Grande aiguille d'Ansabère, Mountain peak in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France.
Grande Aiguille d'Ansabère is a pale limestone spire in the Aspe valley, in the commune of Lescun, entirely on French soil a few metres from the Spanish border. It stands beside the Grand Pic, from which a deep breach separates it. Its western face rises from that breach; the eastern side is a large wall, split by vertical gullies running down to a scree slope, with sparse dark conifers and green-brown vegetation at the base.
Armand Calame made the first ascent of the Grande Aiguille d'Ansabère by its west face on 24 June 1923, but died during the descent; his companion Lucien Carrive fell when their hemp rope broke. Marcel Cames and Henri Sarthou survived the peak on 27 June 1927 by a different line, the Voie du Surplomb, fixing iron bars in a crack to pass a difficult section. Four months later they returned to open the Cames-Sarthou route, and on 12-13 August 1954 Jean and Pierre Ravier with Guy Santamaria climbed the north-east dihedral of the east wall.
The peak's climbing history is tied to the iron bars Marcel Cames and Henri Sarthou fixed in a crack on 27 June 1927 to bypass a difficult passage, creating the voie du Surplomb. Four months later they opened the Cames-Sarthou route. The east face was climbed by Jean and Pierre Ravier with Guy Santamaria on 12–13 August 1954.
The peak is most easily reached from the town of Lescun by following marked hiking paths that lead toward the Cabanes d'Ansabère shelter located lower on the eastern side. Climbers should expect steep rocky terrain and need solid experience with scrambling or technical climbing for the final approach.
The iron bars fixed in a crack on the eastern face were placed there by Marcel Cames and Henri Sarthou during their 27 June 1927 ascent, the first to survive the summit. This passage became the voie du Surplomb. Four months later the pair returned to open a new route, the Cames-Sarthou.
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