Landscapes of the Pyrenees

[All Andorra]

Landscape

Conspicuous features of Pyrenean scenery are:

the absence of great lakes, such as those that fill the lateral valleys of the Alps

the rarity and relative high elevation of usable passes

the large number of the mountain torrents locally called gaves, which often form lofty waterfalls, surpassed in Europe only by those of Scandinavia

the frequency with which the upper end of a valley assumes the form of a semicircle of precipitous cliffs, called a cirque.

The highest waterfall is Gavarnie (462 m or 1,515 ft), at the head of the Gave de Pau; the Cirque de Gavarnie, in the same valley, together with the nearby Cirque de Troumouse and Cirque d'Estaubé, are notable examples of the cirque formation. https://all-andorra.com/pyrenees/

Low passes are lacking, and the principal roads and the railroads between France and Spain run only in the lowlands at the western and eastern ends of the Pyrenees, near sea level.