A weeks snowshoeing in the Picos de Europa

Posted on: 24 March 2024

Arrival in the village of Tama, near Potes

Our host for the week, Mike Stuart, picked us up in his van from Santander airport on the Monday morning. Instead of taking us directly to his farmhouse near Potes he took us on a tour of the coastline west of Santander. Mike went out of his way to show us the beauty of this northern coastal region. It was much appreciated, I never knew that such beautiful coastal scenery existed.

Delightful coastal scenery at the Mirador de Berellin

We also had an hour exploring the quaint medieval town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria. This town is famous for its three lies ...

It's not by the Sea!
It's not flat!
It's definitely not saintly!

Then we took a short diversion to the coast to the Mirador de Berellin, a real smugglers cove!

We arrived at his rustic farmhouse in Tama, just outside Potes, late afternoon. A few beers on his farmhouse balcony (El Balcon) went down very nicely before a lovely dinner prepared by his wife, Lisa.

We knew snow conditions were probably going to be good as we had been keeping tabs on what the weather had been doing in the prior weeks. Together with Mike and the upcoming weather forecast we formulated a plan for the forthcoming days commensurate with the ability and experience for our group of five persons.

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Day 1 - Collado de las Nieves, Pico Padiorna

Looking back, this was probably one of the finest days snowshoeing I have ever had. I don't say that lightly, after living in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern spain for the past 20+ years, where I have had nearly a hundred fine days snowshoeing. This day was that good!

After a wholesome and very filling breakfast we headed for the cable car station at Fuente De, a half hour drive away. Fuente De is an impressive cirque with seemingly vertical cliffs towering above. I was surprised as there were very few people there. Very quickly we were transported the 700m of ascent up to 1800m.

The goal was an ascent of Padiorna (2314m) just adjacent to the Collado de las Nieves. This is a route I had done with our local walking group the previous autumn. A fine route in the summer but in winter after a metre of fresh snowfall it became a winter wonderland of powder snow and magnificent mountain scenery.

The initial ascent slopes up the valley towards the peak

Initially there were plenty of signs of previous snowshoers but after the first hour and a half these tracks faded and soon we were left with virgen snow slopes to content with.

The valley steepens

Higher up the slopes steepeened considerably and we had some tough going. Thankfully our guide, Mike, did most of the trail breaking legwork. We started to zig zag our way up the final slopes.

Final slopes up to the Collado de las Nieves

We took lunch at the Collado de las Nieves. Some stayed there whilst Mike and Sean summited the simple slopes of the adjacent peak of La Padiorna. Then we started, for me, the very best bits of the day. A plunging fast descent down our route of ascent in the hot afternoon sun. Fantastic!

The descent from Collado de las Nieves

The final undulating slopes back to the cable car station were a little tiring but I think the thought of a few celebratory cold beers were beginning to mess with my head! A great day.

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Day 2 - Puerto San Gloria

For our second snowshoeing day in the Picos we headed to the Puerto San Glorio. This mountain road pass reaches an elevation of 1609 m above sea level and connects the provinces of Castilla de León and Cantabria. I had not been here before.

The road pass is surrounded by some lovely mountain summits and, of course, some super powder snow, either side of the pass. Just shows how much variety there is. The day was very quiet with some stunning views, although we chose to have an easier day.

The view from near the Collado de Llesba

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Day 3 - Forests above Fuente De

With high winds up high the cable car at Fuente De remained closed throughout the day. Not to be deterred we had a brilliant day snowshoeing in deep powder through the forests south west of Fuente De and ascended up to an unmanned refuge.

The trees gave us some protection from the gusts and the return down from the refuge allowed us to enjoy the deep poder to the full. We got back just as the heavens opened and the rain arrived. Good timing is everything eh?

Arriving at the refuge

The slopes above the refuge

Descent through the powder

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Day 4 - Chilling out in Potes

An easy day for us. To be honest we were a bit "snowshoed-out" and a more relaxing day was called for. We left the farmhouse and took the pleasant walk into Potes for lunch, returning via the western side of the river.

Summary

This was a trip, superbly organised and run by Mike and Lisa. I would recommend to anybody thinking of coming to the Picos de Europa to contact them via their website at Picos Rock and Snow

Their all inclusive package is very reasonably priced and includes airport transfers (Santander), farmhouse accommodation, breakfast, evening meal and picnic lunch. Also Mike's excellent guiding services.

Our bedroom at Lisa and Mikes farmhouse