Photo : No machine-readable author provided. PRA assumed (based on copyright claims). / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)
Mont Mézenc
Mont Mézenc peaks at 1,753 metres, in the south-east of the Massif Central, on the boundary of Haute-Loire and the Ardèche. Its southern summit is the highest point of the Ardèche. It stands on the watershed between the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins.
It is a former volcano, a phonolite dome about seven million years old. It was built by a gradual rise of magma, without violent eruption. The climate is harsh: a local wind, the burle, blows in winter and can form great snowdrifts, which makes the mountain dangerous in bad weather.
The massif shelters heaths, peat bogs and beech woods. There are mountain birds, rare high-altitude plants such as the spring pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vernalis) and marmots, introduced in the 1980s. A wooden cross erected by French prisoners in 1945 was replaced by a metal cross in 1954. The Mézenc is above all a hiking destination. The village of Les Estables, in Haute-Loire, is the usual starting point for climbing it. It is better to check the weather before setting off.
