Pic du Milieu, a summit that has to be earned! Guardian of a wild mineral universe, Pic du Milieu offers a demanding but exhilarating climb. Far from the hustle and bustle of the Cirque de Gavarnie, its sometimes steep slopes of more than 30%, its persistent snowfields and its magnificent panoramas make it - from my point of view - an emblematic summit of the Pyrenees. I enjoyed climbing it in September 2024. From Lake Montferrat where I had bivouacked to leave at dawn, a cairned path climbs towards the heights, gradually revealing the majesty of a race of almost 4km and 800 meters of elevation gain. It will take you between 2h30 and 3h to tame it. Passages in a corridor of wild beauty will require patience, vigilance and good physical condition. At the summit, the world stretches out before me, as far as the eye can see, against a backdrop of intense blue, offering a grandiose spectacle of France and Spain. On the breathtaking ridge leading to the Vignemale, two seasoned mountaineers climb with assured agility that reminds me of the ibex I met a few metres lower down. On the Spanish side, on this legendary massif of the Pyrenees, the Moskowa gap can be seen following the Labaza snowfields, an impressive vestige of a glacial past. Magical!