Climbing the Pic des Posets or Pointe de Llardana via the normal route from the Angel Orus refuge is an exceptional hike, despite the crowds. A mineral setting and magnificent geological formations enable you to climb the second-highest summit in the Pyrenees, without any major difficulties, on a classic hiking route. The views from the summit plateau over the Espadas ridge, the LLardana tooth and the Maladeta and Aneto ranges are spectacular.
Sur la crête sommitale du pic des Posets, vue sur la crête des Espadas
Technical summary
The data correspond to the round trip from the Angel Orus hut.
■ Departure point: Angel Orus refuge, Eriste, Aragon, Spain
■ Type of route: round-trip high-mountain hike
■ Distance: 9.9 km
■ Cumulative elevation gain: +1219 m
■ Cumulative negative altitude gain: -1219 m
■ Estimated total time: 5h to 6h ■ Min and max altitude: 2150 m / 3369 m
■ Marking: no, but frequent cairns and well-marked trails
■ Equipment in place: none
■ Equipment required: crampons if névé in the Fonda canal
Difficulties: some steep sections, possible presence of firn to climb in the upper part of the Canal Fonda below the Dent de la Llardana.
Access to the place
Drive to Eriste, just before Benasque. Park in the parking lots beside the reservoir. To get to the starting point for the walk to the Angel Orus refuge, take a shuttle bus (€5 return, 20') to the Espigantosa waterfall parking lot (a steep, narrow mini-road above the Rio Eriste gorges).
From the waterfall parking lot, take the path up to the refuge (580m d+, 3.5 km), which takes around 1h30.
Itinerary description
Course
Part 1: from the refuge to the Dent de Llardana pass (3027m, 2h to 2h30)
Leave the refuge to the north and follow the GR 11.2 up the slopes to the north until you reach the Llardaneta torrent. At the 1st fork in the road, leave the GR 11.2, which goes right towards the Estos refuge, and follow the GR 11.2 left towards the Viados refuge. You come out into a wide valley where the torrent flows. Stay on the right-hand side of the torrent and leave the GR 11.2 a little further up to climb the Fonda canal, which gradually narrows to form a narrow gorge.
Pass through the narrow gap and enter a stony valley, possibly occupied by an upper nevé (not today), to reach a small pass at the foot of the Dent de Llardana at 3025m. From this landing, the ramp leading to the summit of Posets can be seen on the upper right.
Part 2: Dent de Llardana pass to Posets summit (3369m, 1h to 1h30)
Easily negotiate a small projection to the right of the col and begin the fairly steep, continuous ascent of the stony ramp. You then reach the summit ridge, which winds gently up to the summit. The view is splendid: to the east, the Maladeta massif and the Pic d'Aneto; to the west, the Espadas ridge, another access route to the summit.
Part 3: Posets summit to Angel Orus hut (2150m, 2h to 2h30)
The return journey follows exactly the same route in the opposite direction. You may just have to link the descent from the refuge to the Espigantosa waterfall later in the day, to catch a shuttle back to Eriste (every half-hour).
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