Val-Louron is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

in the French

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 the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs es, Altos Pirineos; ca, Alts Pirineus alts piɾiˈneʊs English: Upper Pyrenees) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. ...

, and the region

Midi-Pyrénées Midi-Pyrénées (; oc, Miègjorn-Pirenèus or ; es, Mediodía-Pirineos) is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Occitania. It was the largest region of Metropolitan France by are ...

Toponymy

The ski station is located in the Louron Valley, which is where the name of Val-Louron originated.

Geography

Val-Louron is specifically located in the Pays d'Aure in the Louron Valley, southeast of

Bagnères-de-Bigorre Bagnères-de-Bigorre (, literally ''Bagnères of Bigorre''; oc, label= Gascon, Banhèras de Bigòrra ) is a commune and subprefecture of the Hautes-Pyrénées Department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Name The town was known ...

and

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

, in

Bigorre Bigorre ({{IPA-fr, biɡɔʁ; Gascon: ''Bigòrra'') is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of t ...

. The nearest commune, by a direct route, is Loudenvielle to the east. By road, the nearest communes are Azet to the north-west, and Génos to the north-east, each situated at either end of the

Col de Val Louron-Azet The Col de Val Louron-Azet (or Col d'Azet) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the French Pyrenees in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées, which links Saint-Lary-Soulan and Azet, in the Aure Valley to the west, with Génos and Loudenvielle i ...

. Its altitude is between at the bottom of the station, and at the top.

Infrastructure

Ski area

* of alpine ski slopes *19 tracks *46 snow guns *12 lifts *5 circuits for snowshoes *Sled dogs

Tour de France

Val-Louron was the finish for Stage 13 of the

1991 Tour de France The 1991 Tour de France was the 78th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 6 to 28 July. The total race distance was 22 stages over . The race was won by Miguel Indurain, whose Banesto team also won the team classification. The points ...

, and proved to be decisive. The riders arrived separately and Claudio Chiappucci, along with the eventual winner

Miguel Indurain --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

, then occupied two of the first three places in the race. The stage departed from the Spanish town of

Jaca Jaca (; in Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón River, situated at the crossing of two great ea ...

and the Col du Tourmalet also featured in the route for the day. Stage 15 of the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong origin ...

also went through Val-Louron, although it took the descent by Val-Louron-Azet. The first rider over the summit was

Laurent Brochard Laurent Brochard (born 26 March 1968 in Le Mans, France) is a retired professional road racing cyclist from France. In 1997 he won a stage of the Tour de France and became world road champion in San Sebastián, Spain. Brochard was a runner and s ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Val-Louron ski station website
Ski areas and resorts in France