Suggested Routes near Bourg St Maurice

Intherain

I am heading over to Bourg in June 2011 for a friends wedding and shall be taking the bike to put in some climbs. I was there 2 years ago and the scenery is stunning but I only got to sample it from my hire car as I had no bike with me....not so this time!

I will be staying in a village on the Col Petit St Bernard which runs between France and Italy. I think this is the climb where Jens Voigt crashed heavily in 2009 tour. I'll obviously be doing this climb but can anyone suggest any other decent rides in the Bourg St Mauritz / Tignes area?

Thanks!

CumbrianMan

Hello mate

What a great place it is to cycle as well !

We stayed in BSM itself, and done that climb up to the Petit St Bernard (assume you must be staying in La Rosiere). If you carry on over, you can descend down thro the ski resort of La Thuile and on down to valley floor to Morgex, head along to Pre St Didier and then turn left and climb back up the PSB, and back down to La Rosiere (PS, yep, that's where Jens had a meeting with the tarmac, on the fast stretch from the top of the PSB to La Rosiere.

Then there's the climb up to the Col de L'Iseran, which tops out at 2770m. It's a nice long climb (50km from BSM), and it's bleeding freezing at the top :!: Hardest bit is after Val d'Isere up to the Iseran. The km markers at side of road keep on reminding you how far to go and how steep it is !

Then there's La Plagne ski resort. Descend to BSM and find the 'piste cyclable' at exit of BSM (signed as D220 I think) and take that down to Aime, where you turn left and then climb up to La Plagne at approx 2000m (if I remember rightly, there's over 20 hairpin bends).
The other side of Aime has a nice climb up to Granier and on to a little place called Laval. The road then becomes really rough (too rough for road bikes) to go over the Cormet d'Areches, so it's a case of turning round and heading back (wonder if the bath in the field is still at Laval !).

Closer to BSM there are th climbs up to Les Arcs. At the end of BSM where you would be close to, take the D119 up to Les Arcs. Head for Arc 1600, and then carry on to Arc 2000.

And then there's the Comet De Roselend. Nearly 2000m (1967m). Take the D902 out of BSM (think it may be signposted Beaufort). This is a nice climb, and on the way up, you can hang a rightat Les Chapieux and follow a nice little road to La Ville des Glaciers. And hopefully if there's still some glaciers around (!) the view is wonderful.
Anyway, on up to the Roselend, and if you want to make a good route of it, drop down Beaufort, hang a left in the town onto the D218a, head on up Areches, hang another left and climb over the Col du Pre, drop down to Lac de Roselend, follow the road along lake edge and join back onto D 902 to head back to BSM.

Oh, and there's always the climbs up to Tignes. Basically head on same road towards Val D'Isere, and hang right over the Barrage du Tignes at the Lac du Chevril. Nice climb up to Tignes Val Claret and you will have bagged another 2000m+ climb (2107m).

Have a good time, we did.

Cheers

Intherain

wow thats a superb response! Thanks!

Yes, we will be in La Rosiere, my friend lives there, such a great area if you are into outdoor pursuits. I'll deffo be heading to La Thuile - great pizza and Italian ice cream place on the main street - we drove over about 3 weeks after the tour had been through and I was just wishing I had my bike with me.

The other climbs sound great esp the 20 hairpin one. I reckon I can squeeze three rides in altogether to avoid getting divorced , so aside from the PSB/La Thuile run which other 2 would you recommend?

CumbrianMan

Hello mate, sorry it took so long to come back to you, I had the notification thing off.

Anyway, the Cormet de Roselend is a great ride, when taking in Beaufort, and on that road that veers off to the Villes des Glaciers, there's a good place to eat.

If it were me, I'd probably do the Iseran route, that's only so that I would bag the 2nd highest road in the Alps (used to be 1st till they put that loop at the top of the Bonnette/Restefond). And soyou could also take in the Tignes ride at same time.

Re the Iseran, we went at beginning of Sept and it was freezing up there. Reckon when we come to setoff back down(about 4.30pm) it must've been about -5'c with the windchill factor. It was 20'c back in BSM. So just check weather forecasts and maybe carry some extra clothing.

Enjoy.
Cheers
Alan

Intherain

Thanks for the reply, I was looking at some of the routes on Google maps. I remember driving down the road from Beaufort to BSM with all its hairpins. Fantastic.
I couldn't see on google maps where Col D'iseran was - is it just the main road from BSM up to Val D'Isere and then back down the same way?
It looks like to col over to La Thuile is not opening until the morning of the wedding we are going to so not going to be able to get over the border so think I'll head up the Les Arcs climbs instead!
Cheers

CumbrianMan

Hello again.
Yep, the Col de L'Iseran is straight on past Val D'Isere on the D902. It's a return ride (out and back) of approx 100km from BSM. The going doesn't get tough until after Val, just as you go through Le Fornet, and you can see the road head up on your right hand side.

I've just typed in Col de L'Iseran into Google Maps, and it shows OK for me. Give it another go.

For some more info, try climbbybike.com, and grenoble cycling (Russell's website has some great info and pics).

We're off to Italy this year. Doing the Stelvio, Mortirolo, Gavia, Umbrail, Foscagno and Bernina passes. Really looking forward to it. Staying in Bormio. Should be a hoot.
Cheers
Alan

Intherain

Hi Alan,
Thanks for the reply. I found the climb on google maps now - must have been my dodgy French spelling!
Your trip sounds great, have a good one!