Bassiero Oriental, 2897 m

Bassiero Oriental (o Punta Gourdon) via Vall de Gerber.

After having done the neighbouring Pics d'Amitges and Saboredo previously, I chose a lovely out and back climb of the lesser known Pic Bassiero de Oriental for today. From the parking it is a signposted, clear path up to Gerber Lake then up a steeper section to Estany Redo. Just below the Refugi Mataró I turned off the established path to follow the rock cairns up the stream bed to the head of Estany Llong. From here rock cairns lead around the left side of the lake then veer left upward to the base of the ascent channel to Coll de Bassiero. As you hike up the valley the views of the two Bassiero Pics, and Pic d’Amitges and its ridges, are impressive.

The channel leading up to the Coll de Bassiero is a very steep section with a right side that has stone blocks of all sizes and a grassy patched left side. I went up the central part, close to the grassy area but trying to follow the few intermittent rock cairns and zigzagging up for better footing. Ascent and descent with caution to avoid slipping.

The Coll de Bassiero is signposted and to the left of the Coll are the peaks of Tres Puis. The plan I had to add this on to my route had to be abandoned due to weather, but next time would definitely do this addition. While there is no marked way to get to the first of the Tres Puis, it is a straightforward hike up and the views from the top show perfectly Bassiero and Amitges. With the dark clouds coming in it seemed more prudent to stick to just the Bassiero summit.

From the Coll there is a short initial section where a clear path to the right starts you off to Bassiero Oriental. The path quickly fades and the rock cairns are sporadic, however it is easy to orient over the rock fields with the peak destination ahead.

From the top of the Bassiero Oriental there are spectacular panoramic views in almost all directions. You can see a sector of Lake Sant Maurici and the mountains around it, the Montsaliente, the Gerber Valley and part of the Cabanes Valley. The Bassiero Occidental is an impressive jagged rock ridge just beyond but the vertical gap that separates the 2 Bassiero peaks is a steep technical descent/ascent along rotten rock that didn’t tempt me at all.

The route down retraces the ascent so is straightforward in orientation.

NOTE: my garmin watch recorded the distance as 16.57 km and elevation gain 1,250m - just as reference for planning as the wikiloc recording is not as accurate. Please also note that I tend to have a faster than average hiking pace so when planning adjust trip timing as needed. I would say 7-8 hours would be comfortable timing for this trip.

Note on rating: I rated this as an alpine route because of the steep ascent to the Coll and the need to route find in an alpine environment when the milestones become sporadic. I consider it easy as an alpine route due to it being fairly straightforward in technical difficulty and orientation.