Despite possessing neither a glacier nor, in the context of the range, a particularly high summit, its distinctive shape makes it a symbol of the French side of the Pyrenees.

This familiar shape also makes it easily recognisable from afar, and it is particularly distinctive from the Boulevard des Pyrénées in Pau, some 55 km to the north.

[4] The Pic du Midi d'Ossau was reputedly first climbed in 1552 by an expedition led by François de Foix-Candale, later to become the Bishop of Aire.

The first fully recorded climb was by Guillaume Delfau accompanied by Mathieu (an Eaux-Bonnes shepherd) on October 2, 1797.

[3][5] The mountain offers many routes of ascent; the voie normale is a serious scramble and rock climb with a grading of PD, II+, 550 m. It approaches the summit via the Refuge de Pombie, a Club Alpin Francais owned mountain hut situated at 2,031 m (6,663 ft), and requires most of a day to execute.