Col du Grand Saint Bernard - Sembrancher

On the 3rd day I was training in the alps between Geneve and Bormio (Italy), I planned a trip between Chamonix(France)and Materhorn- Breuil Cervinia(Italy)(174km and 5300hm). I took the climb from Les Valettes up to Champex in order to avoid the traffic. From Champex you go down to meet the col du Grand Saint Bernard in the village Orsières. This road means a vertical climb of about 200m extra compared to the road through Sembrancher, but it''s worth it!! From Orsières until the tunnel the road is large but the traffic is going too fast to feel safe on the bike. From the tunnel until the top the road is nice, quiet and goes up to 10%. This Col was my 4 th climb that day, it rained hard, the wind was blowing in the face and it was 7°C op the top, but I felt physically ok. The climb is long. The part from Orsières till the top(which was my part of the col du Gr St Bernard) is worth a 4 for me. I won''t do this climb again because of the traffic. The decent to Italy was magnificent, I also believe this (Aosta) is a better way to climb this col!

My personal climb rating:

I did this climb from Sembrancher on a hot august day in 2010 and I can honestly say it was one of the hardest climbs I have done. It is not too steep but it is too long and the sting is in the tail with some steep but aesthetic switchbacks near the very top. It took me two and a half hours of steady climbing by bike and I had to stop for water and sugar twice on the way up. It is very satisfying to reach the top however and the descent back down was fantastic.! I think the other side from italy is a better climb.

My personal climb rating:

If you can choose: dont start from Martigny! Just start cycling in Sembrancher, the road before it is too busy and quiet dangerous for cyclists i think. There is nothing nice about it. The long half-open tunnel just before the real tunnel is also a bit boring, but once on the last part its really nice.

My personal climb rating:

I did this climb on the 28th of August 2008 from Sembrancher. I was on the road to Rome (Via Francigena), started from Leuven on the 18th. I was riding a heavy trekking bike with almost 20kg of luggage (front and backpacks). The most frightening part for me was the long tunnel, where I felt very unsafe because of the motorised traffic. I was happy to leave this tunnel for the last 6 km. These are very steap (average 9%), I did this on a 26/32 transmission. Weather and landscape were amazingly bright. The toughness of the climb for me was the combination steapness en weight. My personal climb rate: 5

My personal climb rating:

I did this climb from Martigny in 2006, which measures a good 44k climb. It is easy the first 8-10k, but gradually steapens, though not terrifying. However, after a good 38k of climbing from Martigny, the last 6k really gets to you. An average of nearly 9% after nearly 2 hrs of climbing is fairly brutual. The road is very narrow and the landscape amazing. One really needs at least 39/27 preferably a compact crank. The toughness of the climb is not average %, but the brutual length of the beast.

My personal climb rating: