알린스 최고의 워킹 & 하이킹 경로

Fantastic panoramic views all around; this summit is well worth it, as you can see from my two panorama photos. Ascent from Estany de Sotllo via the pass. I took the partly exposed scrambling/climbing ridge via Pic Verdaguer. Beautiful scrambling; you just have to be careful to stay on the right track. Descent around the summit, then back to the same pass and down past the same beautiful mountain lakes, and via the Valferrera Hut into the valley. The length and roughness of this route surprised me. Luckily, I didn't start my ascent from the hut. The section along the mountainside, especially above the hut, was quite challenging. There are frequent short climbs over rocky outcrops, and at one point, I found myself on a side path below the main trail, which then ended in the undergrowth. After a short climb, everything was fine again.

Bergsee directly in front of the Pica d'Estats

Beautiful mountain lake directly in front of the Pic Verdaguer & the Pica d'Estats

A nice mountain hut in the forest, the starting point for the Pica d'Estats summit. The trail up is well marked, but quite strenuous, as it follows the mountainside for a long time, gaining little elevation, but crossing those rugged rocky peaks.

Nice mountain lake

Beautiful mountain lake

The small secondary peak of the Pica d'Estats. If you've made it to the gap between the two, you should also take this peak. An additional 3000m peak for free (if you don't take the 30m gap height too seriously 😉).

The summit can be reached from several sides. The direct route from the Spanish side to the summit ridge is challenging (I estimate it to be T5 according to the SAC scale). However, you can "cheat" by first crossing the pass to the left to the north side, after which you have to descend a bit to reach the trail from the French side. The technically easiest ascent is certainly from the north via the Refuge du Pinet (T3). However, from the parking lot at L'Artigue, the total elevation gain is around 2,000 meters, which is why staying overnight at the refuge is a good option (a winter room was open in October 2024, €8 per night). I chose the third option, from the Étang de Soulcem. From there, it's "only" 1,500 meters of elevation gain with a difficulty of T3+/T4-. However, I chose a variant for the ascent (see my tour) that isn't on the map and that I would rate as T4+.