OK, i know it’s STW.. but we’re off to Morzine in June for Passportes du soleil and i want to give myself a challenge… so i wanna climb a tough mountain pass on the road… something long, steep and hard…

Now, being a mountain region i ASSUME there’s something appropriate in or around Morzine, i’d appreciate a poke in the right direction.
Plan is, to do that on Thurs morning while the others are all waking up and getting themseleves sorted etc…

So, what’s there, what’s good (or bad depending on your perspective)

Ta.

The climb up to Avoriaz (sp?)from Morzine should do it.

But real men miss the last cable car back to Les Gets and ride dual ply knobblies back on the road – thats what I call tough road work 😳

But real men miss the last cable car back to Les Gets and ride dual ply knobblies back on the road – thats what I call tough road work

…with a 22/34 bottom gear.

Try the Les Gets climb on a Kona Stab with a single chainring and a road cassette.

I died. Literally.

There are 4 historic climbs from the tour around morzinE. 3 cat1 and 1HC.mwe climbed all 4 in a day once. Never again. Col du juplan is the one Armstrong famously went pop on many years ago. I’ve probably spelt that wrong just to warn you.

Switzerland is about a 60minute ride away once you have dropped down to the valley floor. Some real leg destroyers there.

I’ve probably spelt that wrong just to warn you.

Col De Joux Plane.

Horrible on a mountain bike.

Morzine to Avoriaz in it’s self is’nt much of a challenge if you’re reasonably fit. Ride it then over the top, down passed the goat village and Lac de Montriond would be a nice way to start the day.

If you want to make it hard start by riding down to Thonon, turn around and do it all from there.

sounds ideal lads 🙂 i like it..

I’ll be on the 29er with high pressure roadie type rubber fitted for it

Col de Joux Plane (and Col du Ranfolly)

Also notorious as the stage where Floyd Landis rode magnificently to effectively win the TDF (with a testosterone patch slapped on the back of his scrotum).

I wasted half a day of a MTBing holiday waiting by the roadside to watch the cheating b******d.

My fave one to attack from Morzine is Col de la Ramaz, you can see the pass like a speck on your glasses right from the very bottom, and the road is pretty much carved into the rock in places, with a very unstable looking rope to stop you plunging to your death.

Chapeau.

njee20
But real men miss the last cable car back to Les Gets and ride dual ply knobblies back on the road – thats what I call tough road work

…with a 22/34 bottom gear.

After a full day around the Portes do Soleil when all you really want is beer and food it was tough enough!

For a quick up-and-down, Avoriaz would be good. Basically up the road to Avoriaz – it’s about an 800m climb – then either back down the same way, or hang a right and drop down the Joux Verte via Les Lindarets and Montriod.

A good half-day loop would be Morzine – Col d’Encrinaz (road round the back of Mont Chery to Pont du Gets then the back road down to Taninges. This keeps you off the D902 via Les Gets but is a bit hilly. You then head up the Giffre Valley to Samoens and up over the Col de la Joux Plan, which drops you back into Morzine to finish. Cols don’t come much harder than the Joux Plan; it’s steep, unrelenting, hot (south-facing) and has a pretty uneven gradient, and a long open pull at the top when you can see the restaurant at the top from a long way away. The descent into Morzine needs care; it’s steep, narrow with poor sight lines.

The Ramaz is probably the nicest col in that area; the ascent from Mieussy via Sommand is ace – starting from Morzine you could hit it from the Vallee Verte (loop round from above St-Jean d’Aups to Megevette then head towards Mieussy; you can pick up the main climb above Mieussy and then come back over the Encrinaz. I think that’s the longest of the loops. Ramaz from the Pont du Gets side (via Pras de Lys) would be horrible I reckon; it’s steep and in the trees for a lot of it.

Hope that helps.

Col de Joux Plane is definitely the toughest of the very local climbs – descend down the valley and then do a left towards Samoens (it’ll be obvious if you look on a map) and do the Joux Plane from that side for the full effect (you’ll also get a nice warm up). I bonked like Lance 🙂

I’ve also done it from Morzine on a MTB – much easier on that side.

Stats:
Starting from Samoëns, the Col de Joux Plane is 11.7 km long with an average percentage of 8.5% and a maximum gradient of 10%.
Starting from Morzine, the Col de Joux Plane is 10.9 km long with an average percentage of 6.5% and a maximum gradient of 11%.

(p.s. “definitely” as in “definitely as far as I am aware” 😉