Day 13 - St Jean de Maurienne to Col du Galibier to Briancon

Wednesday, September 16

St. Jean de Maurienne to Col du Galibier to Briancon (80 km)

It’s the big day. Today we traverse the highest point of the TDF in France, the Col du Galibier, at about 9,000 feet. It's not high by Colorado standards, but high it's for the Alps and we are quite far north. The day dawns cloudy, cool (44 degrees), with a forecast of intermittent rain.

We headed out wearing a lot of clothes and carrying a lot more. Within five kilometers I started heating up, so I began pealing off arm warmers and ear muffs. After ten kilometers the climb up to the Col du Telegraphie begins. It is a tough climb for 14 km, at a 7-11% grade. I never thought I would say 7% was good! After about 18 kilometers, we coast down four kilometers into Valloire, a little ski town and break for hot chocolate.

Valloire

At Valloire, the climb toward the Col begins in earnest. We have climbed about 2,500 feet by this time, and ridden 22 kilometers.

A view up a side canyon on the way up. Looks pretty inhospitable to me!

The view back from whence we came.

We ride up 17 km for a total of 5,000 feet of climbing. We saw spectacular scenery as we rode to around 7,500 feet.

Shepherd

We saw hundreds of sheep on the way up, but the most interesting being was this shepherd. He looked right out of the middle ages! At first I thought he was black, but he was really just weather-beaten and deeply tanned. He did not acknowledge me.

A look down from about 0.5 km from the summit.

As we continue climbing, I think it is not going to be too bad. It's just sprinkling off and on (which is actually welcome, at times). At two km from the top, we hit the snow. It reaches about 250 meters in altitude below us. I gradually had to bundle up more while riding the last two km.

Road with Tunnel

How about this road? You can see the tunnel entrance below and to the right. It was open to cars but the summit road was not. We carry on to the top in the foggy snow storm and get our pictures.

The Summit

Finally, we reach the summit in the fog and snow (and oh yes - the COLD the minute we quite working hard climbing)!

Alas, now the trial begins. We start down but our wet brakes are ineffective without the maximum pressure on them. Within one kilometer down, I am frozen and fear I will have to walk and ride down because my hands and arms are very cold and fatiguing rapidly.

Suddenly, out of the mist appears a bar-restaurant and the support car. Hooray!!! We hurry inside for a hot chocolate. No debate. We take a bump down the mountain. It would have been suicidal to try it on the bike, as the snow went down about four km on this side. It rained all the way down to Briancon.

We climbed a total of 7,000 feet over 30 miles. Sandy and Susan provided superb support.

What an incredible day!!