Minimum altitude: 247 meters
Distance: 59.2 km
Slope Aspect: South-East
Vertical Climbed: 1,518 meters (4,981 feet)
Vertical Descended: 1,510 meters
Rating: 5
There is a heatwave at the moment and many people on Strava were complaining about the temperatures. At the same time the weather service predicted afternoon storms. I decided to head out relatively early to retry the Chamrousse climb via Luitel. Now this is SE facing so it would seem a poor choice but apart from the start most of the road is under tree cover with the temperature around 24C.
The climb is really steep, especially the second half with lots of long sections over 10%, nearer 15% in places. Again my x32 rear ring came in handy. Things eased once on the Chamrousse climb although after the ski de fond turn it was back up over 8%. It took just under 2 hours to reach Chamrousse, 2h10 to the Col proper. Not too bad really on such a scorcher.
The ride down was pleasant until hitting a heat wall at around 800 meters. After that I was glad to get home and put my feet up for the rest of the day.
35C in the valley. Not a car on the Luitel road. Quite a few on the final climb to Chamrousse.