Walk Sunday 11 September 2016 Mulhacen

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Our walk on Sunday was the big one, yes, it was Mulhacen and they just don’t come any bigger in mainland Spain. We are so lucky to have this enormous lump of rock on our doorstep.
 Every year I think no one will want to go up it again but every year, in spring, someone will say “when are we doing Mulhacen this year” and the numbers just keep growing. Poor Paco at the information centre keeps having to find bigger and bigger buses for us.
 There were 26 people originally booked to go but, at the last moment we had 3 who were not feeling too good and this is the last place to be if you are not 100%.
  We had a very early, 7 am, start from Beznar, and then drove to Capileira and met up with the sensible ones who had spent the night up there in hotels. After a quick cup of coffee we were off in the Medio Ambiente bus that would takes us to the start of the walk at 2500 metres.
The conditions were superb, clear skies and the temperature perfect for a day out in the hills. We all walked together for the first couple of kms and then we stopped for refreshment and a reassessment of our abilities. We split the group up into 2 parties, some going with Dave on a shorter, steeper route which, after stopping for lunch at the top, would give them sufficient time to go on to the caldera. The rest of us would continue at a more leisurely pace by the old zig zag road.
By the time we arrived on the summit Dave's party had eaten their lunch and were ready to make tracks so after the group photo they set off down the west ridge for the laguna.
  After our lunch we still had time to follow Dave down the west ridge but to miss out going to the Caldera, it would also enable us to sneak up on him and see how he was performing on his first day as a trainee deputy leader.
 The west ridge path makes for a very steep descent and not one I fancy going up. Somehow Dave thinks it would be good fun and says we ought to do it one day, after seeing the pained expressions on the faces of some of the ones going up, I am not so sure.
 We spotted Dave and his group below us so we hid behind some rocks to observe them, this was a complete waste of time as they were that busy chatting they never even looked up until we started throwing rocks at them.
 With the group reunited we set off back down the old road to the bus stop, we had not gone far when the weather suddenly changed. Within 15 minutes we went from blue sky to clouds, I was glad we had dropped down on to the lower track because it looked a lot worse higher up. We had a hour to wait for the bus so we an enjoyable time taking the micky out of everyone.
 When we got back to Capileira we just had time for some refreshments before we headed off home.
 A great day out, one of the best Mulhacen trips ever.
 

We walked 15 km and climbed 918 metres

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