Pyreneestrip
Vignemale
Photo: Philippe Manael · CC BY-SA 4.0
PeaksNature & viewsFrance

Vignemale

The highest peak on the border and Russell's mountain, 3 298 m

Pique Longue is the highest peak on the border between France and Spain. Its 800-metre north face can be seen from Lac de Gaube above Cauterets. The normal route runs from Barrage d'Ossoue above Gavarnie via Refuge de Bayssellance and the Glacier d'Ossoue.

Ascent

Height
3,298 m
Massif
Vignemale
Country
Hautes-Pyrénées, France/Aragon
Grade
PD– · Hard
Days
2 days
Season
July–September
Starting point
Barrage d'Ossoue (approx. 1 830 m), gravel road from Gavarnie
Mountain hut
Refuge de Bayssellance (2 651 m) – the highest staffed mountain hut in the Pyrenees
Elevation gain
approx. 650 hm from the hut
Time
3–3,5 h up from the hut
First ascent
1837 – the guides Henri Cazaux and Bernard Guillembert (possibly shepherds as early as 1792)

Anne Lister, an Englishwoman from Yorkshire, made the first documented tourist ascent in 1838. Count Henry Russell climbed the peak 33 times between 1861 and 1904, had seven caves cut into the mountain – among them Villa Russell at 3 205 metres – and in 1880 spent a night buried in stones on the summit. In 1889 he leased the summit for 99 years for one franc a year. The Couloir de Gaube on the north face, one of the classic ice routes of the Pyrenees, was first climbed in 1889.

How to get up – the normal route step by step

  1. Day 1: from the dam past Russell's caves at Bellevue up to Refuge de Bayssellance, 3–4 hours.
  2. Day 2: over Hourquette d'Ossoue (2 734 m) and down onto the Glacier d'Ossoue.
  3. Climb the glacier towards Col de Cerbillona. The caves Villa Russell, Grotte des Guides and Grotte des Dames are in the rocks here.
  4. The last stretch is a short climb on loose rock slabs up to Pique Longue. Return the same way.
SafetyThe Glacier d'Ossoue is shrinking fast and has crevasses in late summer – rope, crampons and an ice axe are needed. If you want an easier 3,000-metre peak, climb Petit Vignemale (3 032 m) directly from Hourquette d'Ossoue.

Other routes up

From Cauterets you go via Lac de Gaube and Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube beneath the north face, and up over Hourquette d'Ossoue.

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42.7767° N, 0.1431° W

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