La Madeleine, the hard route

davidof

It is a very long autumn here in France so I decided to take advantage of the clement weather to do a last big ride. I fancied the south side of the Madeleine as it was snow free however I was keen to ride the Lacets de Montvernier, how to combine the two?

Early start at 9.30, the car thermometer read 0 C.

The lacets in view, bathed in sunlight



They were a bit harder than I remembered. After Montvernier I took a left, direction Col du Chaussy. This balcony road is currently closed during the week as they are clearing rocks. A sign read "Danger of death due to rockfall" which made me up the cadence a bit



There are sections of 13% on the climb but it flattened out a bit on the approaches to the col



I dropped down to Bonvillard, on the north side of the col there was ice on the road and I had to take it easy. At Bonvillard I took a right up to the Lac du Loup (wolf lake), another stiff climb of 12-13%. Just after the lake the tarmac begins to break up and then turns to gravel for 2.5km of climbing at a more reasonable 7-8%. Interestingly this gravel road is open to car traffic and is signposted for la Madeleine.




The track crosses the ridge to the left. I was on a road bike and it wasn't too bad except for a couple of short sections. When will the TdF pass this way?



and looking back to where I'd come from. After the ridge the road traverses around a bowl for about 6km joining the Madeleine climb on the second hairpin below the summit. The only problem is this section was north facing and had about a km or so of snow cover.



no worries I thought. Snow is rideable and feeling like Wout Van Aert I set off: speed and power.

Only towards the end of the snow section I hit some refreeze ice and wiped out. I was pretty stunned by the fall and took about 5 minutes to get to my feet. I'd worried I broken something, I'd certainly hurt my left leg but I was able to stand up and remounted my bike to slowly rejoin the road for a chilly ride down to the valley.

jimmyjams

Thanks for the memories! And hope you recover from the fall.

I first rode Montvernier (and the various normal Madeleine pass roads too) in 1984, and then in 1987 all again. In 1987 I also twice went beyond Montvernier and over Chaussy, once then descending through Montaimont, once carrying on past Lac du Loup and coming out on to the main pass road 1.5 km above Longchamp, so the same route as you report.

I last did Montvernier in 2012, as part of the L'Arvan Villards cyclosportive (start/finish: St Sorlin d'Arves; from Montvernier the route descended through Le Chatel to St Jean de M), while I last went up the Madeleine from La Chambre in 2014.
Looking out from the main pass road that year, it looked to me that the track coming from Lac du Loup had been partially re-surfaced (new gravel) since 1987, maybe for vehicles to service the ski lifts – I don't remember the skiing area being so developed 30+ years ago.

Wheelspinner

Looks spectacular. How far did you ride?

davidof

jimmyjams said:

Thanks for the memories! And hope you recover from the fall.

I'm limping today but I think I'll be okay. Thanks.

davidof

Wheelspinner said:

Looks spectacular. How far did you ride?

The loop is just 50k - up the back road, down the normal road. 1800m of climbing.

pblakeney

It was hard enough when I did Lacets + Chaussy + Col de la Madeleine on the normal road. Nutter. 😉

davidof

pblakeney said:

It was hard enough when I did Lacets + Chaussy + Col de la Madeleine on the normal road. Nutter. 😉

No but that is harder as you descend almost back down to the valley.

DeVlaeminck

Thanks - interesting little ride - heal well.

pblakeney

davidof said:

pblakeney said:

It was hard enough when I did Lacets + Chaussy + Col de la Madeleine on the normal road. Nutter. 😉

No but that is harder as you descend almost back down to the valley.

Fair point, well made.
Would still rather do the "harder" version in summer on smooth roads though. 😉

davidof

pblakeney said:

davidof said:

pblakeney said:

It was hard enough when I did Lacets + Chaussy + Col de la Madeleine on the normal road. Nutter. 😉

No but that is harder as you descend almost back down to the valley.

Fair point, well made.
Would still rather do the "harder" version in summer on smooth roads though. 😉

I have a big mental block about doing two long climbs in a day - which is why I've never considered everesting or doing the Marmotte. But I think it is largely my inner chimp speaking.

davidof

Went back to the Madeleine gravel route yesterday to complete the loop via the South and North sides then down the Isere valley to Aiton.



Very hot at the end, 35C plus and ridiculously had to stop just 5km from the car for a bit of a rest in the shade. The road from Albertville to Aiton has zero shade on it and was roasting.

https://pistehors.com/cFsDm4IBFehy1ochrJlR/another-bite-of-the-madeleine

bam49

that looks amazing !