Hautacam to Touramlet via tramassel? - suitable for road bikes?

ajuk14

Hello Guys,

I have mapped the following route on ride with GPS:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26793983

i am trying to find out if the road after the top of hautacam by col de tramassel that connects with the road up to the tourmalet (from KM 28 to 45 in the above route) is a paved road?.

Google maps is not much help as there is no street view and i satellite does not offer clear detail of those roads, however they look like dirt roads and not tarmac.

Has anyone been up there who can tell me how is the road like?. i doubt it will be paved and is probably a dirt road more suitable for mountain bikes (we using road bikes).

Any insight is appreciated. We want to connect to tourmalet without going all the way down to luz saint sauveur.

cheers!.

mrc1

ajuk14 wrote:

Hello Guys,

I have mapped the following route on ride with GPS:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26793983

i am trying to find out if the road after the top of hautacam by col de tramassel that connects with the road up to the tourmalet (from KM 28 to 45 in the above route) is a paved road?.

Google maps is not much help as there is no street view and i satellite does not offer clear detail of those roads, however they look like dirt roads and not tarmac.

Has anyone been up there who can tell me how is the road like?. i doubt it will be paved and is probably a dirt road more suitable for mountain bikes (we using road bikes).

Any insight is appreciated. We want to connect to tourmalet without going all the way down to luz saint sauveur.

cheers!.

I can't say that I have been across that specific route, but based on spending a lot of time on the two mountains and surrounding roads/tracks, it definitely won't be paved in any road bike rideable sense. The paths on the Tourmalet are full of sharp rocks and stones and likely to be pretty gnarly in places, so while I am pretty brave about what I'll ride a road bike on, this wouldn't be something I'd try.

If you are staying in Lourdes but worried about making the day too big by doing the up and down of the Hautacam, I'd probably cut out the Hautacam and try and ride it another day. Or do the Hautacam up and down, plus the Tourmalet up and down descending back to Luz.

cgraley77

Definitely not paved, from memory. You'd need to do a direct up/down of the Hautacam (no bad thing, as it "leads to nowhere" outside the ski season there is almost no traffic) before dropping back down onto the valley road to Luz and onwards to the Tourmalet.

fenix

I think it looks more like a hiking trail than a road ? I'd not bank on using it.

ajuk14

thank you guys!, most definitely wont be trying this at all, will head down from Hautacam and make my way to Luz-Saint and up the tourmalet.

VeloPeloton

The road stops at col de tramassel. It's just mountain wilderness after that.
This is the route I would do from Lourdes, but I think Argeles-Gazost is a better location to stay. Also, most "normal" people would not do those two climbs on the one ride.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26815284

durhamwasp

We stayed in Argeles, great location for all the climbs around that area.

https://snookcycling.wordpress.com/pyrenees/

ajuk14

VeloPeloton wrote:

The road stops at col de tramassel. It's just mountain wilderness after that.
This is the route I would do from Lourdes, but I think Argeles-Gazost is a better location to stay. Also, most "normal" people would not do those two climbs on the one ride.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26815284

Thanks!, yeah we mapped something like that as we realized more and more that it was not possible to connect the two : https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26794812

we did col du tourmalet last year and it was an amazing experience, so trying to make an extra effort and spice up the challenge a bit more!.

You are right!, we are Cyclists .... we are not normal hahaha!. thanks for confirming the route after tramassel is not rideable!, it confirms our reserach.

knedlicky

The tarmac stops at 1650 m elevation about 350 m after the top of the Tramassel (1615 m) heading in the direction of the Col de Moulata (the road still rising after the Tramassel to the Moulata, 1680 m elevation), so a bit over 1 km beyond the main parking lot at Hautecam (1520 m). The other 'roads' going away from the top of the Tramassel (one to the N first rising then falling, one to the E falling) are unsurfaced tracks and anyway not at all where you want to go.

From the Moulata, after a slight descent there is a hiking trail over the Col d'Ouscouaou (1870 m) which eventually leads down to Campan, at the east side of the Tourmalet, and I suspect it is mostly possible by mountain-bike.
I don't know of a similar trail from the Tramassel/Moulata to the west side of the Tourmalet (as you wish) but any such would be more involved because in that direction there's a ridge at 2300+ m elevation to cross.