My pal and i are thinking of attempting Alp d’Huez early this year, when is the earliest in the year that you could ride up it?

You could do it year round, the road to the resort is always clear, except perhaps immediately after a blizzard…

Sensibly… May onwards is more likely to be pleasant weather.

Cheers for the reply, i’ll take your advice and enquire about early May.

Probably no bad thing to do it early, in the summer it can be blisteringly hot.

Deffinetly try and go after the snow has cleared, Alp Duez is really tough but it’s not the most scenic climb, you’d want to tie it into something like Col De Sarenne, I wouldn’t fancy those smaller high altitude roads in the snow.

those smaller high altitude roads are often ski runs in the winter

I’m going early in June at which time some of the higher Cols can still be closed. I was told Alp D’Huez is an exception and kept clear year round.

I have a couple of mates who did the 21 bends in early April a few years back with no bother, but it depends on the weather. Anything much higher will be ski runs until at least May.

I’d try and avoid it around 25th July this year 😀

those smaller high altitude roads are often ski runs in the winter

Not this one.

Rich , col du sarenne road is a black ski run in winter ….. Its a black mtb run in the summer – except when the tour comes through. Noticably better 2 years ago when the tour went over it.

I was told Alp D’Huez is an exception and kept clear year round.

Well yes, because it’s the access road to a major town and ski resort! Similarly you can access Les Deux Alpes, across the valley, year round. Some of the ‘passes’ which just join more remote places will obviously be closed.

Actually in addition to avoiding 25th July it’s worth avoiding Saturdays in general during the ski season as that’s usually changeover day and the road will be very busy.

Cyclist magazine had a loop, including the Alp d’Huez climb, in the area as one of their featured rides – might be worth searching out, quite possibly summer only though.

I’ve been informed that my pal can only make June or July so I reckon early June will be better then.

If your aim is just to ride up the climb then go whenver you like. Just do it in the evening when it’s a bit cooler and quieter. It’ll take you around and hour to climb and then about five minutes to come back down 😀

Note that the Tour de France finish is on the far side of town on the way up to the ski lifts, there’s a short descent before you get to it though. There’s probably an official finish to the climb but I’m not sure where it is. The book “Mountain High” reckons at least 300 try the climb every day through the summer.

Don’t just come back down, ride over to the Col du Sarenne. Brilliant biking.

Can’t remember who said it, but when it was announced the Tour was going that way the quote was “So if I understand correctly, you’re planning to take the world’s biggest bike race down a goat track”.

Deffinetly try and go after the snow has cleared, Alp Duez is really tough but it’s not the most scenic climb, you’d want to tie it into something like Col De Sarenne, I wouldn’t fancy those smaller high altitude roads in the snow.

I did exactly that ride last August. The road surface coming down from Col du Sarenne is pretty crappy, I found it okay due to MTB but the roadies I was with hated it. Also, beware of crosswinds as you exit the tunnels descending on the D1091. They blew me a foot towards the edge, a mate on deep section carbon rims went four feet sideways in front of me towards a very big drop.

@ natch. was there late August aswell 😀 Agree the top bit of col de sarrenne is a bit sketchy 😯 just like some of the rougher welsh valley roads, so I felt right at home LOL. It got better pretty quick so Iit wasn’t a problem.
A link to a good ride but mostly in reverse.

Col de la Sarenne, Auris, and Maronne

🙂

Col du Solude is also a really great ride around there, with some excellent views. The topmost section is gravel though, and if you descend from Villard Notre Dame, take a very bright light because the tunnels are pitch black with some nasty potholes and drainage channels.