La Mongie
Access
- Airports: Tarbes/Lourdes airport, 35 kilometres (22 mi). Toulouse Blagnac, 180 kilometres (110 mi).
- Road: A64 exit 14 Tournay, dir Bagneres de Bigorre. Then La Mongie/Col du Tourmalet.
- Rail: SNCF station Tarbes. Bus connection Bagneres/La Mongie.
- The postcode is 65200.
Skiing
La Mongie is the largest skiable domain in the Pyrenees including the Superbarèges station. Over 100 kilometres (62 mi) there are 69 pistes and 43 lifts including poma tows and several four and six-man chair-lifts. A gondola lift gives access to some of the southern pistes while the Pic du Midi Funitel gives access to off-piste areas to the north. Of the 69 pistes, 23 are green, 19 blue, 21 red and 6 black. The domain has 173 snow cannons and there is one night piste.
Pic du Midi de Bigorre
It is also popular for cable car access to the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (2,872 m), on the summit of which is a 19th-century observatory. Work on the observatory started in 1878 and was completed in 1908. Observatory equipment has been in place since 1905 and in 1963 NASA funded the installation of a telescope for photographs of the Moon in preparation for the Apollo missions.
Tour de France
The Tour de France has regularly passed through La Mongie on its passage over the Col du Tourmalet since the inclusion of the Pyrenees in 1910. Three tour stages have terminated in La Mongie village, most recently in 2004.
Tour de France stage finishes
Year | Stage | Start of stage | Distance (km) | Category | Stage winner | Yellow jersey |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | 12 | Castelsarrasin | 197.5 | 1 | Ivan Basso (ITA) | Thomas Voeckler (FRA) |
2002 | 11 | Pau | 158 | 1 | |
|
1970 | 18 | Saint-Gaudens | 135.5 | 1 | Bernard Thévenet (FRA) | Eddy Merckx (BEL) |
Image gallery
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La Mongie village. February 2005.
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La Mongie ski area in the summer.
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The Pic du Midi.
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View west from the Col du Tourmalet, towards Bareges.
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View from La Mongie village towards the Tourmalet building.
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Tourmalet building, Pistes.