Mont Ventoux - Best time to climb - Weather

Russell Smith

What is the best time to climb Mont Ventoux from a weather perspective.

Cheers In Advance

Russ

risi

Time of year or time of day? There's a website made by veloventoux with some info on weather etc.. The weather page has some links to a meteo site for the various towns around the base of ventoux and also for on the mountain itself, so you can get an idea of what its like.

I can only give you my experience - I was there last year in mid-August and climbed it twice from Bedoin & Malaucene. Both times we started at about 7am so it was not too hot - arm warmers required & you need something to cover up with for the first part of the descent.
The first time up, it was a lovely clear day, very little wind. The second time (the next day) was very windy and a complete white out for the last 200-300m of the ascent. Bloody freezing at the top. The clouds had disappeared later in the day, but then you would have the heat to contend with. I don't handle heat too well, so was under a nice shady tree next to the campsite pool by then.

geoff_ss

Just pick a day when you can see the top The day before and the day after we rode up 3 years ago it was cloudy but it was fine the day we ventured. We rode from Beames de Venise to Malaucene and back via Bedouin. That was late June.

We stopped for a picnic halfway up

craigenty

Hi Russ,

Generally speaking May and September are my favourite months but it can get cold on the summit - especially in early May when there's often quite a bit of snow still around.
The rule of thumb is 10 degrees lower on the summit than in the starting town.

The Mistral wind can blow at any time of year so this shouldn't influence your decision.

We had 12 guys up there yesterday and the weather was amazing - high 20's at the bottom and high teens at the top with a slight breeze - perfect.
10 of the twelve completed the Cinglé three way challenge and we got the benefit of watching the sunset from the summit at 9pm yesterday evening - amazing!

email me if you need detailed info.

durhamwasp

Did the Cingles last year on Sept 10th, and it was an absolutely perfect day - 22c at bottom and around 16c at top! Never found any descents cold except the final one at 8pm when it was dark!

I read a blog of somebody who did it mid July and it was freezing cold after Chalet Reynard and very windy...

Basically, pick a date between May and Oct and hope for the best i reckon! If you could spend 3 days there, i think you will get at least 1 good day.