[Gocamino] Roger's Scary Story of the Napoleon Route

[William Marques]

This story was posted on another forum but deserves wider exposure to
stop us all doing foolish things.

 

“A Perilous Route Napoleon

Author: roger
<mailto:roge at hotmail.co.uk?subject=A%20perilous%20route%20napoleon> 
Date:   03-22-05 18:07


Well here I am (three weeks later) sitting at home writing about my
camino from SJPP to Santiago via Roncesvalles via the Pyrenees. (Though
I started the walk in Le Puy but that’s another story.) On arriving in
SJPP I spotted Jeannine waving from a second floor window of the refuge
Saint-Jacques. Greeting me on the doorstep she showed me all the
amenities, this done in her own imitable way with much hilarity and
laughter, during this time (much to my disappointment) she said that
under no circumstances should I cross the Pyrenees. Whilst getting
supplies in the village store a women gently took my arm and asked if I
was crossing the Pyrenees I replied that it was an option, on hearing
this she asked if I would come and speak to her daughter who spoke
fluent English, I obliged and listened as her daughter told me that it
was virtually impossible to cross as the snow was the worst they had in
25 years, also that a body of a man was brought down from the mountains
two days earlier, on hearing this I made a firm decision to take the
road route to Roncesvalles, I then phoned my family back in England to
inform them of my decision.
Back at the refuge I was cooking a meal with Jeannine, when in walked
Carlos Costa, a five foot 7 inch Spaniard with all the energy and
enthusiasm of a mad march hare, whose first words were Pyrenees as he
signalled with his hands that he wanted to go over the mountain, and
indicating how his legs would power through the snow. We ate dinner
carried on with the usual introductions then said bon nuit to Jeannine.
Once in the dormitory Carlos undaunted by the prospects ahead pulled out
a travel book showing a slightly more detailed map of the route than the
one issued to us at the refuge, also a rather sophisticated looking
phone appeared, "is that a satellite phone I asked" yes he replied, this
along with a professional mountaineering backpack and relevant led me to
believe he probably new what he was up against, and so yes against my
better judgement I would agree to cross the Pyrenees with him. (This
would turn out to be one of the worst decisions I have ever made in my
relatively short forty years of life).
An early start saw us leaving at 7am, by 10am we met our last human
contact before we were in the mountains proper. Once again we were
warned of the dangers ahead after 10 minutes conversation along with
Costa's confidence that everything was in hand, the advice was ignored,
and a decision was made to carry on.
2 hours later we were permanently knee deep in snow. (This was the going
through the journey). Onwards and upwards we started to make some
distance between each other, myself ahead of Costa, as I was concerned
we were losing daylight and my water supply needed to be replenished
before darkness.
Reaching the water point went from relief to annoyance as the fresh
water tap was not working, adjacent was a small stream of water which I
filled my water bottle with,(this would turn out to be a mistake).
Around 6 o’clock Costa had caught up with myself, we walked together for
the next hour when the weather suddenly changed, within five minutes a
bitter blizzard had blown up, which can only be described as ferocious
with a scathing wind, you could not see the hand in front of your face,
Costa was running round in circles shouting sign-sign look for a sign, I
started to dig a hole with my bare hands ( as I had lost my gloves
earlier), I shouted to Costa dig man dig (my hands frozen I could dig no
more) I then retrieved my survival bag which I had subconsciously placed
at the top of my rucksack the previous night, I got into the bag.
At this point Costa was still standing around I shouted then indicated
for him to get in the bag with me, he did, after what seemed like about
half an hour the bag split, Costa got out retrieved his sleeping bag and
got inside it. I wrapped the split bag around myself but it had ceased
to become effective against the cold, so with great effort retrieved my
bag (which incidentally was a one season summer bag) and got inside. The
blizzard continued throughout the night. At some point during the night
to throw up large amounts of blood, (it later transpired this was due to
a water borne disease).
With no food or water, snow & ice would be are only dietary in take.
I indicated to Costa to contact the emergency services using his phone,
(this was not possible as he could not get a signal, ( yes his phone was
a mobile not satellite???) the morning showed no let up in the weather
and my throwing up of blood became more regular this continued all day,
the next night bought more of the same weather, at no point during this
time were we able to leave are sleeping bags due to severe weather
conditions, with no water and the deterioration of my health becoming a
major concern, all that was left for me to do was to pray to god for a
break in the weather. the second night bought stars, and clear night
skies.(a good sign I thought tomorrow will be fair) and it was, by
7.30am on the fourth day the sun was starting to break, half an hour
later we emerged from are bags very weak with no water & my feet frozen,
I made a decision to leave all my equipment on the mountain (rucksack
spare clothes, a sharp gx30 mobile phone which I must of left in my bag
total cost around £600. the days trek was arduous with no food or water
I spent the whole day sucking ice. 10 hours later around 5 o’clock we
were around 500 meters from Roncesvalles when we were met by the
garda/army that was the last time I saw Costa, I was taken straight to a
military hospital where I was examined, my condition was so severe that
I was rushed to Pamplona general hospital. once there I was told that
the frostbite on my left foot was so severe that I would have to have
all the toes on my foot amputated, I thank god this decision was later
reversed, I suffered severe reflux in my oesophagus, leaving me unable
to eat for the six days I spent in hospital, ( can I at this moment
thank all the staff at Hospital Virgen del Camino.) I signed myself out
of hospital two days before my expected discharge date and flew home ,
it will be another 2 months before I am fully recovered , it will take
this long for the damaged nerves in my feet to heal. ( I equate the pain
to having all of my toes broken ) I urge anyone thinking of using route
Napoleon to seek local advice and stick to it.
Buen Camino

Roger.”



 

Regards

 

William Marques