55) Lac Tourrat

During the Little Ice Age, north of Pic Long (3,192 m), the Tourrat Glacier, or Lac Tourrat, developed. The moraines from this recent stage indicate a tongue length of 830 m, with 37 ha of glacier surface area extending over practically the entire area of what is now the lake of the same name. It was the largest glacier in the massif, accounting for 31% of the ice in the Néouvielle-Pic Long sector.
Until the mid-20th century, Lac Tourrat received seracs from the powerful glacier front. During its degradation and classification as a helero, the largest fragment remained attached to the north face of Pic Long, at an altitude of around 2,900 metres. Until the beginning of 2020, characteristic bevelled glacial ice could be observed on this helero. It currently covers an area of 0.1 ha.
A second fragment (55-1) remained in the form of a Helero on the southern shore of the lake, becoming residual in 2012 and finally disappearing in 2017. A tiny ice plate remained attached to the north-west of Pico Maubic (55-2), but by 2017 it was already residual and the coverage from debris made it practically invisible. It is now extinct.
In addition to the 0.1 ha of the main fragment, in 2024 the tiny remnant in the form of a helleborine was still visible under the Brèche de L’Estibère Male (53-3). Although this is an anecdotal remnant, it is noteworthy that its state of conservation has hardly changed in the last decade.