The Brèche de Roland: Roland's Sword Cut in the Cirque Wall
Occitanie, France
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Durandal Gap
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400
XP
+100 France
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1 day
The Brèche de Roland: Roland's Sword Cut in the Cirque Wall
400 + 100 XP
The Brèche de Roland is a gap 40 m wide and about 70 m deep cut clean through the rim of the cirque of Gavarnie, and the border between France and Spain runs along its whole width — the Pyrenees National Park on one side, Ordesa y Monte Perdido in Aragon on the other. The legend has Charlemagne's nephew Roland opening it after Roncevaux, not by cutting the rock but by trying to destroy his sword Durandal against it; when the blade would not break he threw it, and the story says it ended up in a cliff at Rocamadour, three hundred kilometres away. Roncevaux is a hundred kilometres west of here, which makes the name doubly poetic. The usual way up is from the Sarradets refuge at 2,587 m, and old snow sits in the gap well into the summer.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk in to the Sarradets refuge the normal way, from the col des Tentes over the port de Boucharo on the border and round under the cliffs, rather than up the échelle des Sarradets out of the cirque, which is the steep route — and finish over the col des Sarradets at 2,589 m with the Brèche directly above you
2
of 4
Walk through the gap at about 2,807 m and pace its width — forty metres, with the France-Spain frontier running along the whole of it, so there is no single point where you cross — then look up at the sixty-odd metres of wall still standing above your head
3
of 4
From the Spanish lip of the Brèche, look south into the Sobrarbe in Huesca and work out the three things this gap opens the way to: the Ordesa canyon dropping away below, the Mont Perdu off to the east and the Taillon on your right hand
4
of 4
On the way back down, look across to the Fausse Brèche and find the abri Gaurier under the pic Bazillac — the cave in the cliff that the abbé Ludovic Gaurier fitted out in 1906 and the Club alpin français improved in 1911, and the only shelter up here until the refuge was built
Walk in to the Sarradets refuge the normal way, from the col des Tentes over the port de Boucharo on the border and round under the cliffs, rather than up the échelle des Sarradets out of the cirque, which is the steep route — and finish over the col des Sarradets at 2,589 m with the Brèche directly above you
Walk through the gap at about 2,807 m and pace its width — forty metres, with the France-Spain frontier running along the whole of it, so there is no single point where you cross — then look up at the sixty-odd metres of wall still standing above your head
From the Spanish lip of the Brèche, look south into the Sobrarbe in Huesca and work out the three things this gap opens the way to: the Ordesa canyon dropping away below, the Mont Perdu off to the east and the Taillon on your right hand
On the way back down, look across to the Fausse Brèche and find the abri Gaurier under the pic Bazillac — the cave in the cliff that the abbé Ludovic Gaurier fitted out in 1906 and the Club alpin français improved in 1911, and the only shelter up here until the refuge was built
Before you go
August and September are the months for this: the snow on these north-facing slopes often lasts to the end of July or into early August, and the road to the col des Tentes is shut all winter and well into spring.
The valley's own hiking service grades this Difficile: 11 km and 584 m of ascent from the col des Tentes at 2,207 m, about five and a half hours of walking before any stops, all of it above 2,200 m. Carry crampons and an ice axe — they are recommended depending on the state of the snow passages right into late summer — and treat the ford below the Taillon cascade with care, because the snow bridges over it in June and July are not to be trusted. The road to the col des Tentes is closed in winter and until late spring, and it is a toll road in high season. The Sarradets refuge has 57 places with meals when it is wardened, May to September, and 30 unwardened places out of season; book it, because it is one of the busiest refuges in the Pyrenees.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
400 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
500 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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