Let’s start with some basic info about Pyrenees.
The Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from France, and extend for about 430 km (267 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) to the Mediterranean Sea (Cap de Creus).
For the most part, the main crest forms the Franco-Spanish frontier, with Andorra sandwiched in between. The main exception to this rule is formed by the Val d'Aran, which belongs to Spain but lies on the north face of the range. Other minor orographical anomalies include the Cerdanya fall and the Spanish exclave of Llívia.
The Pyrenees are named after Pyrene (fire in Greek) who was the daughter of Bebryx and was raped by Herakles. Terrified at giving birth to a serpent, she fled to the mountains and was either buried or eaten by wild animals.
Physically, the Pyrenees are typically divided into three sections: the Central, the Atlantic or Western, and the Eastern.
Pico d'Aneto, the highest mountain of the Pyrenees.
The Central Pyrenees extend eastward from the Somport pass to the Val d'Aran, and include the highest summits of the range:
- Pico d'Aneto or Pic de Néthou 3,404 m (11,168 ft) in the Maladeta ridge,
- Mont Posets 3,375 m (11,072 ft),
- Mont Perdu or Monte Perdido or Mont Perdut 3,355 m (11,007 ft).
In the Atlantic Pyrenees the average elevation gradually decreases from east to west, until they merge with the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay. In the Eastern Pyrenees, with the exception of one break at the eastern extremity of the Pyrénées Ariégeoises, the mean elevation is maintained with remarkable uniformity until a sudden decline occurs in the portion of the chain known as the Albères.
Conspicuous features of Pyrenean scenery are:
- the absence of great lakes, such as fill the lateral valleys of the Alps
- the rarity and great elevation of passes
- the large number of the mountain torrents locally called gaves, which often form lofty waterfalls, surpassed in Europe only by those of Scandinavia
- the frequency with which the upper end of a valley assumes the form of a semicircle of precipitous cliffs, locally called a cirque.
The highest waterfall is that of Gavarnie (462 m or 1,515 ft), at the head of the Gave de Pau; the Cirque de Gavarnie, in the same valley, is perhaps the most famous example of the cirque formation. Low passes are lacking; between the two ends of the range, where the principal roads and the railways run between France and Spain, there are only the Col de la Perche, between the valley of the Têt and the valley of the Segre, and the Col de Somport or Port de Canfranc, on the old Roman road from Saragossa to Oloron-Sainte-Marie.
A particularly notable feature is La Brèche de Roland, a gap in the ridge line, in tradition created by Roland.
The amount of the precipitation, including rain and snow, is much greater in the western than in the eastern Pyrenees, which leads to a marked contrast between these sections of the chain in more than one respect. In the first place, the eastern Pyrenees are without glaciers, the quantity of snow falling there being insufficient to lead to their development. The glaciers are confined to the northern slopes of the central Pyrenees, and do not descend, like those of the Alps, far down in the valleys, but have their greatest length in the direction of the mountain chain. They form, in fact, a narrow zone near the crest of the highest mountains. Here, as in the other great mountain ranges of central Europe, there are evidences of a much wider extension of the glaciers during the Ice age. The case of the glacier in the valley of Argelbs in the département of Hautes-Pyrénées is the best-known instance. The snow-line varies in different parts of the Pyrenees from 2700 to 2800 m above sea-level.
Source: Wikipedia
