La Mongie: Do you come skiing in France, in La Mongie?
La Mongie, in the French Pyreneesa macro-station dedicated to skiing, with more than 100 kilometres of trackThe ski slopes are marked out at all levels and there is a wide range of accommodation and hotel services at the foot of the slopes.
The station is part of the 'Grand TourmaletIt is made up of two former ski resorts: on one side Barèges, with a strong mountain accent and a warm rural atmosphere, with its small village as the centre of the resort; and on the other side, La Mongie. As you can imagine, it is possible to stay in the former during the winter season as well as the rest of the year, while the latter, so focused on winter sports, offers hardly any services during the summer, except when the skiing season is in full swing. Tour de Francethe most important cycling competition in the world, decides to include the col du Tourmalet between its mountain passes.
The resort of La Mongie benefits from a privileged location in the French Pyrenees, due to its altitude (its base is at an altitude of 1,800 m), its North facing (which ensures that the snow is well maintained) and a good influx from the Atlantic Ocean which results in abundant precipitation, which makes it possible to enjoy good snow and ample space.
In addition to its marked pistes, La Mongie offers skiers extensive slopes on which to practice off-piste skiingeither in the company of a mountain guide from the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (2,877 m), or from the arrival of the chairlift that replaced the Le Pourteilh gondola lift two seasons ago, which leaves us at the foot of the Campana refuge, next to the Cloutou Bell Lake.
The opening of the station always takes place at the beginning of DecemberThis ensures a large influx of Spanish visitors if there is still not enough snow on the Spanish side, while it closes after the Spanish Easter (France is inflexible in complying with this date, despite sometimes enjoying magnificent snow thicknesses and quality on the official closing day of the resort).
From the town centre of the resort of La Mongie itself, you can enjoy the magnificent views that the Midi de Bigorre observatory offers at any time of the year (Vignemale, NeouvielleCirque de Gavarnie... are some of the giants that we can identify from this summit). The observatory itself offers services for astronomers - it has a huge telescope - as well as for staying in its comfortable hotel and enjoying the beautiful scenery that can be seen from there. The summit itself is the starting point for a good off-piste descent guided by expert skiers, reaching either the Col du Tourmalet next to the Lac d'Oncet, or making the descent down to the Lesponne Valleyone of the three valleys that cross these summits (in addition to the Campan Valley and the Payolle Valley).
If from La Mongie you take the gondola lift up to the Pic du Midi de BigorreYou will reach the summit in just over 15 minutes, with a 'transfer' at the summit of Taoulet, another of the fantastic options that La Mongie offers us to enjoy the excellent marked red pistes (such as the Jupiter piste) that start from this summit.
