Travel

Hi

My brother and me are taking advantage of the royal wedding bank holidays to take a couple of weeks holiday, and are looking at options for a potential hiking trip.

We quite fancy the pyrenees, and are looking at walking part of the GR11 from around sallent de gallego to at least benasque (and maybe a bit further).

We are both experienced in walking in winter conditions in the UK, but neither of us have visited the Pyrenees before. Can anyone advise what the weather / temperature is like at this time of year? Also, how much snow is likely to be around - do we need crampons / ice axes?

Thanks a lot

Richard

Thanks for that restless. Hopefully Philip will be along with some local knowledge!

We are not averse to use of crampons etc for some of the trek, but are really trying to get a handle on how much of the path is likely to be snow / ice covered at this time of year. We are looking for a more of a "hiking" holiday than mountaineering, so if it looks like the majority of the path is going to be covered then we may have to consider other (lower) options!

Thanks, Richard

More than likely snow gear will be necessary. It's starting to melt a bit now but you will more than likely be more in the snow than out of it. Especially the first couple of days as you will be passing the Picos del Infierno (mountains of hell) and one of the cols is around 2800m. You may be lucky but the last three years there has always been a heavy snowfall towards the end of april with high avalanche risks and it is often still very cold in the evenings. Also some of the spanish refuges don't open until the end of May.