Pigne de la Lé, Mountain summit in Valais, Switzerland

Pigne de la Lé is a 3,396-metre summit in the Pennine Alps, on the range between the Moiry Glacier and the Zinal valley, south of Zinal and north of the Grand Cornier. It belongs to the Dent Blanche-Grand Cornier chain and to the horseshoe of peaks known as the imperial crown. The normal route leaves the road-end car park above Moiry lake at 2,350 m, passes the Moiry hut at 2,825 m, then continues either by the rocky ridge, shorter and needing no special equipment in summer, or by the glacier.

The sources record no first ascent or early climbing history for Pigne de la Lé. Its documented past is cartographic and mountaineering: the 3,396 m summit is listed as part of the Dent Blanche–Grand Cornier chain of the Pennine Alps, and the mountain is now climbed from the Cabane de Moiry (2,825 m) above the Moiry lake road.

The Pigne de la Lé is one of the peaks forming the so-called corona imperiale, the horseshoe of summits around Monte Besso listed in Italian sources: Les Diablons, Bishorn, Weisshorn, Schalihorn, Zinalrothorn, Trifthorn, Obergabelhorn, Mont Durand, Pointe de Zinal, Dent Blanche, Grand Cornier, Pigne de la Lé and Garde de Bordon. Climbers based at the Cabane de Moiry often continue to these neighbouring summits.

The normal route leaves from the road-end car park above Moiry lake at 2,350 m, following signs to the Moiry hut at 2,825 m. Beyond the hut, the rocky ridge is the shorter option and needs no special equipment in summer; the glacier route stays on ice throughout. The access road is the same one used for the Garde de Bordon and Sasseneire, coming from Sierre in the Rhone valley.

The southwest route is graded F for Facile and crosses a glacier to a snowy ridge providing direct summit access. This path offers an interesting contrast between genuine alpine challenges and a relatively straightforward technical grade.