I saw at first hand the legacy of the great winter snowfall of 2008/2009 yesterday on a trip up to the Ventura trailhead in the Sierra Nevada mountains above Lanjaron. July is normally a dry and dusty scene of browns and greys but as we rounded the corner above the Lanjaron valley we saw a variety vivid colours leading up the valley to the Cerro de Caballo.
Bright yellow brooms and gorses, bright green shrubs filled the valley sides as we headed up to our high point at 2200 to drop off a party of self guided trekkers, off to enjoy the delights of the Sierras.
There was even a stream running near the Ventura hut. I can’t remember when this last ran in July. More evidence of the high snowfall we have enjoyed the past winter. Some snow still exits on the high mountains too.
We have just returned from a 5 day trek, “Los Tres Miles”, the 3000m peaks traverse of the main Sierra Nevada ridge. The Tajos de la Virgen ridge leading from the Elorieta to Veleta and the Cariguela hut still has some steep and hard snow patches on it. We shall be doing a full report and photos in a future post.
