The ascent to the summit of Maladeta (3,308 m) requires two days: the first to reach the Renclusa refuge (2,140 m) and the second for the summit push.
My experience is as follows: On February 3, 2023, we set off from the parking lot before the Hotel Hospital de Benasque, right where the bus stop is located for access to the natural park in summer. The winter route begins there, as the snow makes access impossible and the track becomes a ski touring area, requiring us to walk along its right side.
The warm-up walk takes you to the Besurta area (1,900 m) over 4 km with 160 m of elevation gain. Depending on your pace and how much you take photos, it can take around 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. From there, you have a short but steep climb to the Renclusa refuge (2,140 meters), about 40 minutes of steady ascent, but with scenery that makes the journey much more bearable. In total, there's a 240-meter elevation gain to the refuge.
Since it was winter and so cold, there were only eight of us staying. We all ate dinner at one table, and breakfast was provided for you to take to your room the next morning, as there was no breakfast service. The thermos of coffee stayed hot all night, which was surprising.
The next morning, you have to get up quite early; you have to be walking by about 6:00 a.m. because it's a long and quite demanding day. You follow, in total darkness broken only by the light of your headlamp, the zigzags of the ski mountaineers who had been in the area in previous days. We set off from the refuge with snowshoes on; in fact, it was half-covered in snow. In about 5 hours we reached the base of the bergschrund. There, we had to leave our snowshoes stuck in the snow and put on our crampons, helmet, and ice axe (if we weren't already carrying them) and start climbing. The bergschrund is about 100 meters high, quite vertical at a 50° incline. The snow was hard, and only a rocky outcrop was visible. The steps were marked to show where to place the crampons. It was quite windy, and the gaps kept getting filled, so we had to keep making them. There was hardly time to think about anything other than planting the ice axe, putting on the crampons, and climbing. The only thought was getting down safely.
Once we left the couloir, the wind was brutal. We put on our ski goggles, and from the false summit to the true summit, it was a few meters that we covered fairly quickly. The views from there were worth it, as always when you climb a peak of that magnitude. The snow-covered Pyrenees and the number of iconic mountains you can see were breathtaking. Time to descend. For me, the real celebration was at the base of the couloir on the way back. In the end, it wasn't so bad; the wind didn't make it easy, but little by little and safely, you descend to the start of the bergschrund.
Once there, you swap crampons for snowshoes and head back to the refuge. You stop for a bite to eat along the way, since it wasn't possible at the summit, and enjoy the route. You stop at the refuge to collect your things from the locker, load your backpack, and head towards La Besurta. From there, you go to the parking lot and rest.
My Garmin showed 15.6 km, 1,271 meters of elevation gain, and 13 hours (I didn't stop from the moment I woke up; we rested at the refuge, ate, packed our backpacks...), but those 10 hours were surely a constant effort. Without a doubt, a very rewarding experience in winter conditions, pure mountaineering in the heart of the Pyrenees.
As a historical note, at the beginning of the 19th century (if I remember correctly), Maladeta was considered the main and highest peak in the entire Pyrenees, with Aneto in second place. In fact, the National Park is still called Posets-Maladeta.
Enjoy the mountains!
