Le Col du Glandon / le Col de la Croix de fer

Today was day three is the Alps and day three on the bike.  Today I decided to try and tackle le Col de la Croix de Fer again.  The day started almost as it always does with a five mile descent from the King of the Mountains Lodge down the Col d'Ornan into the Romanche Valley, the valley that Bourg d'Oisans lies in, but instead of turning right and riding into Bourg d'Oisans I turned left and headed for the climb up le Col de la Croix de Fer.

It is a long climb that I did a couple of time last year with Hank.  Le Col du Glandon is a side road a couple of kilometers from the top and you come to its summit within a 100 meters of the road up le Col de la Croix de Fer so you basically summit two cols for the price of one.  The climb gets steep in a dense hardwood forest about 24 kilometers from the summit.  The road then becomes a bit of a shelf road above a valley until you pop out in the village of Le Rivier d'Alemont.  I stopped there in the same cafe where Hank and I experienced a rain-out of the same climb last year, but today the weather was beautiful. 

I have been trying to drink less Coca Cola as of late, but during rides like this I don't particularly worry about it - I need the fuel.  So I had a couple of Cokes, only 1.5 Euros here, cheap by local standards. and a blueberry tart and continued the climb.  There is a huge drop right after le Rivier d'Alemont followed by an extremely steep up-hill section that mellows a bit after a few kilometers.  On the way back down the Col you have to climb out of the same hole.

The terrain becomes alpine (meaning no more trees) and you start to see large flocks or sheep occasionally being worked by their shepherds who use Border Collie-like dogs to work them in the steep terrain.  It is incredible to see how fast these dogs can move up hill.  You go up some switchbacks and pass a reservoir and soon you can see the bistro at the bottom of the turn-off for the Col du Glandon and,  two kilometers beyond that the summit of le Col de la Croix de Fer.

  

I rode past the bistro, le Chalet du Grandon and continued the 100 meters up to the summit of le Col du Grandon.  On a clear day they say you can see Mont Blanc from there.  It was not a clear day, in fact, it looked like it night rain.  I dropped down to the bistro and had yet another Coke and a sandwich.  Then the sun came out and suckered me into riding up to the summit of le Col de la Croix de Fer.  I say it suckered me because as soon as I got on top it started to drizzle.  But it was not that bad.  I headed back down the way I had come up and road out of the drizzle around the reservoir.  At the bottom I was back in the Romanche Valley and I made the right hand turn back towards Bourg d'Oisans.  The five mile downhill on the Col d'Ornan I had enjoyed as I do pretty much every day I leave the King of the Mountains Lodge was now yet another five miles of uphill.  But I felt good.  It was a sixty mile day with about 7,300 feet of climbing.  Here is the my Garmin route map for the day.

Le Croix de Fer