The very nature of the Pyrenees, a mid-altitude massif practically devoid of icy zones, makes most summits accessible, at least in summer. The matter of their first ascent therefore is of limited interest: occupied since neolithic times by herds and their shepherds, by Pyrenean chamois hunters and by smugglers, these mountains were roamed upon at all times. And the summits, from the view point of their inhabitants, neither more nor less interesting than the pastures: their animals, especially ovines, would sometimes get lost up to the highest altitudes, and these places would occasionally be used as hunting posts. Of course, some conquests have almost certainly been accomplished by tourists, travellers and other pyreneists (the Balaïtous, the high crests of the Vignemale, probably the Maladetta beyond the glaciers...). But the pyreneists themselves sometimes acknowledge it: there already was a sign, a turret, a trace on that summit that one had just conquered. And Ramond de Carbonnières' guides were led to the summit of the Monte Perdido by a Spanish shepherd...