Pic de Soularac

  • Pic de Soularac
  • 2368 m
  • Prominence 1007 m
  • Pyrenees, France
  • Location: North 42.81809,East 001.78111
  • Difficulty: YDS 1
  • Climbed June 30. 2024.

Information:


How to get there:

For a summary of all peaks climbed during this trip click here.
Route::
From the trailhead/parking, take the road that runs uphill to your right side when facing uphill. Follow this road through a few zig-zags until you see a wooden trail sign on your right hand side. The trail starts exactly here. This trail is marked with some sticks as well as yellow paint. It pretty much runs uphill following the broad ridge. When the ridge gets more distinct, you have 2 alternatives. The official trail descends to a small pond, then immediately ascends, note that you should not continue on the broad path, but fork left, uphill immediately after the pond. This is not well marked.
The alternative is to go left, a clear trail marked with an X (incorrect trail), runs up the ridge proper. These two trails meet again beyond a small local top on the ridge.
The trail then continues towards the summit ridge directly ahead, three local summits are visible. The highest summit is the third as viewed when approaching. The trail stays (YDS) class 1 all the way to the summit. You will also see the next significant (prominence 133m) summit, St. Barthelemy, a bit more distant.
The very highest point of Soularac is a big boulder. Consider the peak climbed if you are next to it. To climb this boulder is (YDS) class 4 and with some exposure. It is best done from the side that faces St. Barthelemy.
Comments:
I drove from our accommodation (in France) near the very special Spanish town of LLivia. It was overcast, the forecast said fog, however, parking was just above the clouds, nice. Arriving around 1000, I was ready to walk at 1010. Somehow, I passed the trail sign without understanding that I should have left the road there. I forked uphill on some animal tracks and ended up doing a pretty non-optimal crossing of the fields before joining the trail somewhat higher on the main ridge.
I continued up the trail and took the "official" trail down by the pond, then missing the poorly marked left fork. However, I quickly realised this, since the main trail headed downhill towards the ugly looking quarry area. Ascending to merge back with the ridge trail, I decided to try that one on my return.
I arrived on the summit 1:45 after starting out. A quick look at the summit boulder convinced me that I should safeguard a climb of this one. I knew about this boulder from reading the trip report of Rob, I therefore carried a short rope on this trip.
It was pretty easy to secure my rope around the base of the boulder, then have it run across the top and down on the best side to ascend. With this in place, I was soon sitting on the top, last peak of the trip, not much else to do up here than a selfie. climbing back down, it was time for some rest and water.
I left the summit after one hour, walked back down, this time taking the ridge trail and returned to my car in 1:30.
This was the end of a very nice summer break with my wife Heidi. We would return to Barcelona and fly home the next day, Monday, July 1.

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