Walk 9 August 2015 Mulhacen

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Hi
We have been experiencing some very muggy weather for a while now, so, in an effort to find somewhere a bit cooler and fresher, we headed off for Mulhacen and boy, did we cool down.
We had a very early, 7am departure from Beznar in order to get to Capileira for 8am, we were catching the 8.30 National park bus. It’s normally quiet in Capileira at that time in the morning but on Sunday it was buzzing. There was nowhere to park and all the girls were wearing high heels and evening dresses. Normally they would be wearing hiking boots and carrying rucksacks. We then discovered it was a fiesta weekend and they were just going home, we ended up parking a bus ride away.
There was just enough time for a quick coffee whilst we waited for our bus. When I had tried to book the bus a couple of weeks ago. I was told there weren’t sufficient places for 18 people but, after speaking to Paco who works for the National park in Capileira and who we have known for many years, he organized for us to have our own special bus again. It’s well worth the €10.00 (€5.00 for old gits) to be taken up the mountain to the 2700 metre line.
It was cool when we started walking and everyone was wearing their fleeces but we had not been climbing long before we were back into T shirts. The weather was looking promising and there were patches of blue sky, something that we have been missing for while. We got to within the last kilometer of the climb when the sky started to darken and the temperature dropped like a stone, a couple of minutes later it started to rain. With our waterproof jackets, hats, scarves and gloves on we set off again for the final ascent of the summit. This last section is normally very easy but along with the rain a blustery wind had appeared. We tossed about like rag dolls as we struggled to the top. What I could not understand was that, while we were having difficulty standing up, just 100 metres in front the ones on the summit were lounging about without a care in the world, they were on a different planet. There was no wind, the sun was shining and the temperature was at least 10 degrees higher.
We stopped for lunch at the top before eventually deciding we had better start our return journey. There are a couple of ways back, return via the outbound route or a steep drop down towards the Caldera. Mike decided to take a group back on the easy route and the rest of us to took the steep drop. It’s not a route I would like to go up but for a descent it makes a good alternative. Both teams met up again back at the bus stop where it started to rain again but, it didn’t matter, as we had succeeded in our mission.
All our objectives had been achieved. We had climbed mainland Spain’s highest mountain, we had rediscovered the sun, we had cooled down and we even got wet in August which must be a first.
Well done to everyone, particularly the Mulhacen virgin’s, for facing adversity without whinging.         
 
We walked 14.8 km and climbed 802 metres.


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