Pyrenees Guide

The summit of Monte Perdido (3355m), the great lost mountain of the Pyrenees, lies hidden from France by the seemingly impenetrable peaks of the Cirques de Gavarnie and Estaube. The Monte Perdidofills the heads of the four major valleys - Ordesa, Pineta, Anisclo and Tella - which drain away from it, a glacier still survives on its forbidding northeast face.

To get to the mountain from Spain is no easier. Explorers first had to hike from the Aragonese village of Torla along the huge Ordesa Canyon and then up through the Circo de Soaso before attempting the stiff climb to the summit. Monte Perdido is the centrepiece of the Spanish National Park of Ordesa  and Monte Perdido which was established in 1918 with just 21 square kilometres of land. It is the highest limestone summit in Europe and the third highest peak in the Pyrenees.
Today the park has grown significantly to 156 square kilometres and incorporates the whole of the Anisclo Canyon. There are more than 1500 species of flower, 171 birds, 32 different mammals and 8 types of reptile in the Ordesa. Most magnificent of all is thelammergiere (Bearded Vulture) with a 3 metre wing span. The Pyrenees is the only place to see these birds outside of Africa.