Mont Valier (
Languedocien
Languedocien (French name, ), Languedocian or Lengadocian (), is an Occitan dialect spoken in rural parts of southern France such as Languedoc, Rouergue, Quercy, Agenais and Southern Périgord. It is sometimes also called Languedocien-Guyennai ...
: ''Mont Valièr'') (2,838 m) is a mountain of the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
in
Ariège, France.
Its name comes from ''Valerius'' (Saint Valier, ca. 452), the mythical first bishop of
Couserans
image:Blason province fr Couserans.svg, 125px, Coat of arms of CouseransCouserans (; Gascon language, Gascon: ''Coserans'' ) is a small former province of France located in the Pyrenees mountains. Today Couserans makes up the western half of the Ar ...
, who climbed the peak. Bernard de Marmiesse, another bishop of Couserans, had a marble cross erected on the peak in 1670.
[Giles Barber, ''Saint-Girons - Ses rues, leur histoire à travers les âges'', PyréGraph, 2005. .]
Geography
![valier etang long](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Valier_etang_long.JPG)
A small glacier, the Glacier d'Arcouzan, occupies its northeastern slope. It is the only glacier in the Pyrenees situated below 3000m, the most Eastern glacier in the chain and also the most isolated. The summit is located on the perimeter of the regional park of the Ariège Pyrenees.
A number of valleys originate on its sides:
On the French side, the stream of Artigues, a tributary of the
Salat
(, plural , romanized: or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːh, ( or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːtʰin construct state) ), also known as ( fa, نماز) and also spelled , are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the , the direction of the Kaaba wit ...
(which itself rises a few miles from Mont Valier) and the Ribérot, a tributary of the
Lez, itself a tributary of the Salat.
On the Spanish side, the Noguera Pallaresa, and a few miles to the west, one of many sources of the
Garonne
The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna
or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...
.
Climbing
The
normal route
A normal route or normal way (french: voie normale; german: Normalweg) is the most frequently used route for ascending and descending a mountain peak. It is usually the simplest route.
Overview
In the Alps, routes are classed in the following way ...
, in summer, starts from the Refuge des Estagnous and travels to the Col Faustin before ascending the broad South face. This is the easiest route, although it is still challenging. The other principal route to the summit is via the Arête des Antiques and involves rock climbing along an exposed ridge. The east face and its famous "Trou Noir", (black hole), first climbed by
Louis Audoubert in 1971, is rarely ascended. The classic ascent in winter is via the Couloir Faustin; it is a long outing mostly on snow (AD).
History
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, an escape route from
Saint-Girons to
Esterri d'Àneu
Esterri d'Àneu is a Municipalities of Catalonia, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Pallars Sobirà in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the right bank of the Noguera Pallaresa river above the reservoir of La Torrass ...
in
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
crossed Mont Valier. The "Path to Freedom" – the name given in 1994 to the hiking trail that follows the course – enabled the evacuation of 782 people between 1940 and 1944 and remained operational despite increased surveillance by the Germans from 1943. The route was operational until the end of the war.
Protected zone
By a ministerial decree of 5 July 2005, a large area centred on the village of
Seix
Seix is a commune in the southwestern French department of Ariège.
Population
Inhabitants of Seix are called ''Seixois''.
Sights
* The Château de Mirabat, a Middle Ages castle, known to be in ruins in the 14th century, is in the commune ...
, including the Crown Reserve of Mont Valier, was designated as a "special protection area" and a site of the
Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...
network.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valier, Mont
Mountains of Catalonia
Mountains of the Pyrenees
Mountains of Occitania (administrative region)