cycling Col du Galibier - Valloire

After a week of climbing in the Alps, I saved the Galibier for last. I did the Telegraph the same day and by the time I reached the summit of the Telegraph, I was toast. The start of the Col du Galibier seemed long. Thank God the scenery was taking my mind off the pain. It takes a long time to finally see the top. The approach was very challenging as the pitch seemed to keep increasing. The summit was one of the most spectacular Ive witnessed. Totally worth every pedal stroke. The descent was incredable as well.

My personal climb rating: 5 stars

Rode the last week in June as part of circuit of Croix de Fer Mollard Telegraph Galibier - the giant came at 70 miles! The road maps are deceptive - its not necessarily the hairpins that are the killer, but the 15km leding up to them. So it is with Galibier. By the time you reach Plan Lachat youve already done a lot of climbing, but then the road just soars up, clinging to the mountain side. A good idea would be to stop for a coffee at Plan Lachat - but then you wouldntt have ridden the col in one! Personally, I like hairpins - I find those brief respites help to just stave off complete exhaustion. After the sixth or seventh virage a passed a youth who had stopped to take in an energy gell -he was obviously very close to the fringale. I was glad to pass just one person on the climb. But then again it isnt a race - or is it? After he had taken his gell, the young man tracked me up to the tunnell entrance, and then surged past me up the final steepening. By now the cool wind had refreshed me and renewed my vigour, but I couldnt stoop so low as to sprint past the youth just metres below the summit - that would have been so undignified! And the top - magnificent bleakness.

My personal climb rating: 5 stars

We climbed the Galibier from Briancon on the day of the 2008 Tour de France went up it. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and not too hot, could not have asked for better. Wonderful views. We climbed the Col de Lauteret from Briancon. This is not much of a climb, more of a long false flat, rarely exceeding 5 percent. From the Lauteret to the top of the Galibier was only slightly more difficult. Except for the annoying French gendarmes who kept getting us to walk our bikes every few kms, it was smooth and rather easy. Never gets very steep, even the hairpins at the top can be ridden in the saddle. Just needed to stand a few times for a change of position. I used 39 X 23 gearing and it was very comfortable. The view from the top is out of this world. I should add that we climbed it at touring pace, chatting all the way. It would a hard climb if you hammered it.

My personal climb rating: 4 stars

I thought the Galibier, starting from Briançon, was - especially for an untrained cyclist with a 22 kilo burden (bicycle + food, ..) - not that easy. The last kilometer was torture. But I admit that it is even harder when starting with the Télégraphe and then climbing the steep side from Valloire.

My personal climb rating: 1 stars

To me, ""humbled"" is also the first word that comes up to me when I think about my climb towards the top of Galibier. It was on the day the Tour de France had to go up there, July 2007. Having riden the Télégraphe too fast, I felt my legs hurting when I was riding on the easy part just after the climb out of Valloire. But after Plan Lachat, the hurting quickly turned into torturing. I tried to go as slow as possible so as not to kill myself, but with a 42x26 as smallest gear, you cant go too slow either. I had to stop my effort at about 2 km from the summit. I thought Id faint. This col had beaten me. This motivated me to loose a lot of weight over the last twelve months and Im giving it another try in a few weeks.

My personal climb rating: 5 stars

Climbed the Galibier for a 2nd time this June from the north and it was magnificently cruel giving me my most memorable experience on a bike. The Col du Telegraphe is a beautiful warm-up for the torture waiting up ahead; the slight descent down to Valloire seems terribly wasteful although this gives you one of the few occasions to enjoy the view at leisure. Its then a steady leg-sapping drag out of Valloire up the valley until you reach Plan Lachat where the road turns up & the pass starts showing its teeth. 7 km to the top still and the gradient is >8% all the way; youre also over 2000m and it feels physically impossible to push hard (heart-rate ~150bpm no more), all we could do was keep the bikes inching forward. At the tunnel with the last ½ dozen hairpins to do the gradient kicks again to >10% and by then we were just gibbering idiots. It was late in the day by the time we were approaching the top but the few motorists passing us all cheered us on which was great. The skies were clear and the views from the top were majestic, it was a wonderful feeling. The descent on relatively clear roads was also fantastic. We were utterly humbled and grovelled at the foot of this pass but I would do it again tomorrow. Vive le Galibier!

My personal climb rating: 4 stars

The Galibier form Valloire is incredible. Tackled in July in searing heat it plays on you mentally as you leave the comfort of civilisation and rise up in to the mountains looking for a gap on the horizon. The road turns to face many aspects of the surroung mountains. It was only when a car windscreen glistened way above in the distance that I realized just how much furter I still had to travel. The Croix de Fer and the Telegraph were now a long way back and I still had to tackle the last portion of steep rutted roads in to what felt like a rarified atmosphere. A great day out!

What makes this climb hard is the col du telegraphe first which is about 12km. The first part of the Galibier is not that hard but it keeps getting steeper as you gain altitude. I saw 14% on my computer in the last kilometer at the top. the last 5km is 9-10% at above 2000 meters - ouch. you can see the top from a long way off too and that can get to you mentally. you think "there is no way I have to go up there!!!!" hopefully you have alot of gas in the tank for the last 1/2 hour of the climb. we did it in september which was good as we were in good shape and the weather was perfect - not cold, not hot. have fun!!!!!!