Spanish Pyrenees - Medium/High Level Walks

The great canyons of Ordesa and Anisclo are famous as the best known features of the Parque de Ordesa y Monte Perdido, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site offering extraordinary landscapes in one of Europe's most spectacular regions.

Ordesa's canyon is renowned for its awesome limestone cliffs that tower more than 1000m above the lush beech and pine forests which carpet a narrow valley floor. On the slopes, tough dwarf mountain pine hold out up to the tree line above which are beautiful alpine shrubs and meadows, with many seasonal wildflowers such as edelweiss, gentians, orchids, violets, belladonna, and anemones. Originally gouged out by glacial action, then deepened by the Rio Arazas which drains the western flanks of Monte Perdido - the canyon is geologically unusual in that it lies roughly parallel with the frontier crest. These cliffs provide sensational walking routes along dramatic rock cornices, known as 'fajas' - high altitude stone balconies that offer routes of varying exposure with dramatic views of the canyon and its magnificent waterfalls.

Ordesa National Park was set up specifically to protect the ibex, a wild goat. The valley shelters 171 species of birds - including golden eagles, griffon vultures and alpine finches, 32 mammals - including wild boar, otters and foxes, and eight species of reptiles. Especially notable are the only herds of Pyrenees mountain goats in existence and a healthy number of chamois deer, which in the nineteenth century were in danger of becoming extinct. Ordesa is more open and accessible than Anisclo and its hallmarks of wildly coloured rocks, shadowed ravines and vast slab pinnacles are very reminiscent of the Dolomites.

Anisclo, in contrast is a much narrower and more mysterious proposition which requires more effort to discover; however, once you reach the heart of the canyon it presents a view that is a case of 'once seen, never forgotten.' Based in Torla, about 4km south of the entrance to Ordesa Canyon, this trip includes two classic Pyrenean day walks plus a spectacular 3-day canyons trek with overnight stay in Refugio de Goriz and a pension in Nevin.