Descending Col de la Croix de Fer to St-Jean-de-Maurienne

PieterM

Last year whilst climbing the Croix de Fer from the west side, I noticed a sign at the turn-off to the Glandon which stated that for cyclists wanting to descend to St Jean de Maurienne there was a deviation via the Col Mollard. I continued on to descend the Glandon, so could not check if that is true. Has anyone been there recently and noticed if it is allowed to descend the south-eastern side of Croix de Fer directly without the detour (and additional climbing) via Col Mollard? I know that the Marmotte descends the Glandon these days whereas until the early 00's the route went via the Croix de Fer. Is this the reason?

Ands

I went up the CDF from St Jean de Maurienne in August and there was no deviation via Mollard. The road surface is still pretty bad in places but has been resurfaced in others. I think I read that the reason the Marmotte stopped going down the St Jean side was because of the poor quality of the road.

blackrockracer

Too much loose gravel on the Croix de Fer decent . Makes fo ra very dangerous ride especially with 8000+ cyclist on the same road at same time .

That said , the Glandon is a real roller coaster of a ride . Very fast in places and lots of high speed tricky bends . Lots of people has came to a sad end on this stretch of road.

knedlicky

See this thread in the Sportives section for more info:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12629186&highlight=croix++fer

The Mollard is fun in its lower section - thirty-odd hairpins as it passes through the woods above Villargondran, just east of St. Jean - while higher up, west of the top, there are some great views and scenery.
And you also avoid the tunnels of the CdF.

PieterM

Thanks for the help.

Some rides around St Jean were described in a recent issue of the French magazine Le Cycle and it includes a nice 72km/2000m loop that climbes Mollard and descends the lower section of Croix de Fer. I was thinking of linking it up all the way to La Toussuire for some added mileage and vertical 8)