A 43-year-old adventurer from the Landes region of southwestern France will set off from Lourdes by bicycle on August 22 to link 10 Pyrenean summits above 3,000 metres, entirely under his own power, raising money for disability access and placing guitars in mountain refuges.
Jérôme Deligny, who has built a string of charity endurance challenges since the Covid pandemic, said the project had been in his mind for two years and that everything had now come together. The challenge is named Au son des cimes, meaning To the Sound of the Peaks. It will take him west to east across the range, covering 450 kilometres by bicycle and 200 kilometres on foot, with a combined elevation gain of nearly 30,000 metres. He aims to complete the route in around two weeks, depending on the weather.
The route begins with the Balaïtous at 3,144 metres and continues through La Grande Fache, the Vignemale, the Taillon, the Munia, the Turon de Néouvielle, the Néouvielle, the Maubic, the Batoua, and the Lustou. The plan is to cycle to the end of each valley road, climb to the summit on foot, then ride on to the next. Deligny said he was eager to take to the mountain roads and that the project was drawing close.
His father and a friend will provide logistical support along the route. The challenge involves no motor transport and leaves no carbon footprint.
Two causes, one challenge
Half the money raised will go to the Joyeuses Joëlettes, an association whose president, Stéphanie, Deligny met during a race. He said the funds would allow the association to acquire equipment to bring people with disabilities onto trails and into the mountains. The remaining half will be used to place guitars in Pyrenean mountain refuges, in partnership with music shop La Scène.
Deligny said he had been playing guitar for several years and always took the instrument into mountain huts with friends. He said that when he completed the GR20 trail in Corsica, every refuge had a guitar, and that each evening someone would pick it up and everyone would gather around the moment. He wants to recreate that atmosphere in the Pyrenees and plans to bring the first guitar to a refuge alongside a group from the Joyeuses Joëlettes. He has also extended an invitation to French musician Francis Cabrel to join him.
A history of charity challenges
Deligny said his solidarity adventures began during the pandemic, when all races were cancelled. Having recently lost a friend to cancer, as he had lost his mother some years before, he ran from Hendaye to St-Lary along the GR10, raising 9,000 euros for the Ligue contre le cancer.
He then crossed the Landes from north to south along its beaches for the Fées no men association, collecting 4,500 euros in a single day. His largest fundraising total came from the Entre midi challenge, in which he walked between the Pic du Midi d'Ossau and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre in under 24 hours, raising more than 16,000 euros for Summit of my heart. He has since founded an association called La Traversée to carry these solidarity projects forward.
