One national park in the Pyrenees. Our selection of the two stops of the Carros de Roc. Enjoy the best rock in the whole park.
Book NowIn one of the most beautiful valleys of the Pyrenees lies the Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici — Catalunya's only national park, and a granite paradise. The park holds nine guarded refuges, hundreds of glacial lakes, and rock that draws climbers back year after year. Here, we picked our two favourite corners.
Four genuinely different kinds of climbing within a half-hour walk of one refuge door — sharp granite needles, real alpine ridges, and vertical walls ringing the amphitheatre itself. Most places give you one great objective and a long walk to the next. Amitges gives you the whole range without moving your bag.
Home to routes with real personality, engagement and far out there — a route literally named after Mordor, a granite dragon with a 160-metre dihedral through its heart, and Travessany, the five-needle traverse we're already known for. This is the base camp for climbers who want a story as good as the climbing.
"Thanks to our guide Jose for leading us on a 4-day Roc traverse in Aiguestortes, an experience I'll never forget. He made the difficult seem easy, allowing us to push our limits. Until the next adventure!"
Deep in the Catalan Pyrenees, inside Aigüestortes National Park, Carros de Foc's circuit links nine mountain refuges. We've picked our two favourite corners of the park and built proper climbing days around them — a fixed base means your gear stays at the refuge and your back stays light, so the only thing you're carrying up the mountain is what the climbing actually needs.
Two refuges, two base camps, three big objectives at each.
We take a 4x4 up to Aigüestortes and settle into Refugi d'Amitges as base camp for three nights. From there, every day is a fresh start.
The Amitges cirque is one of the great granite amphitheatres of the Pyrenees. Your guide picks the day's objective with you each morning, so a strong day can go bigger and a tired one can go easier, without ever leaving the same base.
Granite towers directly above the refuge — real multi-pitch on excellent rock, roughly half an hour's approach.
A bigger alpine ridge day, higher and more committing, for whoever in the group wants to push further.
Across the Coll de Amitges into the neighbouring cirque — a proper mountain day with a different skyline following an alpine ridge.
Climbers comfortable at grade V+ on granite who crave for big days out in the mountains.
Reached from Cavallers rather than Espot, this base camp uses Refugi Ventosa i Calvell — the same refuge as our proven Travessany trip — as the launch point for three days climbing between it and two of the more memorably named walls in the Pyrenees.
This corner of the park has some of the best route names in the Pyrenees attached to some genuinely excellent granite. Same mechanic as Amitges — your guide picks the day with you, based on conditions and how you're climbing.
A long day above Estany de Tumeneia, bolted throughout with pitches up to 6a+ — roughly nine hours hut to hut including approach and descent.
A 160-metre dihedral splitting a 2,654m granite peak clean in two, graded V/V+ throughout on excellent rock, protected with cams.
Our proven five-needle traverse, already running as its own trip — now available as one of three objectives during a longer stay.
If the five-needle traverse is the only objective you're after, you don't need this full four-day base camp — Travessany runs on its own as a shorter, cheaper two-day trip. This base camp is for climbers who want Travessany and more, using the same refuge as a springboard into Mordor and the Dragon as well.
Climbers comfortable at grade V+ on granite — Esperó de Mordor's harder pitches, up to 6a+, are there for whoever wants to push further on a strong day. It suits climbers who look for long day adventures, this option requieres you to be in good shape.
Both refuges are working mountain huts, not private bookings — space needs securing in advance, especially in high summer. Message us early rather than the week before.
Direct answers about both Carros de Roc base camps — how to choose, what's included, and what it costs.
For a single, more open-ended weekend in the same mountains without the full 4-day commitment, see Climbing in the Pyrenees.
