Loop via the Emperor's ascent – running to the Rhune from Olhette

This beautiful loop intended for intermediate level trail runners suggests an ascent of the Rhune in two stages, which offers more variety in the elevation.

The route begins in the car park at the end of Chemin Xurien Borda, in the Olhette district, towards Ascain opposite the Trabenia hotel. You cross the small stream using a recumbent pylon, then you take the GR 10 to the Descarga Haunti pass. This is where you leave the GR path towards Venta Yasola via the HRP (Haute Route Pyrénéenne).

From the venta, you take a single track that runs along the Larrun Txiki for just under two kilometers until you reach a wide track. A few hundred meters after joining the track, you dive on a new, very pleasant single track that goes off to the right. Along the laces, you discover a changing panorama of the Pyrenees which present themselves in front of you. This 3.5 kilometer descent is one of my favorites around La Rhune. It ends at the foot of the Emperor's climb which you are about to attack. The ascent begins with a rocky single that zigzags through the vegetation before continuing through an open meadow.

You are on one of the many variants of the HRP which joins the Rhune from the east by skirting the summit of Pilotalekugaña before reaching the summit which offers you an exceptional panorama of the Basque Country, its coastline and several peaks of the chain of the Pyrenees.

Finally, it is a long descent that awaits you to your starting point. This begins with a first technical part up to the col des Trois Fontaines. From there, you find the GR 10 path which gradually descends to the car park.