The Ascent of Mulhachén (3479m)

Mulhachén is the highest mountain in mainland Spain and our main expedition objective. We set out from Ref. Poqueira and made a steady climb up the wide south ridge, via the slightly lower Mulhachén II.

 

Nearer the summit, storm clouds began to build and the skies darkened.

 

With only about 100m left to go, hail start pouring down on us. 

 

As the hail landed, it evaporated almost instantly on the hot rocks and suddenly we were enveloped in a strange steaming mountainside - a phenomenon I'd not really seen before. As the guys got their waterproofs on, I nipped onto the summit marker and found a phenomenon I had experienced before - it was vibrating hard and humming loudly! 

 

The electrical activity in the storm cloud was making its presence know - it was no place to hang around. As I rapidly left the summit, I was getting electrical shocks on my temples from the wire in my hood! We all descended to a safe place and waited for the storm to pass, which it did as quickly as it arrived. We could then make another attempt - this time all making the summit!

 

We were the highest people in all of Spain!

 

We descended the steep west ridge, at the bottom of which, we had great views of the north face.

 

Then made it to the bivi hut at Ref. de la Caldera, in some light drizzle. Thankfully there was space for us! Phew! We claimed our bed spaces before anyone else arrived (in the end we only had to share with a French couple).

 

When it dried up at about 6pm, it was time to melt snow for brews and dinner.

 

A delicious boil in the bag!

 

Before dark, the skies totally cleared, so Aled and I took some of the lads up for a rocky ridge scramble above the camp.

 

It was a brilliant ridge up to Puntal de la Caldera (3322m), with outstanding views.

 

We tried to do the full horseshoe above the refuge, but got stopped at a difficult 30m cliff that needed to be abseiled down. 

 

We watched the sun set from the ridge, then scrambled down to the refuge.

 

I was excited to be trying out my new Rab sleeping bag. It packs away very small, and thankfully, it was very warm!