Col d'Ornon and Vaujany Ski Station

After yesterday's epic climb up the Lautaret, I had planned to take things a little easier today. The Col d'Ornon is a lower and much shorter climb with a nice sweeping descent. The threat of thunderstorms later in the day made this much more local climb attractive. I could always run for home if the weather deteriorated.

As it happens, it stayed dry, and got very warm in the afternoon. I was late away. The bike needed a little fettling after yesterdays exertions. The first few kilometers were flat, and merely involved navigating Bourg d'Oisan's Saturday market traffic and slightly idiosyncratic cycle lanes.

Once onto the climb, the gradient was forgiving, and the shade welcome. The road surface is pretty good and its a decent width, even if it does appear to have been nailed onto the vertical face of the mountain in a few places. with the carriageway suspended over not much in particular. Unlike the Lautaret, the Ornon is not a major through route, so traffic was very light. There were a few other riders going up, and coming down much faster. At one point I did have to stop for a few minutes. The need to change to the smallest ring on the front coincided with a bump in the road that unshipped the chain. Out came the small sandwich bag, and the chain was back on in time for me to tag onto a duo heading up. They were significantly faster than me, so I quickly lost touch. No matter, the scenery was spectacular, and I spend the time spotting places to stop and take photos on the way back down. There are only a couple of places where the gradient is above 8% so all in all, it's a very pleasant climb. There are a couple of false finishes though. First, Ornon village is many kilometers from the col. Don'e be fooled. Also, there is an activities centre that looks like it might mark the end of the climb. It doesn't. There is still over a kilometer to go to the top. Garmin estimate I used 816 calories to get to the top. I used only 9 on the way down. That's the kind of descent I like!

The scenery on the Ornon is spectacular


The track up the Col d'Ornon is available on Garmin Connect
The track own the Col d'Ornon is available on Garmin Connect

Having got back down from the Ornon, the question was what else to do? I headed off for the only other relatively flat ride in these parts. It leads up to the dam at Lac Verney, part of EDF's impressive hydroelectric scheme in the area. The route is actually the start of the climb up to the Col de Croix de Fer. Yes, there is indeed an iron cross up there. I intend to go and see it in the next week or so.

Not far beyond the power station are two holiday locations. The second of these is the ski station at Vaujany. It's only about 5km of climbing to get there. Should be easy. It isn't! The first sign on the way up warns of gradients in the 9% range. It's steep, and it remains steep all the way to the top. At least with Alpe d'Huez, there are some ramps significantly flatter than this. On the way to Vaujany there are none.

The route passes through two villages on the way up. In the second, I was able to replenish my bidons, which was a blessing. The afternoon had become blisteringly hot. I did stop a couple of times on the way up, to take some photos and to give my back some much needed relief. In the end, the climb was worth it. The views from the village are spectacular. The descent was tricky though. With ramps that steep, I elected to stop a couple of times to let my rims cool down from all the braking.

Lac Verney, part of EDF's Hydro Electric scheme in the area

The massive waterfall across the valley from Vaujany, with cloud enveloping the mountain top

The track up to Vaujany is available on Garmin Connect
The track back from Vaujany is available on Garmin Connect