Farther to the east we find first the Cirque d’Estaubé, and then the Cirque de Troumouse, facing north, and cut off from Gavarnie and from each other by subsidiary ridges.
Surrounding the Cirque d’Estaubé are ranged in order the Tuqueroye, the Pic de Pinède and other peaks, providing some difficult rock routes, and accessible in a day from Gavarnie. Above the Cirque de Troumouse is an interesting rock ridge, of which the chief point is the Pic de la Munia (10,300 feet). It is, however, rather far from Gavarnie, and many people will prefer to spend the night at the small but expensive inn at Héas before attacking it.
From near the Munia a ridge runs due north to the Pic Long. This mountain can be climbed by its glacier or by its sound granite rocks in a long day from Gavarnie, or the night can first be spent at Gédre, where also the inn is dear.
To the west of Gavarnie lies the Vignemale, which is ascended by a crevassed, but easy, glacier. Here again difficult climbing can be found if search is made; for instance, it has been ascended by a very difficult couloir on the north side.
Luchon (2000 feet) is even more easily reached than Gavarnie. Trains run direct from Paris via Toulouse and Montrejeau, and the whole journey from London should take just over 24 hours. It is altogether a larger town than Gavarnie, and is one of the fashionable watering-places of the Pyrenees. It has some good if expensive shops.
From here it is easy to attack the interesting granite peaks on the main range. Running southward, a little to the west of Luchon, is the Val d’Oo or d’Astau, enclosed by the Pic du Port d’Oo (10,300 feet), the Perdighero (10,500 feet), the Crabioules (10,200 feet) and the Quairat (10,000 feet). The ordinary routes up these can be accomplished in a longish day from Luchon, and are quite easy according to alpine standards. They may also be visited on the way to the Posets, which lie immediately to the south.
Immediately to the east of the Val d’Oo and nearer Luchon is the Vallée de Lys, which is dominated by the Pic de Quairat, the Crabioules, the Maupas (10,200 feet) and the Boum (10,000 feet), and the small glaciers on their flanks.
The ascents of these are again rather long from Luchon, but there is an inn some 3½ hours up the valley where the night may be spent.
Farther to the east, and running south-east from Luchon, is the Vallée de la Pique, which leads up to the Port de Venasque. The mountains round this valley are not so fine, and are mostly too easy to demand attention. One exception is the Pic de la Pique (c. 8000 feet), a small, sharp rock peak in the valley, with a great local reputation, but not really of serious difficulty.
These are the only peaks of interest in the immediate neighbourhood of Luchon. But by crossing the Port de Venasque (7900 feet), or preferably some more interesting col to the west, and sleeping out, the Maladetta group can easily be climbed. This massif faces the Port de Venasque, and consists of a somewhat amorphous base from which rise several granite ridges and summits—the Pic d’Albe (10,700 feet) on the west, then the Maladetta (10,800 feet) and the Néthou (11,160 feet), from which flow two large glaciers, then the Pic de Salenques, the Pic Moulières, and finally also the Fourcanade (9400 feet). At the foot of the Glacier du Néthou is a hut called the Rencluse. Most people would have preferred a bivouac to the old refuge there, but a new building has just been opened, and the track thereto from the Port de Venasque was in 1919 being marked with blazes of green paint (a unique phenomenon in the Pyrenees, at all events on the Spanish side).