The Col d'Aubisque: An Empress's Road and 74 Tours de France
Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
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225
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+100 France
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1 day
The Col d'Aubisque: An Empress's Road and 74 Tours de France
225 + 100 XP
The road over the Col d'Aubisque was built as a spa road: Empress Eugénie wanted Eaux-Bonnes linked to the Argelès valley and its thermal towns, and Route Thermale No. 3 was finished in 1864 with up to 500 men on the job. It stayed little more than a track until the 1930s. The Tour de France first dared the high Pyrenees in 1910 and has crossed the Aubisque 74 times since — more than one year in two. The pass is at 1,709 metres under the Pic de Ger, and beyond it the road runs as a corniche across the Cirque du Litor to the Col du Soulor. Snow closes it every winter.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Drive up from Laruns through Eaux-Bonnes and Gourette to the col at 1,709 m, under the Pic de Ger — the Tour crossed here every single year from 1910 to 1958 and has rated it hors catégorie from both sides since 2002 — and on the way find the hôtel des Crêtes blanches, built on a bend in 1950 and stripped of its 30-tonne roof by the first storm that hit it
2
of 4
Find the three giant bicycles in the Tour's colours — yellow, white with red polka dots, and green — and the memorial to Lucien Buysse
3
of 4
Drive the D918 east from the col, the corniche cut across the Cirque du Litor in the head of the Ouzom valley, to the Col du Soulor 6.6 km away, and count the avalanche scars and snow fences on the way: this is the stretch that vanishes each winter under the snow that comes down off the cirque, and the reason the pass shuts
4
of 4
From the col, look up at the Pic de Ger, 2,613 m to the south, and find the hole that goes right through the rock below its summit at about 2,500 m, and under it the shape the locals read as a woman's face in a shawl — the story that an old woman called Clara threw her stick through the mountain to frighten off a bear is not sourced, but the hole is there
Drive up from Laruns through Eaux-Bonnes and Gourette to the col at 1,709 m, under the Pic de Ger — the Tour crossed here every single year from 1910 to 1958 and has rated it hors catégorie from both sides since 2002 — and on the way find the hôtel des Crêtes blanches, built on a bend in 1950 and stripped of its 30-tonne roof by the first storm that hit it
Find the three giant bicycles in the Tour's colours — yellow, white with red polka dots, and green — and the memorial to Lucien Buysse
Drive the D918 east from the col, the corniche cut across the Cirque du Litor in the head of the Ouzom valley, to the Col du Soulor 6.6 km away, and count the avalanche scars and snow fences on the way: this is the stretch that vanishes each winter under the snow that comes down off the cirque, and the reason the pass shuts
From the col, look up at the Pic de Ger, 2,613 m to the south, and find the hole that goes right through the rock below its summit at about 2,500 m, and under it the shape the locals read as a woman's face in a shawl — the story that an old woman called Clara threw her stick through the mountain to frighten off a bear is not sourced, but the hole is there
Before you go
Snow closes the road over the Aubisque every winter, generally from late October or early December until May.
The pass is shut by snow every winter. The article gives two windows - closed from the beginning of December to the beginning of May, and closed from late October to mid-May in snowy years - so check the department's road status before you commit, especially in October, November and May. The western climb from Eaux-Bonnes has a short 13 per cent pitch and sustained stretches of 10 per cent before Gourette, then 8.5 per cent to the col: heavy motorhomes and anything towing should think twice. The eastern corniche across the Litor is narrow with unguarded drops. The bar at the col opens in summer only; the Crêtes blanches below it is open all year.
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XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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