with director Sean Penn and musician Eddie Vedder, who composed the soundtrack to the film.  (The picture is of Jon Krakauer who also appears)

 A documentary 'Call of the Wild' by Ron Lamoth takes a less romantic, more balanced look at Chris, his journeying and death. Ron travels to the places Chris visited and talks to the people he knew and who crossed his path at different stages in his life.

The parents of Chris have set up a Memorial Foundation  and a book of his photos and writings (logs, letters, postcards and notes in books) 'Back to the Wild' is available

 

There Is No Such Thing As Bad Weather

John Ruskin once said “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”

The first time I visited the summit of the Pic de la Coum D'Or in winter it was grey and overcast. The peaks in Andorra were covered in cloud and the route I had taken partly obscured. I was not even able to make out the Lanoux resevoir at the foot of the summit - the largest expanse of water in the French Pyrenees. The time on the summit however was almost windless and remarkably peaceful.

Summit view from Pic de la Coum d'Or looking towards Andorra

 On a recent revisit this winter, I had  blue sky and sunshine and the views  were clear.

My snowshoe tracks towards the Pic de la Coum d'Or

The partially frozen Lanoux resevoir and the dam were visible this time and in the distance Pic Carlit - the highest peak in the Catalan Pyrenees Regional Nature Park. This is a favourite mountain area of mine and the area where I prefer to lead  Pyrenees Mountain Adventure walks and treks.

Partially frozen Lanoux Resevoir and in the distance Pic Carlit

However the  wind was much stronger and the summit less of a pleasant experience, the windchill  hastening my descent.

The cold made me think of the herd of 8 or so Isard I had seen on my ascent. I had chosen to approach the peak not by the normal valley route, which I had done before, but via the ridge above the valley. This required more effort but I was able to escape from the normal approach and well trodden path and into a wilder, less visited area and that is where the wildlife can be found. 

The Isard were seen from this spot but out of shot to the right and below me.

It is always exhilarating to see the larger Pyrenean wildlife up close(r) but in winter especially, there is the always the concern that in disturbing the animals I am putting them at risk. Food is much scarcer in the winter and the animals rely on fat reserves built up over the summer to survive. Disturbing them and making them flee, while impressive to watch in terms of their speed, agility, strength and stamina, expends valuable energy which they do not have a great surplus of and therefore makes them more vulnerable to the harshness of the winter. 

Double Boost For Green Travel This Winter

Pyrenees Mountain Adventure holidays are either based in Planès or start and finish there.  Planès is on the Perpignan - Latour de Carol bus route. It is also on the Little Yellow Train 'tourist' railway  route that connects with the Villfranche - Perpignan main line at Villfranche.

Train Line from Perpignan to Latour de Carol

Perpignan to Mont Louis is about 80km. Here are the amounts of CO2 produced by different travel methods based on figures from Tansport Direct. It is assumed that only 2 people are travelling in the cars. Visit the site to play around with the number of occupants in the car to see how the CO2 emmisions per person change.

Transport	CO2 Emissions
Small Car	5.1 kg  of CO2 per passenger with 2  occupant(s)
Large Car	10.3 kg  of CO2 per passenger with 2  occupant(s)
Train	4.3 kg  of CO2 per passenger
Coach	2.4 kg  of CO2 per passenger

From the figures, public transport is a  more environmentally friendly way of travelling than by car.

One of the arguments that people use to justify staying in their cars and not using public transport is that public transport is too expensive? 'If only it were cheaper'. The Pyrenees-Orientales département (county) has just announced that all train journeys on the regular SNCF state run network in the département are now 1 euro. This follows the move in 2008 to make all bus journeys 1 euro.

Other good news is that during the winter season (11th December to 18th March) the price of using the Little Yellow Train 'tourist' railway has also been reduced. You can travel to any station along the line, from any  other SNCF station in the Pyrenees-Orientales for 10 euros. Free bus transfers are available from certain stations to nearby ski resorts.

If you have booked a Pyrenees Mountain Adventure winter snowshoeing holiday then you can make the journey from Perpignan on public transport for as little as 1 euro on the bus or 10 euros on the train. You would only need a short taxi ride from Mont Louis to Planès to complete your journey.

In the summer, the cheapest way to arrive for a Pyrenees Mountain Adventure holiday would be by bus for 1 euro. However I would recommend a bus to Villfranche and then picking up the Little Yellow Train from there to Mont Louis.

As well as saving money by making the Perpignan - Mont Louis transfer by public transport, you have also reduced the carbon footprint of your holiday.

The Pyrenees Mountain Adventure team are happy to help you plan and make the transfer by public transport and will even accompany you on your transfer (at no additional cost) to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

3 Countries In One Day

Spent the day snowshoeing in the Campcardos Valley recently. This valley is at the Western boundary of the Catalan Pyrenees Regional Nature Park - a beautiful part of the Eastern Pyrenees where Pyrenees Mountain Adventure mainly operates.

The Pyrenees run along the border between France and Spain but also  Andorra. In two places the borders of the 3 countries meet at a single point. One of the points is the Pic de Médécourbe and the other is at the head of the Campcardos Valley at the Porteille Blanche/Portella Blanc (White Col).

The walk starts  near to the  village of Porta which was at one time heavily reliant on smuggling. This is no surprise given it's closeness to Andorra and the ease of access provided by the Campcardos Valley. It was mainly tobacco that was smuggled out of Andorra but also other contraband. Smugglers being pursued found it easier to escape being caught because of the border junction. Depending on which country the chasing police were from, the smugglers had a choice of two countries in close proximity to escape into.

The head of the Campcardos Valley

Walking along the valley,  one side is in shade (ubac) and is covered with trees - the biggest and highest silver birch forest in the Pyrenees-Orientales. The other side is exposed to the sun (soulane or adret) and is much more open. The large number of dry stone walls that form enclosures, the terracing to provide areas of flat land and the stone shelters with turf roofs (orris) all indicate that  the valley has been used as summer pasture for animals for centuries.

When I reached the col (where the border marker number 427 was buried under the snow) it was easy for me to step briefly into each of the 3 countries.

Walking along the border between Andorra (left) and France (right)

The HRP (Haute Route Pyrenean), the high level long distance footpath that crosses the whole Pyrenees from (Atlantic) Ocean to (Mediterranean) Sea, passes over the col.

The GR107 (GR = Grande Randonnée) is another long distance footpath that also passes over the col. This is the Cathar Way. The Cathars were members of a Christian breakaway religion  popular in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Catholic Church treated the Cathars as heritics, persecuting them and burning many at the stake. The persecuted Cathars were able to lead a more peaceful existence in Spain where many of them escaped, passing from France to Spain along  the Campcardos Valley and others like them in the eastern Pyrenees.

The Cathar Way is a 220-kilometre-long route from the French medieval town of Foix over the Pyrenees  to Berga in Spain and is broken down into 12 days.

Unusual cloud formation over Pic Campcardos

Walking up and down the valley there were good views towards the second highest peak in the Catalan Pyrenees Regional Nature Park - Pic Campcardos (2905m) I could see the route to it from the valley although in winter with snowshoes and the icy conditions it might be easier to approach it from Spain. A pyrenees mountain adventure for another day!

Son of the Wilderness

It was the anniversary of the death of John Muir recently (21 April 1838 – 24 December 1914)

‘Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.’ John Muir

Born in Dunbar in Scotland, Muir emigrated with his family to the United States when he was 11. His travels through the country and his love of wild places became the basis of the many books and essays he wrote.

As well as an author, he was a botonist and geologist. An early champion of wilderness preservation, he was instrumental in the establishment of the US National Parks system.

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity..."  John Muir, 1898

His beloved Yosemite Valley became one of the first areas of the US to be granted National Park status.The Sierra Club, which he founded, continues to lobby for the protection of wild places in the US.

The John Muir Trail -  a 211 mile/340 km hiking trail in California was named after him. Here is a series of stunning time lapse sequences shot by  Eric M. Keen and William B. Watson during their hike along the John Muir Trrail in 2010.

'Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.'
John Muir Our National Parks , 1901, page 56