Lac de Cap-de-Long Loop

Lac de Cap-de-Long Loop

The Lac de Cap-de-Long, at the end of the Route des Lacs above Saint-Lary in the Hautes-Pyrénées, France, is held back by EDF’s 101 m arch dam. The lake is the second-largest reservoir in the French Pyrenees, after Lanoux. It takes its name from its place at the head of the valley below Pic Long, at 3,192 m the highest summit of the Néouvielle massif.

This ride starts beside Lac d’Orédon, on the edge of the Néouvielle nature reserve. Created in 1935, the reserve is one of the oldest in France, and its mountain pines grow as high as 2,600 m, a European altitude record. The road climbs in hairpins to the Cap-de-Long dam, and the ride then turns back down to Orédon.