When we booked a family holiday to the Pyrenees I’d idly googled to see if there were any races on the weekend we’d planned on being there, and luckily one popped up which I duly entered as ‘A Special Father’s Day Treat’. I’ve never done a race abroad so was keen to see what the craic was.
Montlude (2518m) is a comparably modest Pyrenean peak accessed from the Val d’Aran. The valley is on the Spanish side of the border but on the French side of the pyrenean watershed, so it has a feeling of independence and uses its own language of Aranese. Apart from a couple of overdeveloped ski resorts it’s a beautiful spot, picturesque slate-roofed villages cling to the steep, green valley walls with snow-capped jagged peaks looming above.
The night before the race there was a storm and heavy downpour, I woke up to a thick fog out of the window. We’d been told the week before that crampons were recommended for the race due to late season snow. Safe to say conditions weren’t going to be what I’d originally anticipated.
The start was more like what I’d expected, big inflatable start line thingy, loud euro tunes, runners in colourful lycra, almost everyone with poles. Loads of folk turned out to watch. The atmosphere was great.
We ran through the town of Les and hit the first climb. It was steep; really, really steep. And long. In about 5 miles we went up over 6500 feet on mostly soft, loose ground. It was absolutely relentless. I’m not a great climber at the best of times but dug in with a group and got increasingly jealous of everyone’s poles clacking away beside me.
The majority of the route was seldom trod forest paths, it got quite interesting near the top with some rocky ridgelines and within a few hundred feet from the Montlude summit we popped out of the cloud and got some excellent views over towards the Maladeta massif.
It felt so good to be working with gravity again on the descent. Most of the top section was off trail, over heathery, boggy, tussocky ground with patches of soft snow. The crampons weren’t needed. Visibility was pretty much zero and it all started to feel pretty familiar territory.
I was descending a good bit quicker than anyone else around me but kept getting lost in the fog and backtracking and regrouping which was frustrating. At this stage it felt more like the LAMM than a European trail race. When we reached the forest again the trails were more defined and the route finding straightforward (the whole route was very well marked to be fair) and I pulled away and started catching stragglers in front. The descent was much more stretched out with one cruel, sharp climb near the end. Despite some horrible cramps along an undulating riverside section I finished feeling good in 19th place
The lack of views for the most part was a wee bit of a shame but it was a fun route. The organisation of the race was excellent, it still had a local feel, I think it was the first or second year of running. But the slick website and social media presence suggests an intention to grow. I did the Skyrace which was 27km/2600m+, they also had a 10km and an ultra which covered similar ground. It was 30 Euro to enter, very reasonable if compared to its Scottish ‘skyrunning’ equivalent. My only experience of European running before this had been on the well groomed trails of Chamonix, this was much wilder terrain. Both the up-down profile and conditions underfoot made it feel not dissimilar to a Scottish hill race. Just on a really big hill.
The weather improved dramatically the next few days, which were spent hiking with the family in the Val d’Aran and Aigüestortes national park. I can’t recommend the area enough, Aigüestortes (which means twisted water) is a particularly stunning mix of sharp rocky peaks, waterfalls and mountain lakes.
Anthony Hemmings