Bujaruelo - Brecha de Rolando - Gavarnie

Date: 1 Sept 2014
Time: 3 days
Difficulty: Easy, but long
Distance: 29km
GPS Track: https://bit.ly/2SoYyce
Awesome excursion! Long, but without difficulty. It is recommended not to carry a lot of load. We have done it in 3 days (stages).
More photos and videos at http://www.mariadana.com/viajes/2014-brecha-de-rolando-gavarnie/?lang=es
Day 1 (9km) - Bujaruelo - Puerto de Bujaruelo - Ref. Sarradets - Brecha de Rolando. Start 9:00 - End 17:00
We have started (me and my 12 year old daughter) from San Nicolas de Bujaruelo, early at 9am. The path begins with a fairly steep climb to the first electricity pylon. Then it is smoother on a stone path. Then you enter a very long valley where we find marmots. The last piece of the valley rises stronger to the Puerto de Bujaruelo.
In the Port there are many people who come from the 4 paths: Coll de Tents (French parking), Gavarnie through the valley, Brecha de Rolando and Bujaruelo.
From there you enter the path to the right (looking at Gavarnie) next to the Tallion massif. We follow the path full of stones, quite easy without much climb to the waterfall that comes from the Tallion glacier.
There begins a fairly strong climb, passing the waterfall with wet rocks (be careful, it is recommended to go where there is a chain). You climb at least 1 hour, along a strong path with many stones to the Tallion glacier. From there in 5 min to get to the Sarradets Refuge.
Another break and have a bite to eat, pitch the tent, and drop the load.
We began to climb the slope to the Rolando gap. A path with many stones that make you go up 2 steps, go down 1 with the stones. Until we reach the base of the Brecha glacier where there is another, smoother but snow-filled climb. Crampons are not necessary (in early September) because the path is already made up of others and it is not difficult. If you have good boots and be careful, it is easy to climb.
Arriving in La Brecha, the views are ... impressive !!! It is something that cannot be explained in a few words. Must see! You are also right on the border between France and Spain.
On the way back to the refuge we decided to go down through the snow with some plastic garbage. It was faster and easier, safe and fun. We slept in the tent next to the shelter.
Day 2 (9km) - Ref. Sarradets - Circo Gavarnie (up the stairs) - Gavarnie. Start 9:00 - End 16:00
We left around 9am going down the Sarradets valley, an easy path until we reached a steep descent point, before the margin of the Circus. When we pass in the valley on the left, we must orient at the beginning where the road leads, always looking at the signs of the others with the stones. It's easy to get lost and you can end up badly ...
But at a moment the road begins to be very well marked with a yellow "H" and a red arrow. Be careful where you put a red cross! Do not go beyond this point that is danger. Also the red dots in red ones indicate you to be careful.
Normally people do this route going up not going down like us ... But in the end it was not as difficult as we thought at first. We have arrived at noon at the Cirque de Gavarnie, surrounded by 4 large waterfalls. Awesome!
The road to Gavarnie is easy about 3-4km. We arrive at the Gavarnie campsite where we sleep and rest until the next day.
Day 3 (12km) - Gavarnie - Puerto de Bujaruelo - Bujaruelo. Start 9:30 - End 18:00
It starts right next to the campsite, there is a path that goes straight up behind the police office, to the main road to Puerto de Bujaruelo. If not, you have to take the path from the center of Gavarnie through the church.
In a few minutes a fairly steep climb begins to a cabin and a meadow. From there there is a crossroads with 2 roads: one that goes down to the Circo de Gavarnie and the other towards Puerto de Bujaruelo.
We continue through the meadow, gradually climbing up to about 1800m. Over there the road begins to be more with stones and a lot of heat. We recommend bringing water. After a while, just before another crossing, we came to a small waterfall, cool just in time. We have filled the bottles with water (using pills to kill bugs, be careful not to drink if you don't have pills).
We pass the crossroads of the 2 paths: the gap and bujaruelo and continue through a long meadow to the Cabaña de Soldats. We rest for a while and continue climbing little by little towards the Puerto de Bujaruelo. Through the middle of the valley the path is lost but you are looking for a smoother ascent to the path that is a little higher. For there easier and straight to the Port.
Another break and we already started the descent towards Bujaruelo, where we climbed on the first day. Very quiet because many marmots come out of this valley in the afternoon. You can find a show.
We arrived at San Nicolas de Bujaruelo, very tired but loaded with very good memories and an unforgettable experience!
We recommend this excursion to everyone who likes to go in the mountains.