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  • The Great Outdoors

    THE LIGHT WITHIN

    Jul 17, 2020 6 minutes
    WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ALEX RODDIE

    THE DREAM had been years in the making. To make a complete crossing of the Pyrenees is a considerable challenge – one I’d begun to see as a drawing together of everything I loved about the mountains.

    It was always clear that I would be taking an ‘ultralight’ approach to this backpacking challenge, along with everything that entailed. I optimised my gear. I lost weight and improved my fitness. I scrutinised maps. I did everything I could to ensure that I would be ready. However, no experience in the mountains is quite as you expect, and over the 33 hiking days of my trek I started to see beyond what I thought of as ‘ultralight’ to calmer waters on the other side. There are some things that cannot be learned on shorter trips – and this 832 kilometre (516 mile) hike of the Haute Route Pyrenees (HRP) in summer 2019 would be the longest

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