Lonely ascent to Almanzor

Nadie and me drove from Madrid to Mengamuñoz (Avila) where we took lunch in a "venta": nice service and good food. Then we drove to Plataforma, the wind was very strong there so we put our clothes on. At 6:30 PM we started hiking to Refugio de Reguero Llano following the main trail. The wind was so strong (100 Km/h / 62 Mi/h) that made us staggering, we also could lie down against it. At 7 PM we were in front of the hut door but the guardian still wasn't there, he had said us that he would descend to do some purchases. So went to Garganta de las Pozas while he came back. At 8:45 PM we returned to the refuge, we would be alone that night. Soon we took dinner, some chatting with our friend Jose, the guardian and went to bed.

The next day, July 1, was cloudy on the summits but nice, the wind had stopped so we a took breakfast and started the ascent at 11:30 AM. We carried a backpack for both with many supplies and clothes. At 12:30 PM we were on Los Barrerones watching the great scenery of Circo de Gredos. We only met some boys wich formed a group of scouts or something like that. Some of the boys were only carrying bags, so they ripped and fell to the ground. Then came the instructor (wearing flat trainers) running and asking how many of them had passed us. Anyway, we reached Refugio Elola at 1:50 PM and took lunch. At 2:30 PM we left the hut and ascended to Hoya Antón (3:15 PM), where we took rest until starting (3:40 PM) the steep slopes of Portilla Bermeja and Portilla del Crampón. There were some big snow patches so we dodged the steepest one. Nobody was ascending Almanzor that day so it was a very pleasant ascent. However I had to lead the final tricky section to the top (4:55 PM), the sun was burning and some clouds were low but I decided to climb Cuerno del Almanzor (5:45 PM). It's an easy climb but seem more difficult when you look at it at a distance. Soon we started the ever lonely descent to Charco de la Esmeralda passing Hoya de Antón. Then we took a 25 minutes long break at the hut door until starting (8:15 PM) the descent to Refugio de Reguero Llano. Hopefully the temperature had lowed considerably (Tmin = 6 ºC / 43 F) so we had put our clothes on again. We only did a break at Los Barrerones (10 min) so at 10:15 PM we were back at the hut.

That night would be nice, the sky was fully covered with stars and there were no clouds. There was a new moon too. Our surprise was that Jose wanted us to get up early in the morning because he wanted to descend for doing some trips with his loaded donkey. We also did help him unloading Rayo that night. After having got up early he wasn't there yet so we had to ring him. We took breakfast and descended to Plataforma. Finally we drove back to Madrid but stopped in La Hija de Dios (Avila) to see some ostrichs (true).