Pic de Canalbona, Mountain summit between Alins, Spain and Auzat, France.
Pic de Canalbona is a 2,965-metre summit on the Spanish-French border in the Montcalm Massif of the Pyrenees, above Alins and Auzat. Its upper face is steep, fractured grey-brown rock with a snow patch on the left, above a broad slope of loose scree and a base of large blocky rocks. It should not be confused with the higher neighbouring Pic Rodó de Canalbona.
Pic de Canalbona lies on the Franco-Spanish border, where the Montcalm Massif carries the frontier along its crests. The 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed on Pheasant Island in the Bidasoa, fixed the range as the boundary between the two crowns; the line was later refined by the 1856 and 1862 Bayonne treaties, which set boundary markers along these summits. The peak is not to be confused with the higher Pic Rodó de Canalbona nearby.
The name Canalbona appears in the toponyms of the massif: the neighbouring Pic Rodó de Canalbona is higher and often confused with this summit, and the glacial lake below is called Estanyol Occidental de Canalbona. The lake sits between the Pic de Canalbona and the Rodó de Canalbona, at the foot of the Collet Fals, and drains towards the Catalan side.
The usual approach starts from the Vallferrera side, in Alins, and gains roughly 1,500 metres to the 2,965-metre summit, so plan a full day. The final ridge is fractured rock with scree slopes; the snow patch on the upper left face can persist into summer. The Estanyol Occidental de Canalbona, at the base of the Collet Fals, usually melts completely by the end of summer.
The small glacial lake Estanyol Occidental de Canalbona lies between the Pic de Canalbona and the Rodó de Canalbona, at the foot of the "Collet Fals" near the Pica d'Estats. It drains towards the Catalan side, and in most years its ice melts completely by the end of summer. The summit itself should not be confused with the higher neighbouring Pic Rodó de Canalbona.
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