Today was the first big day in the high alps, we were to climb two of the highest cols in the alps. The I'Iseran and the mighty Galibier and stay in Briancon the highest town in Europe. The weather was going to turn for the worse later in the day and a early start was a must but we were last to leave camp as Ian is a tad slow in the morning and this would cause a little problem later in the day. The climb is around 48 kms to the top of the I'Iseran it starts steady and then cranks up for 14km to Val D'Isere where it levels off a bit before the final 15 km at an average of 6% climbing just under 900m.
Must have been a good year for skiing snow on the first bend off the top, absolutely stunning descent to Bonneval Sur Arc where a cafe au lait and pan au chocolate didn't do much to kerb the appetite.
Naive me thought that the rest off the drop down to St Michel de Maurienne would be a breeze. Wrong, headwind all the way and whilst Andy and I shared the load we rolled in rather later than we wanted. A lot of the crew were having a late lunch before setting off up the Telegraph, we joined them and then urged then to get on the way as the weather was closing in.
There is only one word to describe this climb and it is"Monster" many people vow never to go up the Galibier again, its 35kms and incorporates the Telegraphe after which you descend into Valloire losing 165m before the 18.5km climb to the top starts.
The serious part of the climb starts at Plan Lachat 8km from the top and as you can see from profile above there is no let up. About 3km from the top our fears of poor weather materialized not in the shape of rain but a little snow flurry. Andy and I were still at the rear of the group when the sag wagon passed us and motioned we meet at the summit. Rolling over the top the snow was getting heavy, there were 13 others waiting to get into the sag wagon and there was room for 10 so 5 of us would have to ride down to Briancon. By the time we got organised and put our wet weather gear on a blizzard had taken hold, luckily the guys getting in the van had given us some extra layers which were a godsend. As we started to descend it became our worst nightmare a whiteout and the only safe way to ride down was to hug the the mountain side which meant riding on the wrong side of the road at times and as there were still cars coming we had to be careful. Within a km we were freezing and had another 29km to Briancon, after a precarious 7km drop to the Lautaret a hotel came into view we peeled off and abandoned our bikes in the lobby and ran into the cafe area absolutely freezing, our 3 companions who had left before us had the same idea. This was where my faith in human nature returned. The hotel staff got us some dressing gowns took our wet gear and dried it, served us copious amounts of hot drinks, food and gave us a great rate on rooms for the night. Only our second day in the alps what would tomorrow bring?
