The Balaitús (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

) or Pic du Balaïtous ( French) (; ) is a

granitic A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, located right on the border between

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Balaitús marks the starting point of the ''High Pyrenees''. Its height is

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

, and it is the nearest mountain to the Atlantic coast to surpass . Its name may come from the Occitan words "vath" (

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

) and "leitosa" (

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

y). Another Spanish name for the mountain is Pico de los Moros (''

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

' peak''). It separates the Spanish Tena Valley (

Sallent de Gállego Sallent de Gállego (in Aragonese language, Aragonese: ''Sallent de Galligo'' or ''Sallén de Galligo'') is a municipality located in the Huesca (province), province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. The town is located in the central Pyrenees besides th ...

) from the French Val d'Azun.

Climbing history

The first ascent was of the peak was made in 1825 by French

geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the locally shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a conn ...

technicians ''Peytier'' and ''Hossard''. The second ascent was made in 1864 by Charles Packe.

Routes

There are several ascent routes to the summit, none of them are easy, mainly because of the vertical drop of from all directions. From France the most frequent route goes through ''Las Neous''

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

starting from any of the refuges nearby: ''Larribet'' (2,060 m), ''Balaïtous (G. Ledormeur)'' (1,970 m) or ''Arrémoulit'' (2,305 m). From Spain the route starts at ''La Sarra'' car park, near

, climbing via the ''Arriel''

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s or the ''Respumoso'' lake. Ascent to Balaïtous through Brecha Latour
/ref>

References

External links

* Mountains of Aragon Mountains of the Pyrenees Pyrenean three-thousanders {{Aragon-geo-stub

Geography

Climbing history

Routes

See also

References

External links