{"id":93314,"date":"2026-02-03T18:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centcols.org\/?p=93314"},"modified":"2026-02-28T10:44:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:44:01","slug":"the-sign-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centcols.org\/en\/la-guerre-des-pancartes\/","title":{"rendered":"The sign war"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you cross the Pyrenees to explore the passes of our Spanish neighbours, you are often surprised by the differences between the data provided by the map and that provided by the pass signs or the altimeter. You have a choice of three different altitudes, some of them very different.
Wouldn't a metre have the same length in Spain? An explanation can be found in the example of the Col d'Ares (FR-66-1513<\/a> or ES-GI-1513<\/a>), a border pass above Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste. What do the signs on the French side and the Spanish side indicate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Col d'Ares on the French side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Col d'Ares on the Spanish side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Clearly the French DDE and the Spanish DDE don't measure altitudes in the same way. A ninety-seven metre difference in the altitude of the same pass is quite considerable! So who's right? We need a referee: Mr IGN...<\/p>\n\n\n

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Leaflet I\u00a9IGN France ign.fr.centcols.org <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The map shows Col d'Ares at 1512m. Within a metre, that's the same altitude as on the French sign. That's perfect. Where does the altitude of 1610m on the Spanish sign come from? Quite simply from Mont Falgars, which dominates the Col d'Ares to the south at 1611m! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when you cross the border, please leave your Cartesian mind at customs, where a sign indicates the altitude of the place where it is placed. After all, a little fantasy is not unpleasant...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text and photo credits: Ren\u00e9 POTY<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lorsqu’on franchit les Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es pour aller explorer les cols chez nos voisins espagnols, on est souvent surpris par les diff\u00e9rences entre les donn\u00e9es fournies par la carte et celles fournies par les panneaux de cols ou encore par l’altim\u00e8tre. On a le choix entre trois altitudes diff\u00e9rentes avec, parfois, des \u00e9carts tr\u00e8s importants.Le m\u00e8tre n’aurait-il […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":485,"featured_media":93497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cols-en-vrac"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLa guerre des pancartes - Club des Cent Cols<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centcols.org\/en\/the-sign-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"La guerre des pancartes - Club des Cent Cols\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lorsqu’on franchit les Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es pour aller explorer les cols chez nos voisins espagnols, on est souvent surpris par les diff\u00e9rences entre les donn\u00e9es fournies par la carte et celles fournies par les panneaux de cols ou encore par l’altim\u00e8tre. 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