Cycling in the high mountains. Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees etc

It's an early Sturdy. It's actually a gravel frame and in hindsight the gravel wheels and tyres rather than road ones would have been a far better choice this week.

In Briancon next week; the Galibier will still be closed after Lautaret... but... worth chancing as it's only a week before it's due to open?

Spent a week on gravel in the Sierra Nevada. A real mix of terrain, but a couple of days went above 2000m so thought worth a pic. This is from the top of Puerto de La Ragua

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Yup, likely to be passable on foot/bicycle, via snowmelt tunnel depending how the temps have been up there. The closure is for vehicles I think. If it's absolutely impassable you could go through the tunnel to continue a route, although obviously that wouldn't tick the Galibier summit box!

I'll probably give it a go next Monday or Weds then depending on how the others feel. Ventoux Sunday and then a few days near Briancon

Presumably strava heatmaps will tell you fairly definitively if open to cycling?

Dunno... maybe. As I said, they're not open "officially" until the end of the month. I'll drive past on the way to Briancon and have a look and a chat to the people at the cafe to see what they know

There was a lot of snow up high in that part of the alps this year but the webcam does show that the bottom of the Galibier from the Lauteret is clear

https://www.serre-chevalier.com/en/live/webcam-live-serre-chevalier-valley-briancon

FYI: RWGPS heat maps can now be filtered for 7-day and 30-day and all-time or something similar so you can see if there's any activity on a route or any RECENT activity on a route. I've not used it but seems kinda useful for this kind of seasonal stuff.

Just finished my quick trip to the mountains. Did the ventoux as my mates wanted to. Pissed it down on arrival in Briançon so we sat around and “recovered” (mostly went to the brewery). After that did a loop into Italy via the col de l’échelle and back via montgenevre. Today did the izoard which is officially open but still very snowy. Would absolutely recommend the loop into Italy; really quiet climb along the valley, one of the best descents from the summit to Oulx I’ve ever done and the tunnel is always nice.

So our mountains holiday this year is partly in Fie' allo Sciliar then on to Val Gardena.

Planning on doing the Maratona route, and will probably hire a MTB for a couple of days in Val Gardena. Any recommendations for quiet, long climbs or routes would be appreciated.

Going to the alps next month for the first time with a few friends, staying near Vaujany close to Lac du Verney.

Looking like we will do one day of the Glandon,(maybe CdF), Telegraph, Galibier.

One day Alpe d’Huez to get it out of our system

Then not sure…got a couple of drafted routes, one driving a bit further north and doing a loop including the Madeleine, and another going south to do col d’Ornon and col de La morte.

Those last two aren’t finalised, so any other bangers we should be looking at?

The balcony road from Vaujany to Alpe d'Huez (think it comes out by the church in Huez village itself if memory serves) is spectacular, but you'll need a head for heights.

If you do Alpe d'Huez then continue beyond the air strip and do the Col de Sarenne, then drop down to the dam at Lac du Chambon.

One of my favourite routes in that area is the dead end road to La Berade, it's a stiff climb in places but the sense of isolation you get up there is worth it. There is a cafe at the end, which was open last year.

^these are all great. Great balcony road up to col du solude as well and if you don't mind a bit of gravel you can turn it in to a loop via villard Raymond
https://www.cycling-challenge.com/col-du-solude/

@dangeek in response to your query in the other thread

this

Thanks 🤩

Galibier still closed, and Glandon currently closed too! Looks like I might have to replan for this weekend!

The Tour is due over the Galibier a week today, so I’d imagine it’ll be cleared this week.

Also, @Sam rode the Glandon last week and it was being resurfaced so I think that is why it’s closed.

Vaujany

Sarenne
Ornon
Morte

Maybe Mollard and Croix De Fer .. but if Galibier and Glandon is closed Croix de fer might be too.

might also be worth keeping an eye on updates from the Marmotte, largely same route and same date as you

lol that’s almost exactly the route we were planning on doing

The Glandon was clear, they were resurfacing the south side of the Croix de Fer, but keeping it open and just closing sections for 15-20 minutes at a time.

Perhaps they've since gone to resurface the south side now, including the Glandon.

Looks like it’s closed due to weather last week:
https://savoie-route.fr/chantiers?id=13468

Makes it sound like that's the south side of the Glandon.