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France 🇫🇷 Pyrénées: Ariège - Refuge du Ruhle 🛖 from Lievre Blanc Chairlift Top Station 🚡 #MyPurposefulAdventure #TrashFreeTrails

Seán Donohoe

Completed activities

France 🇫🇷 Pyrénées: Ariège - Refuge du Ruhle 🛖 from Lievre Blanc Chairlift Top Station 🚡 #MyPurposefulAdventure #TrashFreeTrails

Seán Donohoe went for a hike

August 15, 2026 at 08:23

France 🇫🇷 Pyrénées: Ariège - Refuge du Ruhle 🛖 from Lievre Blanc Chairlift Top Station 🚡 #MyPurposefulAdventure #TrashFreeTrails

01:25

10.0km

7.1km/h

570m

370m

Day 1 of a 2-day adventure into the wild!

The fourth consecutive meetup with my university friends took us to new heights!

This year, we decided to do a two-day hike, staying at a mountain refuge overnight. From the spa town of Ax-Les-Thermes, we used the assistance of a cable car and then a chairlift to make the route more manageable. Starting the hike at about 2000 m altitude from the top of the chairlift, we set off on a wide track leading up through the ski infrastructure. It was surprisingly quiet for a summer weekend - this place is more popular for skiing and other sports in winter.

The route led along a broad, undulating, grassy ridge towards higher craggy peaks, surrounded by impressive views in all directions. Our destination was the refuge, rather than a challenging peak, so after the grassy top of Pyramide de l'Herbe, we descended into a rocky bowl surrounding L'Etang Bleu (the Blue Pond).

The weather was increasingly cool, and some light-ish rain fell while we were on this section. There was also a significant amount of thunder, which made the experience very atmospheric! The bouldery section continued up beyond the lake until we reached a col. From here, surrounded by immense crags, the route led down slightly on grassier terrain to Refuge du Ruhle, which we were all very glad to reach!

This was an amazing location, with a very remote feel, no mobile reception and just a back-to-basics feel to it (in a very positive sense). We could see more mountain lakes and over towards the border with Andorra. We ended stage 1 of our route with some whiskey and snacks sitting outside the refuge. 😃