The mythical Col du Galibier from Saint Michel de Maurienne

Starting from St Michel de Maurienne, the serious things start from the first kilometre of the Col du Télégraphe and its 12km of 7% ascent. As soon as you leave Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, you can already see the Telegraph fort above. After Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, you enter the commune of Saint-Martin-d'Arc and as soon as you leave this same commune, you already dominate Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne. The first kilometres of the Col du Télégraphe show a gradient of 8%, while the ascent, after having passed through communes and hamlets during the first three kilometres, is now in the forest. Later on, we leave the road to the left leading to Valmeinier and continue straight on towards the Telegraph. The last 3 kilometers of the Col du Télégraphe are a little less steep, and at about 100 meters from the summit, you can enjoy the panorama of Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, and the Maurienne valley.After the summit, you will leave the telegraph fort on your right and start a 5 km descent to Valloire through small hamlets. The Savoyard station is at an altitude of about 1,445 m. At the exit of the station, begins the ascent of the Col du Galibier and its 17 km at 6.9%. The exit of Valloire has a slope of more than 8% but at the exit of the hamlet of Les Verneys, 2 km further on, there is a 2 km drop. We arrive at the hamlet of Bonnenuit and up to the place called Plan Lachat, there are percentages around 5 to 8% as we follow a small stream at altitude. The passage to Plan Lachat, next to the bar, is a short flat area which you should take advantage of because it is then that the serious things really start. Indeed, once the small bridge of Plan Lachat is passed, the road climbs much more sharply and there are still 8 km at an average of 8.5% to be done while we quickly exceed 2,000 m in altitude, which makes the effort even harder, especially for those who are not used to high mountains.From there, you enter a green and rocky setting with almost no buildings.  With 3 km of ascent remaining, the summit of the Col du Galibier can be seen in the rocks. In the summer, there may still be a few snowdrifts on the sides of the road, at the beginning of the season you will be in the middle of the snow walls. Some passages appear to be close to 10%. At the beginning of the last km, we arrive in front of the entrance to the Galibier tunnel, at 2,556 m, and we turn left to enter the last ramps at 9%, one last effort and it is deliverance, at 2,645 m altitude.

From the St Michel Valloire train station, turn right on the D1006, in the direction of Modane. At the only traffic light in St Michel, turn right, just after the light the ascent of the Col du Telegraph begins.

By road, motorway A43 direction Turin, at the St Michel de Maurienne tollgate, exit 29 St Michel de Maurienne.