27 July 2014 Elorrieta

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A perfect walk on a perfect day just about sums up our walk this weekend to Elorrieta.
It was our big end of the month walk and we needed to go high, as this week it was going to be hot, not like last week when we were wearing fleeces in Cozvijar.
Our destination was Elorrieta, This used to be a former Tuberculosis Hospital, or a hut for Forestry workers in the Lanjaron valley, depending on what story you believe. Nowadays it is a refugio but not like the super luxury Porqueira one we stayed in a few weeks ago. This is basic, no doors, no windows and snow on the floor. I don’t think it will be on our weekend away list for next year.
We had an early 8 am start from the valley and met up with the Granadinos contingent at Hoya de la Mora, the car park on the side of Veleta, at 9 am.
The first part of the walk is a bit boring as it crosses the lower slopes of Veleta, which is not the prettiest place in the Sierra Nevada due to all the sky lifts and buildings that are scattered about. We made good time as far as the Laguna Yeguas, I am sorry to report that there were no icebergs this year.
From here the path gets interesting, particularly around the Laguna de la Virgen which was still surrounded by snow. The path is a well constructed mule track that comes from Lanjaron and crosses the ridge at 3180 metres.
Elisa kept asking me the height as we climbing, intrigued I finally asked why. It transpired that she had never been up to 3000 metres. As we were on the side of the Tajos de la virgen it seemed appropriate that we should hold a small ceremony as she lost her low altitude virginity and joined the Men and Women of the 3km high club. Well done Elisa.
From here it was only a short walk to the refugio. Whilst the building itself is in disrepair the views from it are stunning. We found a ledge and stopped for lunch, with our feet dangled over the edge, and ate our sandwiches whilst enjoying the views over Mulhacen, Capileira and Lanjaron. It was a shame when we had to make a move for our return trip. At the moment we are limited to returning the way we came up. The A team will return and look into crossing the Tajos del Nevero, but at the moment it looks like a route for the intrepid only.
On the way back there was talk of stopping off at the Laguna for a swim, but the closer we got the bravado for swimming in a lake that recently had icebergs floating in it disappeared. In the end no one was willing to take the plunge. I even challenged Dave to a race, but he wasn’t willing to take up the challenge.  So we returned to the cars at Hoya del Mora and then around to the Albergue for drinks and tapa.
This was an excellent day out and a great new Sunday walk.

We walked 16.5 km and climbed 732 metres.

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