The Cirque de Troumouse: The Quiet Giant Next to Gavarnie
Occitanie, France
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300
XP
+100 France
= 400 total
1 day
The Cirque de Troumouse: The Quiet Giant Next to Gavarnie
300 + 100 XP
Troumouse is one of the largest glacial cirques in the Pyrenees and in Europe, four kilometres across with a floor at about 2,200 m, ringed by summits from the Pic de Bounèu at 2,726 m round by the Pène Blanque, the Mont Arrouy, the Pic de la Munia at 3,133 m and the Petite Munia to the Pic de la Sède. Its climate leaves it without a tree or a large bush anywhere in it. Gavarnie, one valley west, is among the most visited sites in the whole range; Troumouse is reached up a toll road that ends in a car park and a shuttle, and feels like another country.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Drive the D921 up from Gèdre and then the D922 through the Héas valley to where the tarmac ends at the auberge du Maillet, leave the vehicle there, and cover the last 275 metres of climb the way everyone now has to — forty minutes on foot, or on the tourist train
2
of 5
Walk the circuit of the cirque floor — four kilometres across at about 2,200 m — and notice what is missing the whole way round: not a single tree or tall bush anywhere inside the ring, because of the climate trapped in it
3
of 5
Stand on the floor and read the rim round: the Pic de la Munia at 3,133 m is the highest, with the Petite Munia at 3,096 m, the Serre Mourène at 3,090 m and the Pic Heid at 3,022 m all over three thousand beside it — then find the muraille de Barroude, the single wall made by the Pic Heid, the Petit pic Blanc and the Pic de Gerbats together
4
of 5
Climb to the lacs des Aires at 2,342 m, the highest of the cirque's lakes, and on the way down find the lac de Serre Longue at 2,190 m and the lac d'Esbarris at 2,139 m — then work out where the Maillet, the Gabiédou, the Cot and the gave des Touyères come together to make the gave de Héas
5
of 5
Find the Hail de Pout, where a dig in 2018 turned up pottery showing that shepherds were living up here in small summer dwellings for some two hundred years between 2300 and 2100 BC, and work out from the ground why they put their huts where they did
Drive the D921 up from Gèdre and then the D922 through the Héas valley to where the tarmac ends at the auberge du Maillet, leave the vehicle there, and cover the last 275 metres of climb the way everyone now has to — forty minutes on foot, or on the tourist train
Walk the circuit of the cirque floor — four kilometres across at about 2,200 m — and notice what is missing the whole way round: not a single tree or tall bush anywhere inside the ring, because of the climate trapped in it
Stand on the floor and read the rim round: the Pic de la Munia at 3,133 m is the highest, with the Petite Munia at 3,096 m, the Serre Mourène at 3,090 m and the Pic Heid at 3,022 m all over three thousand beside it — then find the muraille de Barroude, the single wall made by the Pic Heid, the Petit pic Blanc and the Pic de Gerbats together
Climb to the lacs des Aires at 2,342 m, the highest of the cirque's lakes, and on the way down find the lac de Serre Longue at 2,190 m and the lac d'Esbarris at 2,139 m — then work out where the Maillet, the Gabiédou, the Cot and the gave des Touyères come together to make the gave de Héas
Find the Hail de Pout, where a dig in 2018 turned up pottery showing that shepherds were living up here in small summer dwellings for some two hundred years between 2300 and 2100 BC, and work out from the ground why they put their huts where they did
Before you go
The road up is a toll road and it is only open from 1 May to 1 November — closed all winter. In season cars are stopped at the Maillet car park, about three kilometres and 275 m below the cirque, to keep vehicles off the plateau above 2,000 m: from there it is the paid tourist train, which runs to the end of September from 8.30am to 7pm, or forty minutes on foot. Parking at the Maillet is free out of summer. There is a small intermediate car park nearer the cirque that can be used before 8.30am, but the places go early. There is no shelter and no tree in the cirque, so carry wind and rain gear whatever the forecast in the valley.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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