Grande Fache

 Grande Fache - 3006M

285M Prominence

42.80808, -0.23767

July 3, 2025

HRP Day 13 stats

2178M Ascent, 2006M Descent

22.9KM

I woke up in my tent at 6AM in a spectacular valley to the west of the Grande Fache. The goal for today was to summit Grande Fache early in the morning, and then continue on down the trail as close as i could get to the Vignemale for the next day. I began by following the trail up the valley from camp at 2250M up to 2550M where there was a bowl with some alpine tarns and some snow patches. I continued through this and then worked my way up the increasingly steep trail up to col de la fache at 2650M. From here I dropped my bag for a light and quick out and back to the summit. I worked my way up the North ridge from the col. It was all a fairly chossy hike with some mild 3rd class scrambling. The route was not very specific and you could basically make your own way up however suited you best. A few small false summits came before the summit which offered a weird dished out summit cairn. From the summit there were fantastic views of yesterdays Pic Balaitous, the Infierno peaks, and tomorrow's Vignemale. I scrambled my way back down the choss to my bag, then suited up and kept going for the day. The day proceeded to descend down to refuge Wallon, Then back up to 2500M to Col de L'Artaille. From the col I traversed a bit of a cirque to col des Mulets. From that col it was a fairly big descent down to Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube where there is a magnificent view of the vignemal's impressive North face. One last climb for the day took me up to Hourquette d'Ossue and then to refuge de Baysellance. I waited out a massive thunderstorm at the refuge then set up a bivouac in a nearby cave. The grotte Bellevue is an iconic set of caves used by Henry Russell as he explored the area frequently in the 1880s and 1890s.

I camped out next to this river above Campo Plano

Crossing snow patches around Ibones de la Facha

The route up Grande Fache's North ridge

Grande Fache summit

Summit cairn

The spectacular Pics de Infierno

Looking back at Grande Fache and the North ridge on the right

Pic Arraillous

Around Refuge Wallon

Lac d'Artaille

The monstrous Pic Vignemale from Col d'Artaille

The big walls of the North face of Vignemale from Refuge des Ouellets de Gaube

A view of where I would be heading tomorrow

Henry Russell's cave

HRP Day 13 route

Grande Fache close up