The Col de Lautaret

The idea of being able to ride uphill for 34km is quite astonishing. Welcome to the Col de Lautaret. It featured on this years Tour de France as an aperitif to a climb of the Col d'Izoard, and a finish up a mountain in Risoul. And they started in Grenoble!

We set out today with the intention of riding together up to Les Deux Alps. This is another ski resort, with a similar access road to that for Alpe d'Huez. It's not quite as long, and not quite as steep. Actually this resort was the second, after Chamonix, to be constructed in the French Alps. It's also considered to be one of the prettiest. As it turned out, we didn't make it. Angela's exertions from yesterday took their toll and in the end after trying really hard, she abandoned the attempt early.

Since there is a cable car to Deux Alps, there is the possibility of meeting her up there for lunch. So rather than that climb, I headed onwards past the turning, intending to get to the top of the Col de Lautaret.

It was very hot in the valley, and the light was great, so on the way up I stopped to take photographs. The gradients are reasonable, often in the 4 to 7% range, a really nice change from Alpe d'Huez, where anything below 8% is a short lived luxury. It wasn't until I'd been riding for a long time, that I came to a sign announcing 18 km still to go! From this point on, at every kilometer, there is a sign showing current altitude, average gradient for the next kilometer and distance to go. These were really helpful, but they didn't arrive at the kind of rate I'd been hoping for! They did, however, allow riders to measure their suffering with Gallic precision!

That 18 km took the best part of 2 hours more climbing, but I finally made it to the top of the col, and the largest limonade I could lay hands on. The Lautaret is the start of a short climb to the top of the Col de Galibier. It's only another 8km, but pretty steep. One look at it, was all it took to decide to save it for another day. I'm planning to ascend it from the other side next weekend.

 The valley of the Romanches is spectacular all the way up.

 When we say that there may be rock falls, we mean it! We don't build these fences for fun.

 The road follows the river for quite a way, before heading up and away.

And yes, that is the road I'd just come up.

Needless to say, the return to Bourg d'Oiseans was very easy. Huge sections required virtually no pedalling at all.

The track for the ascent is available on Garmin Connect. Something went very odd with the tracking around kilometer 7. I didn't suddenly transport to the other side of the valley! It may have been something to do with a tunnel. It would not have taken 4 hours and 6 minutes but for the photography stops and trying to help Angela get up the pass. Still, even without that it would have been well over 3 hours.

The track for the descent is also available. Coming down was a much brisker 1 hour and 6 minutes. The long stop was to take off all the extra clothing that I'd put on at the top. It was cold up there.