Col du Parpaillon - Condamine Chatelard, La

You don't need a mountainbike for this climb. A racebike with tyresection 23mm is good enough! Goning down is more difficult than climbing with a racebike. Same for the other side (Crévoux).

My personal climb rating:

I cycled this route in 1992, With 60Kg in rear Panniers and full camping gear. I Rode the Classic route up the Tar road and the last 500 m too the tunnel was all covered in snow. In the middle of the tunnel there was about 30 - 50m of solid ice.Floor, walls, Ceiling. A small car could get thru, but a 4wd toyota Landcruiser - no way....

An absolute AWESOME ride thru a remote part of the Southern Alps......SPECTACULAR highly recommend it

My personal climb rating:

I did this climb in July 2007. You need a mountain bike as the last 10km is on a rough rocky track. When climbing from the west ( Embrun ) you can avoid too much tarmac as follows : Embrun -> main road to Les Orres -> after a few km take a left tun to St Sauveur. At St Sauveur the tarmac road stops but you can take a trail in the forest to Pont Real. From Pont Real follow signs up to the Col du Parpaillon. The last section from Pont Real is tough because of the constant gradient and rough terrain. Also watch out for sheep dogs here!. The classic route from the west is Embrun -> St Andre dEmbrun -> Crevaux ( near ) -> La Chalp -> Pont Real -> Col du Parpaillon, but this is tarmac all the way to Pont Real. nb. this classic route is the quickest way to descend. The last cafe is at La Chalp ( a winter cross country skiing area ). nb. I found this climb much harder than for example the col dIzoard due to the terrain. Take windproof clothing for the top as even in July it was cold and windy ( still some snow patches ). The valley and waterfall around Crevaux is spectacular.

Its a climb which is very beautiful. You dont see cars because its off-road. Sometimes you see any motors. There are a lot of big rocks on the track and you must keep focust because it isnt easy to drive. But the most difficult part is descending. You cant drive very hard because the big rocks and the bad pavement. I which all of you good luck