Vignemale

Vignemale - 3299M

1027M Prominence

42.77400, -0.14730

July 4, 2025

HRP Day 14 stats

1104M Ascent, 2152M Descent

23.01 KM

After a very damp night in Henry Russell cave I woke up to a calm morning. A slow drip of water had been landing on me all night, making sleep very challenging. I quickly packed up my stuff and started heading towards the Glacier d'Ossoue, one of the largest in the Pyrenees. The glacier sits South East of Vignemale in a large bowl surrounded by other sub summits in the massif. There was not really a trail up to the glacier but rather rock cairns piled up all over the place, so I kind of just followed the dry rock as far as it could take me before hitting snow. I hopped across a few raging streams in this section too. Nearing the end of the rocky area there were some snow patches, but I just carefully hiked my way across them until I made it to the end of the rock. Eventually at around 2900M the glacier was in front of me, so I strapped on my crampons and grabbed my ice axe. It was quick traveling on the glacier as it was quite flat. There were no crevasses anywhere to be seen, and I followed an existing crampon path. I passed 3 other hikers on the glacier, who later joined me on the summit. At about 3220M I took my snow gear back off and made my way up the summit. I followed some interesting geological curves in the semi loose rock, and then the scrambling took me to another Henry Russell cave just below the summit. From there it was a few minutes to the top. I was the first one on the summit for the day, so I got to take in the very special views by myself. Unlike most other summits on the trip I spent a good 20 or more minutes up there, as I wasn't in any particular rush for the day. I then followed my ascent route back down to 2430M at the cave I left my gear at in the morning, and at the cave I yardsaled my gear out in the sun to dry it out. The rest of the day was one long downhill hike for about 17KM South West down to Gavarnie. I knocked it off rather quickly and got to town to set up camp for a zero day for the next day. It was quite a scenic hike as I passed by the magnificent Barrage d'Ossoue. In Gavarnie I found a cheap campsite close to the world renown Cirque de Gavarnie where I took a zero the following day.

Nearing the glacier at sunrise

Glacial run off

Traversing the glacier, Vignemale on the right

Looking back down at the Glacier d'Ossoue

Scrambling up the chossy rock to the summit, Pic de Cerbillona and Pic
Central across the glacier

Vignemale Summit

Vignemale summit cairn

Summit views

Walking back down the glacier

Heading back down after picking up my gear at the Grotte Russell

Looking North West back up the valley I hiked, from Barrage d'Ossoue

The incredibly clear water of Barrage d'Ossoue

Looking back up the Valley from around Cabane de Sausse Dessus

Looking into the Cirque de Gavarnie from my campsite

HRP Day 14 route

Vignemale close up