Plateau de Beille | |
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Location | Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, France |
Coordinates | 42°43′31.2″N 1°41′27.15″E / 42.725333°N 1.6908750°E |
Top elevation | 2,000 m (6,600 ft) |
Base elevation | 1,650 m (5,410 ft) |
Skiable area | 70 km (43 mi) |
Trails | Black: 2, 21 km (13 mi) Red: 5, 32.3 km (20.1 mi) Blue: 5, 14 km (8.7 mi) Green: 1, 1 km (0.62 mi) |
Website | www |
Plateau de Beille (Occitan: Plan de Belha) is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Ariège department, and in the region of the Occitanie. The winter sports resort lies at a height of 1,790 m (5,870 ft).
For a long time, this plateau was only a place of livestock, especially cattle. It has recently become the site of a large winter sports resort of the Pyrenees, mainly dedicated to the practice of cross-country skiing, with tracks between 1,650 and 2,000 metres (5,410 and 6,560 ft) 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 (the D522) 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.