Mont Valier et la croix de saint Valier

Seix

Mont Valier is not the highest of the Pyrenees of the Ariège, but it stands alone and can be seen from afar: its trapezoid dominates the valleys of Angouls, Estours, Bethmale, the Ribérot and Orle, and it can be recognised from the motorway south of Toulouse; hence its nickname, lord of the Couserans. According to tradition, it takes its name from Valerius, Saint Valier, held to be the first bishop of the Couserans around 452, who is said to have climbed it and planted a stone cross there. Local historians doubt this and derive the name rather from the Latin vallis, since five valleys rise on its flanks. What is certain is that the bishops wished to mark the summit: Bernard de Marmiesse, bishop of the Couserans, had a marble cross erected there in the course of a procession, in 1672 according to the heritage of Seix, in the 1670s according to Wikipedia. Crosses have followed one another since: that of 1987, of granite or of marble depending on the source, was destroyed in 2011 by an act of vandalism, and a new one was inaugurated in September 2012. On the north-eastern side, the Arcouzan glacier, 2.8 hectares in 2013, is the easternmost and the lowest of the range. The Estagnous refuge, opened in 1909 by the Touring-Club de France, and the nature reserve created in 1937 over more than nine thousand hectares, home to bearded vultures, golden eagles, marmots and ibex, today frame the ascent.

Wikipédia — Mont Valier ↗

Getting there : A long outing without technical difficulty in summer, reserved for trained and equipped walkers: from the Pla de la Lau car park (Ribérot valley, Bordes-Uchentein) by the staffed Estagnous refuge (2,246 m), 1,900 m of ascent, 9 h 30 there and back from the Maison du Valier, or over two days with a night at the refuge. Passage by the Col de Faustin below the summit. Nature reserve subject to regulations (dogs in principle forbidden, to be checked before setting out); from June to October depending on the snow.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound