Mont Valier ( Languedocien: ''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 ...

in Ariège, France. Its name comes from ''Valerius'' (Saint Valier, ca. 452), the mythical first bishop of

Couserans 125px, Coat of arms of CouseransCouserans (; Gascon: ''Coserans'' ) is a small former province of France located in the Pyrenees mountains. Today Couserans makes up the western half of the Ariège ''département'', around the towns of Saint-Gir ...

, 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

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 with ...

(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 – ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, an escape route from Saint-Girons to

Esterri d'Àneu Esterri d'Àneu is a municipality in the ''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 Torrassa. It is linked to Sort by the C-147 road. It is th ...

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 no ...

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 comm ...

, 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, respecti ...

network.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valier, Mont Mountains of Catalonia Mountains of the Pyrenees Mountains of Occitania (administrative region)