Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 42.71530°N / 0.13192°E
Activities Activities: Mountaineering
Seasons Season: Spring, Summer, Fall
Additional Information Elevation: 10282 ft / 3134 m
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview

La MuniaSouth face

La Munia is an important massif a bit forgotten by the nearness of Monte Perdido's great massif and the Cirque of Gavarnie. This mountain is less known in Spain but in its north face, visible from France, it has a great image with a small glacier and it constitute the highest peak of the spectacular Cirque de Troumousse. The big walls of rock that surround the mountain for its north face and the bad quality of the rock with complicated steps do of this mount an exclusive itinerary for mountaineers and make desist to the tourists. The views from the summit are glorious due to its privileged location in the center of Pyrenees.

Cirque de Troumouse

Cirque of Troumousse & RobiñeraCirque of Troumousse

The Cirque de Troumousse is an spectacular set of tops on big vertical walls of rock that is visited in the National Park of the French Pyrenees near Cauterets and Gavarnie.

All the main summits of Cirque from west to north-east: Gabiedou (2809m), Bouneu (2726m), Cheval rouge (2705m), Peña Blanca (2905m), Arrouy (2888m), La Munia (3134m), Pequeña Munia (3096m), Sierra Morena (3090m), Troumouse (3085m), Heid (3022), Petit Pic Blanc (2957m), Gerbats (2904m) and Pic de la Sède (2694m).
The Punta Barroude / Punta Aires (3028m) between Troumousse and Heid is not considered independent summit actually.

Generally the most popular routes of the cirque are those that climb to La Munia and Troumousse. It’s important that in the cirques many normal routes of peaks are across anothers summits. For example, the normal route for Sierra Morena is across La Munia, the normal route of Pic Heid is across the Petit Pic Blanc or the Pic Troumouse,…there’s not another way. It forces to study the route held up or to make the magnificent complete route of the Cirque de Troumouse that generally is realized from La Munia's col up to La Sede's col or vice versa. This itinerary presents some risks (grades II and II+ over the ridge) and forces to take rope, helmet and harness.


Getting There

Routes: generally to reach the col of La Munia you can initiate the route in France (Cirque de Troumouse, 3h45 to summit, slope of 1044 meters, PD) or Spain (Pineta / Parador Nacional de Mt Perdido, 6h, 1840 meters, F+/PD-; Chisagües-Piedramula, 3h45, 1260m, F+/PD-). The spanish route from Pineta is long and it’s a good idea to realize it in two days.

Approach to french side:
-Gavarnie it’s the most important village of the zone and the roads are good indicated to here. For the french approach you can consult the pages of Cirque de Gavarnie and Vignemale for more information. From Spain the best itinerary in the north and west side of the country it’s to cross the french border in Irun/Hendaye and to follow the highway E-80 to Pau. Before the city of Tarbes you must take the road of Lourdes. After Lourdes you must follow the indication to Gavarnie and a bit after Gedre, before Gavarnie, you can see the indication of Cirque de Troumousse.
If you are in Pyrenees of Huesca the most short approach is across the tunnel of Bielsa and across Tarbes to reach the same road.

Approach to spanish side:
-Pineta: see the approach to Pineta in the page of route of Pineta of Monte Perdido.
-For approach to Chisagüés you must to follow to north from Ainsa and Bielsa and don't take the road of Pineta. From Parzán we'll follow the road of Chisagües (3Km) and the track of Llanos de Piedramula (6km) with a hard slope but we'll begin the route at 1920 meters. All the track is good for cars except the last 2 km (one point of the track in a curve had a cracked area with hard slope).

Red Tape

No permits required. Rules of National Park for wildlife conservation.
In the french side you must pay the tariff to enter in the road of the Park National after the village of Heas (1.5 or 2 €) but if you arrive after the 19:00 it's free.

When To Climb

June to september.
Very dangerous with snow (rope advisable)

Camping

Not camping in Park National of french side (but you can to camp at night before the signal of entry of the park in the plains near of the Aubergue du Maillet).
In spanish side you can to camp but you must remove the tents in the morning.

*Mountain huts in french side:
-Aubergue du Maillet (1837 meters, Gedre, 45 persons, Tel:05 62 924897, road)
-Refuge de Barroude (2405m, 40 persons, Tel:05 62 984532, 2h30 from Aragnouet-LePlan)
-Free little hut of Vierge de Troumousse (2134 meters, 4 persons, 15 min from parking of Troumousse).
-Free little hut of Cab. des Aires (2130m, 4 persons, 1h30min from parking of Troumousse).

*Mountain huts of spanish side:
-Refuge of Ronatiza-Pineta (71 persons, Tel: 974 341147, road)
-Free little hut of La Larri (1580m, 10 persons, 45 min from Pineta)
-Free little hut of La Estiba (2070m, 5 persons, 2h from Pineta)

*Campings:
-Camping Pineta (2ªcat).

Mountain Conditions

I.N.M. (see in CCAA: Aragón where is the province of Huesca)

External Links

  • Ridge of Troumousse
    Good description with pictures of the complete route of cirque de Troumousse (text in spanish)
  • Sketch of Cirque
    sketch with the main peaks of Cirque de Troumousse
  • Cirque de Troumousse
    Great album of pictures about the Cirque. It contains a picture interactive with the name of the summits of cirque (text in french).
  • Bielsa
    Info about the spanish side with pictures, hotels, maps,... of the zone of Bielsa / Pineta (text in spanish)


Children

Children

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Parents 

Parents

Parents refers to a larger category under which an object falls. For example, theAconcagua mountain page has the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits' asparents and is a parent itself to many routes, photos, and Trip Reports.

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