Maps: The IGN (Institut Géographique National) maps are very good, if somewhat different from British OS maps. The entire country is covered by the 1/25000 scale 'séries bleues' which are excellent. The most popular areas are covered by the larger 'Cartes de Randonnée', which are now covered with a GPS grid ('Compatible GPS'). Just be aware that footpaths marked red on the maps may not have been cleared or freshly way marked for a long time, and may indeed follow a completely new route now. This is particularly true of the foothills and away from the National Park.
In Spain, the best of a bewildering array of private editions are the Alpina new editions (the old ones are disastrously poor), or Ediciones Pirineo which are OK but not to be taken too seriously.
Paths vary enormously from clear and well sign-posted and way marked, to off-trail 'routes' following cairns over rough country. Beware, some of the routes marked on the maps can be very vague or indeed have disappeared or been wrongly marked on the map.

Your level
Are you 'promeneur' (casual stroller), 'marcheur' (walker/rambler), 'randonneur' (hiker) or 'montagnard'? As well as fitness level ('forme physique'), if you wish to break away from the main drags you should be 'expérimenté' (experienced) and versed in the art of map-reading and navigation. On the French side, weather is still pretty much Atlantic and fog is part of the scene, so a map must be taken and used correctly. Don't forget, paths here can be surprisingly wild too: a compass and the know-how to use it is thus essential once away into the wilds.
Other information to take into consideration: 'la dénivelée' (amount of climb). Is it 'raide' (steep)? Is it 'balisé' (way marked)? 'évident' (easy to find)? For more detailed vocabulary see Glossary below.

Organisations
Le Club Alpin Français (CAF)
La Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédèstre (FFRP)
Are nationwide organisations with active branches all over the country.
The many hiking clubs and associations also welcome new members. Try your phone book, local tourist office or search engine.
In Spain the equivalent organisations, which also run the networks of huts, are:
Federaciòn Aragonesa de Montañismo.
Federaciò d'Entitats Excursionistes de Catalunya (FEEC).

Otherwise, for a professional European Mountain Leader, see the list of 'accompagnateurs en montagnes' (hiking guides) in the département you wish to visit. Or try Le Bureau de Guides or similar organisation in resort villages.

Both the professionals and the clubs organise outings of all levels into the hills and mountains at all times of year. The advantage of the clubs is that it's usually free, apart from annual membership, plus of course travel, accommodation. However, groups can be very large, so it's for those who enjoy a lot of company. These organisations also offer a good range of training programmes and often have equipment to lend.
The professional 'accompagnateurs en montagnes' often have a set programme of outings, all year round. Although they are professionals, usually freelance, who sell their services, groups are limited in size and the leader is trained in the environment, local history etc as well as safety, first aid, avalanche avoidance, snowshoeing etc, so it's usually more than just a walk.

Weather
Despite the mildness of the weather in South-West France, try to make sure that you are not caught out! Even in mid-summer it can be cold and windy up a height. Remember many walks will take you to above 2,000 metres (6,000 ft +) where the air is much cooler and winds stronger. In general, temperature drops by 7°C per 1,000m, so if it's 27° at Lourdes at 400m, that's 20° at 1,400m, and 13° at 2,400m but with wind chill factor it may feel much colder. On the other hand, the sun is more powerful up in the mountains, as the atmosphere is less dense. You may feel quite cool but end up with a handsome sunburn.
Electric storms are also very much part of the scene, especially from May to early August, so an early start is essential. These can bring impressive drops in temperature with hail, sleet or snow even in July and August. Not to mention the lightning itself of course; it should be taken very seriously: DO NOT set off too late when 'orages' are forecast or evident on the horizon, and if lightning is approaching, stay calm and head downhill away from ridges and heights, or isolated high points like trees.
Snowfall usually arrives towards the end of September from anything above 1,200m, and it can snow this low until May: beware icy conditions and avalanches (see section on 'Winter hillwalking'). But long periods of settled and often mild weather can make for glorious walking conditions right through the autumn and winter, with rainy or snowy periods breaking the fine spells from time to time, and often we are in bright, crisp weather up here while all of Gascony is under a blanket of cold fog. March usually heralds the wet season through to July. Nothing like the long, long periods of grey and rain in the British Isles though.
On the Spanish side, conditions are generally drier and sunnier, but bad weather can quickly come in from the Med with torrential rains, particularly in autumn and spring, and winter temperatures can be very low due to altitude.

For local weather forecasts, the internet has made things so much easier. Try www.meteo.fr or simply look for 'Meteo Huesca' or whatever region or resort you may wish to check out.
If your French is up to scratch, the Météo France telephone service 'Prévisions de Montagne' is excellent: phone 08 92 68 02 + the number of appropriate département, then '3' for 'Montagne/Neige'. In winter there is also a 'Neige/Avalanche' service on
08 92 68 10 20. In resorts, the Offices de Tourisme, Maison du Parc National as well as many hotels, hostels and huts, will post the latest mountain weather forecasts daily, and some ski resorts have live webcam coverage.



The full winter kit: raquettes, poles, waterproof boots, overtrousers or salopette, warm layered clothing, warm gloves, wind/waterproof jacket + hat in sack, strong sunglasses and cream. I also have an ice-axe, avalanche tranceiver, shovel and probes for mountainous terrain.


Clothing and equipment:
I won't give a complete list but common sense dictates that you should always be prepared for the worst: a pair of gloves and a warm hat weigh virtually nothing and should 'live' permanently in your sack. Ditto waterproof, windproof jacket. A fleece is vital too, never mind if it stays in your sack, with a bit of luck. But the sun can be the enemy: sunhat/cap and cream are essential, plus plenty of water: don't count on mountain streams, as livestock is everywhere except in the very highest areas.
Tips:
- A big, half-empty backpack is more comfortable and useful than a small bag bursting at the seams.
- A telescopic walking pole or two is very useful for crossing streams or snow or grassy slopes, bashing brambles etc. Retract it and tie it on your pack if you prefer not to use it all the time.
- A torch or headlamp can save you when a walk turns out longer than expected.
- A survival blanket should live in your bag along with some high-energy food like glucose, a whistle, a small first aid kit, a mobile phone and, of course, map, map cover if rainy, and compass.


Access
One of the most pleasant aspects of walking in the Pyrenees is that above a certain height beyond the last villages, almost all the land is common, so access is not an issue. These vast tracts of upland, forest, moors, mountains, are mainly controlled by village or area syndicates, which have been in place for centuries and which have managed to keep the highlands in the hands of local people in each commune. The common grazing lands where herds are brought during the 'transhumance' (increasingly promoted as a tourist-friendly event) are known as 'estives' here and not 'alpages'. The syndicates and individual herders are very tolerant towards walkers in general as long as they obey the usual common sense rules regarding keeping dogs on leashes, closing gates etc. In some upland grazing areas, however, dogs are not tolerated at all in the summer when the herds are up on the commons. Look out for 'Chiens interdits' or 'chiens divaguants (wandering=unleashed) interdits' signs. Otherwise, any herders you might meet are usually very friendly, especially in quieter areas where they have little company.

Winter hillwalking and snowshoeing - a few tips

With the first snow of autumn, the mountains and uplands of France look so lovely. Yet how many keen walkers are put off from winter hillwalking as they don't have the experience or knowledge to leave the ski-resorts or set off for more than the shortest stroll in the snow? In fact, this is a great time to be getting out into those hills, the Pyrénées, Cévennes and Southern Alps often seeing long periods of fine weather throughout the winter. But yes, it is definitely wise to be cautious. So please allow me to give you a few tips...

Tips
- Don't like snow? South-facing slopes will be clear much higher up. Aim for East-West
valleys for long, sunny walks above the villages. Beware of steeper ground where
ice, old avalanches and drifts linger in ravines and hollows. Stay on tracks and gentler
territory if in doubt.
- Otherwise, good snow is often in those shady North-facing forests or higher up.

Snowshoes
You may have seen folk with plastic moulded snowshoes padding over the snow while you've been up to your thighs in it. These 'raquettes' can be hired complete with sticks at ski-hire places. Manufacturers like TSL or Folly's make tough, lightweight models designed to avoid build-up of snow and have steel crampons and teeth to help adherence. They are great when conditions are right, really helping to stay above rather than in the snow. But is it
really as much fun and as easy as it looks in the photographs ? Well, it can be, but you should be aware of certain conditions and traps:

 - Wet, heavy snow, typical of autumn and spring, will stick and will not hold the raquettes.
Going can be excruciatingly tiring and slow (and beware of avalanches).
- Fresh powder snow, ditto (ditto avalanches too).
- Bushy areas where you can crash through fragile snow, ditto.
- Hot sun melts the surface which then freezes, creating dangerously icy slopes in the morning. This may turn slushy later in the day.
- Avalanches: avoid all suspect slopes, whether crossing the slope or traversing below.
Training and experience are vital when heading into avalanche country. Otherwise stick to gentler country.

Other aspects:
- Can you get your vehicle to the start of the walk and back, in safety? Thermo-contact
('thermo-gomme') tyres and snowchains are a must.
- Ready for severe weather? Clothing and fitness up to scratch? Flask or stove packed?
- Time margin wide enough? Night falls early (don't forget head-torch).
- Navigation and map-reading skills good enough? Got your compass, altimetre? Winter navigation is usually much trickier than summer.

Don't forget to check weather and avalanche conditions before you even leave the house (see 'Weather forecasts' section). Or go out with a professional 'accompagnateur en montagne'. You can also follow 'avalanche awareness' sessions with these mountain leaders or with organisations like the CAF. (See 'Organisations').

Emergencies
Emergency services
17 The French number for mountain rescue 'secours en montagne'
112 The international emergency number. They will ask if you want SAMU (ambulance), police, 'pompiers' (fire brigade). But you may need 'secours en montagne' (mountain rescue). Before phoning make sure you can tell them what your position is (use your map to give GPS coordinates or your relative position: 'Un kilomètre au sud-ouest du Refuge Dupont, sur le sentier,' for example. Be ready to tell them what the problem is, too. If your French is poor try to get help from passers-by.


The commonest problems:
Cheville, bras, jambe… cassé (broken ankle, arm, leg…)
Une foulure de cheville (a sprained ankle)
Un malaise (dizzy spells, faintness)
Une crise, un malaise cardiaque (heart attack, heart problem)
Une crise respiratoire (breathing problems)
Hypothermie (ditto) hyperthermie (sunstroke)
La nausée (nausea)
Des douleurs au… (pains in the…)

The rescue services are free apart from in the ski resorts (if you're skiing it's a good idea if you aren't already covered to take out the insurance wih your lift pass).
And it's always wise to let somebody know which route you're taking before you set off.


Hunting
Hunting is the bane of the hiker, who is the bane of the hunter! Tolerance, understanding, respect and care should be employed. No matter what your feelings are about hunting, remember these people are at home, participating in an activity which, unlike in some other countries, has a long tradition as a poor man's prerogative, essential traditionally not only as a means of bringing extra protein to the family, but also as a means of protecting forestry, crops and even gardens from animal damage. Even today, in most areas of the Pyrénées, deer and wild boar are so prolific that such damage is extremely widespread.
Hunting is forbidden within the (narrow) limits of the Pyrénées National Park, and the hunters usually have more sense than to hunt on or near popular trails, but in the forests of the valleys and foot-hills great 'battues' (beats) for wild boar, roe or red deer take place at weekends, often with large numbers of vehicles parked up along the forestry tracks. During these 'battues', men preceded by hounds will beat through the forest or moorland to try to flush the game towards a line of armed hunters, often spread out along a track or even a road. In a case where your walk brings you into contact with such a beat, try to speak to the hunters to see exactly what's going on and if it's OK, head on, or consider an alternative route. You can usually hear the hounds from some distance and signs will often be posted at main access points to warn the public. Personally I wear bright colours in the autumn so that I will be seen!
You may also come across pigeon hunting where the hunters hide in tree-houses or behind hides of bracken and branch, waiting for the migratory wood pigeon or 'palombe' to pass. In the hills these hides are usually located at passes or tops of the lower or middle mountains.


Local economy
One of the commonest questions I hear from my hiking groups when we're at the more remote mountain villages is: "How on Earth do people make a living here?" In some places today I could answer, "They don't," as holiday homes or ruins have taken over.
But traditionally the mainstay of local economy is livestock rearing, with the vast communal upland 'estives' playing a vital role, pastures around the villages being limited and reserved for spring and autumn grazing and the vital haymaking. The higher the village, the greater the importance of hay, as the winters are longer and growing seasons shorter. In Pyrenean villages animals were kept indoors right through the winter and fed on hay, although this tradition is more rarely followed today. The importance of grass, for grazing or for hay, cannot be overestimated. The efforts involved in clearing forest in inaccessible places, digging irrigation canals to water pastures through the summer, the building of extensive summer hamlets with huts and enclosures, 'fridges' and ponds and ice-wells, now sadly mostly in ruin, is a truly impressive feat. One of the best places to see these relics is the Campan valley, South of Bagnères-de-Bigorre.
 
The other traditional mainstay of Pyrenean economy is forestry. Much of the vast area of forestry here is owned and managed by village or valley syndicates although there are large tracts of 'Forêt Domaniale' which belong to the state and are managed by the Office Nationale des Forêts (ONF). The forest has always supplied wood and game, of course, but has also been an important source of income and employment. The forests of the Pyrénées are certainly in much better condition today than for a long time, having recovered from the last three centuries of clearance, overcutting and overgrazing due to overpopulation, plus the demands of the French navy for masts, the use of wood in local foundries and the widespread importance of charcoal making, all of which activities have disappeared.

Today, things are different: European subsidies are vital to the remaining farmers and, in the official mountain areas ('zones de montagne'), these are received for continuing the traditional style of farming and maintaining the landscapes. The forest, however, continues to expand.
Tourism is often vital, hay barns can be sold off as holiday homes, or converted as lets, and the ski resorts and supporting services employ large numbers of locals and outsiders. But the areas more remote from the big tourist sites and skiing continue to dwindle. Employment for any remaining people of working age is a problem as the last factories of the valleys and foothills continue to struggle.

Wildlife
The Pyrénées have often been described as a naturalist's paradise. By European standards this is certainly true.
Birdwatchers in particular will have rich observations, with each altitude zone and vegetation zone having its own particular treasures. Look out for the following gems, to name but a few:
Fields, woods and villages: hoopoe, honey buzzard, hen harrier, black and red kite.
Montane forest: black woodpecker, capercaillie.
Sub-alpine forest: white-backed woodpecker, Tengmalm's owl.
Sunny slopes: wheatear, rock thrush, short-toed eagle.   
Crags and cliffs: wallcreeper, Alpine swift, griffon, Egyptian and bearded vulture, Alpine chough and chough, peregrine falcon.
Mountains: golden eagle, ptarmigan, alpine ascentor, snow finch.
Mediterranean/lower Spanish Pyrenees: bee-eater, roller, black wheater, Bonelli's eagle.
Migrants: the spectacular spring and autumn flights of crane are unforgettable, but you may also spot white or black stork.

Mammals
Izards, the Pyrenean chamois, are increasingly common, especially in the national parks and nature reserves. Sadly though, the last Pyrenean ibex died at the end of the 1990s. Marmots are a very common sight, but few people realise that they were introduced from the Alps in the 1960s. Brown bears have been in the news recently as the region followed the antics of one of the bears introduced from Slovenia, sadly hounded and finally hit by a car in July 2007. Otherwise there are still some dozen bears, half of which were introduced into the central Pyrénées and half of which are natives of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. You will also see the tracks of wild boar, red and roe deer and quite easily see the deer themselves. If you know your stuff, you'll spot the tracks of wild cat, pine marten, stone marten ('fouine') and genet, these last four being oh so discreet but not so rare nocturnal hunters – just have a look around in the winter, the proof is written in the snow.


Wild flowers

The Pyrenees are heaven for botanists. From late March the valleys, and then the slopes and finally the heights in June and July, host an unbelievable richness of flowering plants. Highlights: daffodils and narcissi in the high valleys in April; orchids, lilies, wild tulips in the Corbières or Spain in May; oceans of blue irises in the limestone mountain areas such as Gavarnie in June and July and from late spring/early summer, marshes alive with birdseye primrose, yellow saxifrage, insectivorous butterwort, electric blue gentians everywhere and fascinating endemics like ramondia (see photo) or Pyrenean saxifrage in the rocks, whole mountainsides festooned with alpine rhododendron, fields of tall yellow gentians or deadly purple aconites (monkshood)… but the list is so long.


Mountain vocabulary
As in any environment, the people of these mountains have developed a specific vocabulary to describe the world surrounding them. The best introduction to this language is simply to read your guide book and map. The following lexicon should come in useful for understanding your guide book and talking to people on the terrain.


Un abreuvoir: Drinking trough
Un agneau: Lamb
Un aigle: Eagle
L'ardoise: Slate
Une artigue: Pasture gained from forest
Une barre: Small cliff, crag
Une biche: Doe
Un bloc: Boulder   
Une borde, Grange: Hay barn
Une brebis: Sheep (ewe)
Une brèche: Gap, breach
Une cabane: Shepherd's hut
Un caillou: Pebble, stone
Le calcaire: Limestone
Un cerf: Red deer
Un chaos: Boulder field   
Un chemin: Wide trail, lane
Un chevrueil: Roe deer
Un col, une courade, une hourquette, un port: Pass
Un couloir: Gully
Une cuvette: Hollow
Les éboulis: Scree

Une estive: Upland pasture
Le foin: Hay
Une falaise: Cliff
Un gave: Mountain stream (West only)
Le grès: Sandstone
Un gypaëte: Lammergeyer, bearded vulture
La hêtraie: Beech forest
Le hêtre: Beech tree
Un izard: Chamois   
Un lacet: Sharp bend
Un lapiaz: Limestone pavement or chaos
L'orry: Dry stone hut
Un ours: Bear
Un parois: Rockface

Un pas: Passage where care is needed
Une passerelle: Footbridge
Une pente: Slope
Le pin: Pine
La pinède: Pine forest
Une piste: Track
Un plat, replat: Flat area
Potable: Drinkable
Un sanglier: Wild boar
Le sapin: Fir
La sapinière: Fir forest
Une sente: Poorly marked trail, animal trail
Un sentier: Path
Une source: A spring   
Un sommet: Summit
Un soum: Rounded summit
La transhumance: Seasonal movement of herds
Un troupeau: Herd
Une vire: Natural shelf
Un vautour: Vulture



To find out more, contact:
Julien Johnston, Mountain Leader,
65130 Batsère, Hautes Pyrénées.
Tel. 05 62 39 13 92 Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bonne randonnée!

All text and photographs © Julien Johnston November 2007