Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a really nice holiday break. It’s the heart of winter now, but the days are getting longer, and here at the office of The Cat & The Peacock we’re already busy organizing inn-to-inn hiking tours in Europe for the summer. With that in mind, here’s a shot of one my favorite mountains in the French Pyrenees. This mountain is called the Vignemale, and it straddles the border of France and Spain. As you can see, the north face of the Vignemale is quite spectacular when covered with new-fallen snow. There’s also a small mountain hut at the base of the mountain that serves delicious mountain fare. Interestingly, the first “officially documented” climb of this peak was accomplished by an English woman named Anne Lister and her local guides in 1838. The event was quite a landmark in the history of mountaineering.
