The Enchanted Mountain ...on route to Espot. The northern summit is thirty feet lower than the southern summit which is 2745 m and they are separated by an abrupt “gash”. On the saddle between the two, the “Enforcadura”, stands the isolated stone pinnacles to which the Encantados owe their name. The legend goes that two shepherds (or Chamois hunters depending on your source) were trying to scale the peaks on a Sunday morning and hearing the sound of bells from the spire in Espot, did not descend to mass and so were turned to stone. The lake below the peaks is Estany de Sant Maurici with steep wooded sides and a long waterfall at the western end.
This is the Estany del Port de Ratera with a cirque and Cap de Crabes (2720 m) on the left of the picture. It was a brilliant day with a clear sky but with the altitude, the temperature was just right for walking. Soon after this, we stopped for a cup of soup and lunch surrounded by small streams cascading down the valley.
A tarn in the Parc Nacional d’Aiguestortes I Estany de Sant Maurici just after the Port de Ratera (2534 m) looking north. At the pass the terrain levelled surrounded by mountains on all sides with small rivelets of snowmelt everywhere and lots of flowers hugging the ground. From here there was a route to Refugio de Saboredo to the north and a pista to the Val de Aran. In the morning we’d left the Refugio de Colomers and climbed to a series of lakes before the main pass. The trek from here was mainly downhill past lakes on different levels to eventually reach los Encantados and Sant Maurici lake. On the pista near the lower lake we met several day trippers from Espot.
A view looking back on our path (west) to the Collada de Ballibierna which is the notch to the left of centre in the picture with Estany Cap de Llauset in the foreground. The GR11 turns to the left in the picture after descending the first snow slope and then comes down and around to the left shore of the lake (as seen in photo). This avoids a steep scree/snow slope that is seen lower down before the lake. At the Colladeta de Riu Bueno there was a cool wind and my first sighting of Ravens on the trip.
The view looking east from the Collado de Ballibierna (2720 m) towards the Estany Cap de Llauset and the next pass, the Colladeta de Riu Bueno (2525 m). The peak to the right of the pass is Pic de la Solana de Llauset (2674 m) and to the far left the Pic de Soubiron (2815 m). There was no path down to start with, just rockfalls and a snow slope. The Maladeta and Poset massives are now behind us now; the night before we’d camped near the Puen de Corones on the south side of Aneto, the highest peak at 3404 m in the Pyrenees.
