The historic Funicular of Ayré started from the centre of Barèges and had an intermediate stop on the height of the plateau of Lienz. Later in 1947 it was extended and allowed to reach an altitude of 2005 m on the northern flank of Ayré Peak (which rises to 2416 m). In the early 1950s [[Électricité de France]] (EDF) implanted a huge construction site a little higher still (at 150 m below the top of the Ayré) to make an 11 km long tunnel to store water from the [[Néouvielle massif]] and from the Gavarnie for the Capdelong Dam and bring them through the mountains to the Pragnères hydroelectric plant. The existing funicular could not be extended and a cable car was built by EDF, first for its own use to connect to the tunnel construction site base camp and the refuge of Glère nearby (the remains of the tunnel construction and the base camp have not yet, in 2013, been cleaned).