Falaise de Prat Dessus · Pic du Gar (Comminges) · France
A modern, generously bolted route on clean grey limestone at the Prat Dessus cliff of the Pic du Gar, dedicated to a mountain rescue doctor. The three lower pitches are excellent technical slab and wall climbing on small edges and friction, with a short steep bulge on pitch 3; after a grassy terrace, two easier pitches on more fragile rock reach the top. Great views over the Garonne valley and the Luchon peaks.
Superbly and closely bolted, but the upper two pitches are on fragile rock with loose holds and both approaches are pathless or by abseil.
6cVIII-5.11b5 pitches · 150 mEasy to bail
Un sourire parmi les étoiles climbs the Falaise de Prat Dessus, a sub-summit cliff of the Pic du Gar above Garraux, in five pitches split by a grassy terrace. The three pitches below the terrace are the reason to come: fine, technical climbing on new, very adherent limestone, with a 6c move just below the first belay and a small overhang on pitch 3. Above the terrace the rock changes: pitch 4 is a traverse on fractured rock with loose holds, and pitch 5 finishes up a nicer wall. It was opened by the PGHM Luchon as a tribute to Guillaume Despiau, a mountain rescue doctor, and the bolting is deliberately close: parties comfortable at 6a on bolts can enjoy it and aid the harder moves.
No topo we can show. See: Quelques topos montagne des Pyrénées – Un sourire parmi les étoiles au pic du Gar.
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 6cVIII-5.11b | 40 m | Delicate from the start with balance moves trending right, then easier climbing with rests, and a hard, very well protected move just below the belay. Some bumps left of the bolts make the finish easier. |
| P2 | 6bVII5.10c | 25 m | Straight up on friction, fine and technical, with one harder move in the middle. Short and very pretty slab with inclusions of black rock. |
| P3 | 6b+VII+5.10d | 30 m | Traverse right without climbing too high, then straight up through a small, poorly featured overhang (aided by some parties), and right at the end. More physical, on small edges. Then walk across the grassy terrace to the start of the upper section, well to the left. |
| P4 | 6aVI+5.10a | 25 m | Traverse right on fractured rock; beware loose holds and do not pull outwards. Dusty in places. The belay at the top is the one not chained, according to the opening team's topo. |
| P5 | 5cVI5.9 | 25 m | Easy, slightly fragile start, then a fine wall on the right edge of the corner on small edges. The Spanish camptocamp text gives 6a and 30 m. |
Drive to Bézins-Garraux in the Garonne valley between Saint-Béat and Luchon (from Montréjeau towards Luchon, then towards Saint-Béat at the Chaum roundabout and up to Eup and Bézins-Garraux). Recent parties start either from Garraux (approach from below) or from Bézins on the Pic du Gar path (approach from above). Parking at the church in Bézins is now forbidden; a car park has been built by the cemetery.
From above (about 1 h 30): follow the Pic du Gar path to the Col de Teyech, leave it and follow a faint trail left to the top of the Prat Dessus cliff. The first chained abseil anchor is about 2 m below the top. Abseil 50 m to the grassy terrace, walk about 50 m along the grassy crest to a fixed rope, and at its end take the new chained anchor: with two 60 m ropes two abseils reach the start (skipping R2), otherwise three. This lets you leave the bags at the top. From below (1 h 10 to 1 h 30, no path): from Garraux follow the GR86 to the meadow before the Col de Matet, cross it towards the left side of the cliffs, enter the forest, pass a small rock band on the right and follow a wooded then grassy spur, steeper at the end, to the foot of the cliff at a small col where the route starts. It is steep: about 680 m of ascent in 3 km.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Point from camptocamp waypoint 1353523 (Pic du Gar - Falaise de Prat Dessus)
Contains the route point.
Points from published sources, not surveyed.
Coordinates: 42.94514, 0.68985 (crag)
Depends on the approach. If you came from above, you finish at the top of the cliff and walk back down the Pic du Gar path from the Col de Teyech, or extend the day to the Pic du Gar or Pic Saillant and loop back. If you came from below, either abseil the route on its chained anchors to your bags, or walk off by the normal path of the Pic du Gar.
Easy to bail
The belays are bolted and chained (except R4), and the route is commonly abseiled, both as the approach from above and as the descent by parties who left their bags at the bottom. You can retreat from any belay of the lower three pitches to the start, or from the terrace.
19 quickdraws to clip every bolt; about 15 is enough if you skip some. Two 50 m ropes (two 60 m ropes save an abseil on the approach from above). Helmet.
South-west facing at about 1300 to 1500 m. The lower three pitches stay in shade in the morning; the top two are in sun. The opening team warns it can be very hot on this south-facing limestone, so it is a spring, autumn and mild-winter route: outings are logged in March, May, October and November.
Forecast · next 7 days · 1490 m
Loading the forecast.
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| Low °C | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Rain mm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
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| Strongest gusts km/h | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Model forecast for 1490 m. It cannot tell you whether the rock is dry. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
Time plan · 5 pitches
Working out sunrise and sunset.
An estimate. Queues and route finding cost time, and shaded walls go dark before sunset. Local time (Central European time), flat horizon.
Sun on the wall · SW-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
From the aspect alone; terrain is ignored. Local time, 15th of each month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar (usual season) | Apr (usual season) | May (usual season) | Jun (usual season) | Jul | Aug | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov (usual season) | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| Mean daily low °C | −7 | −7 | −5 | −3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 2 | −3 | −6 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 13 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
● usual season. 1991-2020 averages at about 1757 m; rain is for a 10–25 km grid cell. Weather and climate data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
Straight-line distances, up to 30 km.
No reports yet.
France · Pic du Gar (Comminges)
The classic of the Pic du Gar: eight sustained pitches of 6a to 6b on sculpted, fluted limestone up a slender south-facing pillar above Bézins-Garraux. Mostly technical footwork and slab, with a short steep crux on pitch 4 that can be aided. Newly rebolted with glue-ins in 2026, and in a grand, quiet setting facing the Luchon mountains.
6bVII5.10c8 pitches210 m
Around 6c · about 5 pitches
Spain · Costa Blanca (Cabeçó d'Or)
Delicate, technical wall climbing on small edges up a detached pillar and then the magnificent grey headwall above the hanging garden of the Paredón de los Alcoyanos. Sustained at 6b and above with little rest for the feet, and bolted as a sport route. A step across the void from the top of the pillar is the route's oddity.
6cVIII-5.11b5 pitches160 m
France · Sainte-Victoire
Five pitches of demanding slab climbing on flawless grey rock at the left side of the Surplomb de la Carrière: two pitches of 6c, one of 6b+ with a finger crack, and a pocketed final wall. Closely bolted where it is hard, with an obligatory grade of 6a+.
6cVIII-5.11b5 pitches120 m
Greece · Leonidio & Kyparissi
The harder companion to We Salute You: five pitches, three of them 6c, on steep red and grey rock with good holds and bolts close enough to make the obligatory grade only 6a. The steep red sections of the second and fifth pitches are the highlights.
6cVIII-5.11b5 pitches155 m
Spain · Vega Baja (Orihuela & Callosa)
The hardest of the La Pancha multipitch routes in the atlas: an easy first pitch, then three steep, demanding pitches of 6c, 6b and 6a+, the middle one 50 m long. Excellent rock apart from the start of pitch 2 and the first half of pitch 3. Not to be underestimated.
6cVIII-5.11b5 pitches165 m
Read the cautions
Compiled from published sources, last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.