Pico de Aneto, Tuca de Mulieres

July 10, 2025

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 on the South side of the French and Spanish border. It is the second highest in mainland Spain, and the highest in the Pyrenees. If there was one peak I absolutely had to climb while I was in the Pyrenees, it was this one. Thankfully my HRP route passed by the valley below it, so I could easily forfeit 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 on the glacier 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 were cairns absolutely everywhere, there was a million different deviations you could take, but they all led to the Portillon Superior, a notch in the ridge at 2900M where you descent about 20 meters to access the East side of the mountain where the Glaciar del Aneto is. 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 before getting to the glacier. Once at the glacier at around 3050M, I geared up with my crampons and began cruising across the fairly flat sheet of ice, following the same footsteps in the snow. Near the end of the glacier and nearing the summit, the glacier steepened up a bit, so a bit more caution was due. I followed the switchbacks in the snow almost all the way 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 necessary to do in order to reach the summit. Once having navigated across the polished 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 were magnificent, and went on as far as the eye could see in any direction. A few others were also on the summit, but they had bivy'd there overnight. I hung out on the summit for a good 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 on the ascent. I flew back 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 up to the summit as I was descending. I passed through the Portillon Superoir and made my way back down to the refuge roughly the same way I had come 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 d'Aigualluts, 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 Mulieres. The last 200 meters of gain to ascend Tuc de Mulieres was made up of large chunky boulders, but the terrain was relatively flat and easy to navigate. I made it to the summit of Tuc des Mulieres, and said goodbye to the 3000M summits for a little while. The views of Aneto were spectacular from the summit, and so were the views of the route I would have to 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 Mulieres. This is a sort of passage you take to start descending East towards the Estanys de Mulieres. It was slightly scrambly at first, but quickly became easy and was just a steep hike down to the lakes. From there I made my way all the way down the valley and finally down into a forest in the plat at 1650M, where I set up camp for the night.