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April 2002 Diary

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May 16th - Two Cols, views of the Mont Blanc and roadworks on the Col des Saisies

The Col de l'Arpettaz is a road I have been meaning to cycle since arriving in France. 43 hairpins over the 17km to the 1581 metre summit and on a small road that climbs out of Ugine.

I drove north from Grenoble to Albertville and then another eight kilometres further on to Ugine, a small town in the heart of the Savoie region. I parked just off the main road and after setting up the bike, rode in the direction of Annecy for a kilometre before turning off when the road sign for the Col appeared. I took a wrong turn and ended up in a small industrial area before checking the map and finding the right road for the western ascent and cycling through the hamlet of Soney.

Ugine was quickly left behind and I followed the small road passing through the top part of the village. Two medium sized dogs ran out of their driveway, barking and ready to make a meal of a lone cyclist, and the only thing I could retaliate with was my water bottle. One of the hounds got a faceful of water and they both quickly backed away and thankfully left me to continue. The houses were soon replaced by fields where the grass was long and flowers grew. Cows were busy eating the grass with the bells around their neck dinging as they ate.

The Col de l'Arpettaz is very pretty and very quiet. After the hamlet of Mont Dessus, six kilometres from the bottom, you leave any signs of village life behind. I saw two cars on the whole climb. The hairpins are every few hundred metres and the gradient was a steady eight to nine percent for all the climb.

On the second half of the climb, the cliffs of the Aravis range tower above the road and view over the Bauges mountains to the south opened up. The trees disappeared for the final couple of kilometres and boulders and rocks littered the mountainsides beneath the cliffs.

The Col was deserted and the cafe was closed. A dirt track carried on under the cliffs towards the Col des Aravis, and it did look tempting to try tocycle but I was sure I'd puncture. Instead I followed the road down and after a kilometre of descending, I had fantastic views to the north-east over the Mont Blanc massif. There were no clouds over the 4,800 metre summit and it would have been a great place for a picnic with the warm temperatures and mountain views.

Further on, I stopped to take a picture of the mountains and noticed movement below me. I was lucky enough to see a mountain goat slowly making its way down the mountainside and out of the sight of the cyclist. The Mont Blanc towered in the distance and the slopes of the ski resort of Megeve were green. There were no signs of the snow and skiing that had taken place over the winter.

After the hamlet of Lachat, the road steepens and and continues to wind its way through a number of hamlets before the junction to Hery. I followed the signs for Hery and then joined the main road back down to Ugine. I'd taken 17 kilometres of climbing to get to the Col but descending via Hery on this side was 22 kilometres.

Following lunch, I drove back into Albertville and turned in the town to take me into the Beaufortain mountains. My afternoon climb would take me from just outside Beaufort at 720 metres to the Col du Joly, 25 kilometres later and 1989 metres in altitude. I'd ridden the Col before but the view from the top had been in cloud. Today the sky was blue and there were only a few clouds around.

For the first eight kilometres, I followed the first half of the Col des Saisies. I filled my bottle after a few hundred metres from a fountain on the side of a house. I rejoined the climb and caught a cyclist. It turned out he was the owner of Sport 2000 in Praglognan-la-Vanoise, and was currently enjoying his holiday before the summer season started at the beginning of June.

The gradient is never very steep and the road is wide. Work was being done on the road and we both found stones sticking to our tyres. I'm not sure if the work was to prepare the road for the Tour de France, but it was a pain to cycle on. The weather was warm and we chatted for the eight kilometres that we rode together before he carried on towards the Col des Saisies and I turned off and descended to Hauteluce and joined the road to the Col du Joly. I thankfully left the sticky road surface behind.

I filled my bottle in the village fountain in Hauteluce and then rolled along at a nice speed in the valley. There was only a slight uphill gradient and I cycled past meadows full of flowers. The climb really started at the end of the valley. At 1,300 metres and with ten kilometres of climbing still left, the road turned back on itself and the two and three percent gradient was replaced be six and seven.

As with the previous climb, there were no cars or bikes around. The mountainsides high above me were still white with snow and the higher I climbed, the closer I cycled to the snow line. The Col du Joly is a very open Col with no cover of trees or hedges. It's easy to see where you have to climb and where you have already climbed.

There are only two very brief opportunities for respite on final part of the climb, with each one lasting around two hundred metres before you have to start climbing again. Thousands of small white and purple flowers grew on the mountainsides in the final kilometres to the Col, suddenly given the chance to flower after being covered by snow for the winter.

The last three kilometres are the steepest of the climb, with the gradient increasing to over eight percent. With a few hundred metres to the Col, I had to climb off the bike and walk as the road had not been cleared of snow. I could see the refuge so I wasn't going to turn back. Marmottes ran up the mountainsides and disappeared into their burrows as I approached, and after five minutes of walking through snow I arrived at the Col.

The cold feet were worth it as I had a cloud free view over the Mont Blanc massif. The sign said the cafe was closed but there was a snow mobile outside and the door was open. I popped my head in and they filled my empty bottle.

After the walk back through the snow again, I had to spend a few seconds shaking and bouncing my bike to dislodge the snow as the brakes, gears and hubs were covered. I didn't need to put on my wind cape and was happy to descend as I had climbed. On the descent, I passed a cyclist on his way up. He flagged me down to find if he could make it to the Col. 'Yes but take your snow shoes' was my reply.

Halfway up the Col des Saisies

After a brief drink in the bar in Hauteluce, I continued climbing and joined the road to the Col de Saisies. On the road above me I could see a line of traffic waiting to pass roadworks, and a guy walking his bike to pass the stopped cars. I turned around and descended as I couldn't face another seven kilometres brushing tarmac from my tyres, so instead it was back to the car.

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