Plateau de Beille

Plateau de Beille is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Ariège department, and in the region of the Midi-Pyrénées. The winter sports station lies at a height of 1790m.For a long time, this plateau was only a place of livestock, especially cattle. It has recently become the site of an important winter sports resort of the Pyrenees, mainly dedicated to the practice of cross-country skiing, with tracks between 1650and altitude. The ski station is located between Tarascon-sur-Ariège and Ax-les-Thermes, close to the Spanish border, and above the communes of Les Cabannes, Albiès and Vèbre. Road access to the plateau starts from Les Cabannes. Moreover, the Plateau de Beille is a crossing point of the GR 10 hiking trail that crosses the Pyrenees from east to west.Since 1998, the ascent from Les Cabannes to the plateau has regularly been used as the final ascent of a stage in the Tour de France. On the first four such occasions, the stage winner at Plateau de Beille also emerged as the winner of the general classification of that Tour.GeographyThe Plateau de Beille is bounded by two tributaries of the Ariège Valley, these being the to the west, and the Labail stream to the east. The plateau ends at the south by the Col de Finestres at where it passes the GR 10; to the north, the slope falls steeply to the Ariège Valley.