Canigou

Canigou
Canigou, December 2004
Elevation	2,784 m (9,134 ft)
Prominence	550 m (1,804 ft)
Location
Canigou Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Range	Pyrenees
Coordinates	42°31′08″N 02°27′24″E / 42.51889°N 2.45667°E / 42.51889; 2.45667Coordinates: 42°31′08″N 02°27′24″E / 42.51889°N 2.45667°E / 42.51889; 2.45667
Climbing
First ascent	According to tradition, in 1285 by Peter III of Aragon
Easiest route	hike

The Canigou (French pronunciation: [kanigu]; Catalan: Canigó [kəniˈɣo], locally: [kəniˈɣu]) (el. 2,784.66 m./9137 ft.) is a mountain located in the Catalan Pyrenees of southern France.

Due to its sharp flanks and its dramatic location close to the coast, until the 18th century the Canigou was believed to be the highest mountain in the Pyrenees.^[1]

Trekking and sightseeing

View from the summit.

Spectacular jeep tracks on the north side of the massif lead to the Chalet de Cortalets (at 2150 m.) which is a popular outpost for walkers.

There are two ancient monasteries at the foot of the mountain, Martin-du-Canigou and Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa.

Canigou Flame

This mountain has symbolical significance for Catalan nationalist groups. On its summit there is a cross that is often decorated with the Catalan flag.^[2] Every year on the 23d June, the night before St. John's day (nit de Sant Joan), there is a ceremony called Flama del Canigó (Canigou Flame), where a fire is lit at the mountaintop. People keep a vigil during the night and take torches lit on that fire in a spectacular torch relay to light bonfires somewhere else.^[3] Some estimates conclude that about 30,000 bonfires are lit in this way all over Catalonia on that night.^[4]

Literature

The Canigou inspired a collection of poems called "Canigó" by Catalan poet Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló. In these verses Verdaguer compares the snowy mountain to a Magnolia flower:

Lo Canigó és una magnòlia immensa

que en un rebrot del Pirineu se bada;

per abelles té fades que la volten,

per papallons los cisnes i les àligues.

Formen son càlzer escarides serres

que plateja l’hivern i l’estiu daura,

grandiós beire on beu olors l’estrella,

los aires rellentor, los núvols aigua.

Les boscúries de pins són sos bardissos,

los Estanyols ses gotes de rosada,

i és son pistil aqueix palau aurífic,

somni d’aloja que del cel davalla. (p. 27-28)

Meaning: The Canigou is an immense magnolia that blooms in an offshoot of the Pyrenees; its bees are the fairies that surround it, and its butterflies the swans and the eagles. Its cup are jagged mountain chains, colored in silver by the winter and in gold by the summer, huge cup where the star drinks fragrances, the airs freshness and the clouds water. The pine forests are its hedges and the ponds its dew drops, and its pistil is that golden palace seen by the nymph in her dreams descending from heaven.

Rescue

The Pic du Canigou shot to fame^[5] in England in late May 2008, when a group of teenage air cadets, from Tynemouth, UK were involved in a daring rescue. The lives of two stricken Belgian nationals, who had succumbed to injuries due the intense winter conditions and falling several hundred feet, were saved in a rescue mission lasting several hours. The daring rescue concluded with the Securitie Civil air detachment, based at Perpignan, airlifting the injured walkers to hospital for treatment of their injuries and extreme exposure. This rescue received intense local press coverage in the UK, and national press coverage to a lesser extent.

The young cadets were awarded Life Saver of the year awards from St John's Ambulance and both leaders also received awards. The expedition leader, Flight Lieutenant Will Close-Ash was awarded the Life Saving Medal of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The silver medal, which has been awarded to only 170 people in the last 100 years, was confirmed by the Queen in October and is awarded for someone who shows “a conspicuous act of gallantry while endangering his own life”. Flt Lt Close-Ash received his award from the Grand Prior, Sir Brian Jenkins GBE, at a special investiture at the Priory Headquarters in Clerkenwell, London. The Venerable Order of Saint John is a Royal Order of Chivalry with the Queen as head. It originates from the Knights Hospitaller founded in 1080 to care for the poor.

No more than two people are presented with the award each year and fewer than 170 Silver medals have been awarded since they were instituted in 1874.

See also

• Prieuré de Serrabone
• St-Martin-du-Canigou monastery.
• Vernet-les-Bains
• Pyrenees Rescue

References

1. ^ Histoire du Roussillon - Le relief des Pyrénées-Orientales
2. ^ Pyrénées Team - Croix du Canigou
3. ^ Vermut a la rebuda de la Flama del Canigó
4. ^ Festes - l'espai on comença la festa
5. ^ [1]

• Canigó by Verdaguer; Full text - Wikitext

External links

• [2] One of the best mountain marathon races in Europe - to the summit of Canigou and back from Vernet-les-Bains
• Walks to the summit of Canigou (PDF)