Pico de Aneto, Tuca de Mulieres

Pico de Aneto - 3404M

2811M Prominence

42.63108, 0.65664

July 10, 2025

Tuca de Mulieres - 3010M

198M Prominence

42.62947, 0.69857

July 10, 2025

HRP Day 20 stats

2378M Ascent, 2865M descent

24.84 KM

Pico Aneto is an ultra prominent peak that lies just south of the border with france. It is the second highest in mainland spain, and the highest in the pyrenees. If there is one peak i absolutely had to do it was this one. Thankfully my HRP route passed by the valley below it, so I could spend half a day and tackle it before continuing on my route. I camped out right beside refugio renclusa with a few other bivouacers who would also climb the peak the following morning. To get optimal snow conditions I woke up at 5:30, and got hiking by 5:55 AM. The trail up to the portillon ridge from camp at 2140M was mostly a hike up large chunky rocks with the odd bit of trail mixed in at the start. There is a million ways up to the portillon superior gap. There were cairns absolutely everywhere, and they all led to the portillon superior, a notch in the ridge where you descent about 20 meters to acess the east side of the mountain. After the portillon, there started to be patches of snow. There were steps from earlier in the week, so for first little while i opted to keep my snow gear in my bag, as there were still rock patches to cross to get to the glacier. Once at the glacier at around 3050M,  i geared up with my crampons and began crusing across the fairly flat glacier, following the same footsteps in the snow. Near the end of the glacier and nearing the peak, the glacier steepened up a bit, so a bit more caution was due. I followed the switchbacks in the snow almost up to the summit. Just before the summit the snow had melted away and revealed the thin rocky ridge known as the pas de mahome. It is a fairly short but quite exposed scramble that is nescessary to do in order to reach the summit. Once having navigated the polished up blocks on the pas de mahome, i was on the top of the pyrenees. It had taken me just under two and a half hours from refugio renclusa. As expected, the views werr magnificent, and went on as far as the eye could see in any dirrectin. A few others were also on the summit, but they had bivvyd there overnight. I hung out on the summit for at least 20 minutes, then started to make my way back. The pas de mahome was much less stressful on the way back once i had already done it. I flew down the glacier, which was already much softer with the morning sun having hit it. I passed dozens of people who were making their way p to the summit as I was descending. I passed through the portillon superoir and made my way back down the same way i came up. After 4H 45M i was back at the refuge. I took a bit of a break, dried out my gear, then kept going for the day. I hiked past the forrau daigualuts, and up past ibon and estanys de escaleta. After a quite exhausting climb, i was up on a huge slabby area that took me to the north west side of tuc des molieres. The last 200 meters of the ascent of tuc de molieres was large chunky boulders, but the terrain was relatively flat and easy to navigate. I made it to the summit of tuc des molieres, the last 3000M+ summit I will climb for a while. The views of aneto were spectacular from the summit, and so were the viewa of the route i would tackle next to the east. After hanging out with a few people who were also unexpectedly on the summit for a bit, i made my way to the coret de muleres, which was slightly scrambly at first. I then descended deep down into the valley last the series of mulleres lakes, and finally down into a forest at 1650M where i set up camp for the night.