Classic rides. Climbs or routes that you actually want to do once in your cycling life. The name itself evokes a look of recognition. From Alpe d'Huez up to Mont Ventoux, from Stelvio to Furkapas. What we do with Cycling Destination is not only to make the unknown known, but also to pay attention to the classics. Classics that have stories within them. Stories that haven’t yet been told, or stories that are made during a ride. For Cycling Destination, the Mountain High Chasers go in search of this kind of stories. In fact, the quest to do all the climbs from the book Mountain High is a story in itself. Erwin and Erwin set out on their journey to Anzère for a beautiful reportage. Along the way they couldn't resist the lure of Grand Saint Bernard. Do you enjoy their report as well?
From the car
It’s the second week of June and on a summer day we get in the car with great enthusiasm and head towards Switzerland. The final destination of this trip is Sembrancher. It probably won’t ring a bell immediately, but for the real connoisseurs, it’s the place where the Grand Saint Bernard starts to climb up. From Utrecht, the navigation shows 942 kilometers. We decide to split the journey into two so that we can conquer the col directly from the car on our arrival day. After a beautiful drive towards Germany, we spend the night past the halfway point. After a good night’s sleep, we continue towards Switzerland.
Ready? Set? Go!
Now we are driving between the mighty mountains and we know again why we had so much fun getting into the car yesterday. The butterflies in our stomachs are getting stronger and before we even realize it, we are standing behind the car to get dressed for the climb to the Saint Bernard. The reason we feel a little extra butterflies is the fact that the Col du Grand Saint Bernard is one of our ‘must-do’ list. That means that after today we are one step closer to our goal; climbing the 50 mountains from the book ‘Mountain High’ for our 50th time.
We open the book again and see what awaits us. In short, a climb of 30.6 kilometers with an average of 5.7% and a maximum of 10%. We will end up at an altitude of 2469m and have thus covered over 1800 meters of elevation gain. Many cyclists will say that the ‘real’ climb starts in Martigny. And there is also a kernel of truth in this because the route was built to connect Martigny with the Aosta Valley in Italy. However, the road from Martigny is very busy and there is little space for cyclists. It is therefore not advisable to start in Martigny, but to take Sembrancher as a starting point.
Right in the sweat
Around noon, we get on our bikes and start from Sembrancher towards the top. The road starts to climb slowly, but with headwind and percentages of 4 or 5%, it’s a delight to pedal. The temperature helps us a little with this, because soon the shirt gets quite wet from the sweat and the first drops of rain start to slide between the helmet and the sunglasses. The road feels big, but with the traffic it’s not too bad. Especially after passing Orsières, there are still a few cars and two cyclists left. Because the sun here can really burn, the legs feel heavy, but the road is still very friendly to us and continues to climb slowly.
Light at the ‘end’ of the tunnel
The special thing about this climb is that you cycle through a tunnel for quite a long time. Rest assured, it is a tunnel whose wall is open on the valley side. This way, you don’t feel trapped. However, it’s not very beautiful. Our tip: Make yourself visible with lighting on your bike. The tunnel is four kilometers long. The climb flattens out from time to time, which makes it a lovely cooling spot on a hot day during a long climb. As soon as you think it’s never going to end, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is visible. Once you reach a fork in the tunnel, you continue straight ahead through the real tunnel (not for cyclists). That is the fastest route to the Aosta Valley, but turning right starts ‘the col’. Our heart starts racing even more when we see the sign ‘col’, knowing that the most beautiful part is yet to come.
The ridge
It’s pretty crazy. We’ve climbed for over 22 kilometers and only now are we being sent to the col. As soon as you get out of the tunnel, you can immediately see where you need to go. A winding road runs steeply up between the wild and increasingly cooler peaks of the Bernard. The friendliness of the road immediately stops and the percentages quickly climb to the promised 10%. Suddenly, the previous 22 kilometers become part of this spectacle. Think of it as Milan–San Remo, without the first 280 kilometers there wouldn’t be any spectacle in the last 20. That also applies a little bit to the Saint Bernard. The first 22 kilometers aren’t the most interesting kilometers, but man, what a spectacle you get when you stay until the end!
Everything you expect from a col is what you get in the last 7 kilometers. Hairpin bends, narrow steep roads, wild streams and all that while being encouraged by the marmots in the Alpine meadow. Since we are already well above 2000m the heat is out of the air and we can go full throttle up. This is also inevitable because the col leaves no room for saving.
On the way to… the Hospice
In the hairpin bends you have a nice view of what is already behind you. This encourages you to keep going. With two classic bends left to go, we look forward to the cola and perhaps a pizza at the top. A large building looms up with the liberating sign ‘Col du Grand Saint Bernard’ right in front. Strange enough, Garmin says we have to drive another 500m. We drive by the sign hard. By now we have passed the building and it turns out to be a hospice. We don’t belong in the world of hospices. Yet we think this must be the hospice with the most beautiful view in the world. At 2400m surrounded by snowy peaks and the ‘lac du Grand Saint-Bernard’ right outside… As said: Garmin wants us to drive a little further. We drive past the lake so we can pass another sign with ‘Col du Grand Saint Bernard’ at the border between Switzerland and Italy.
The yellow shoe plates touch the asphalt for the first time. Knowing that we are one step closer to our goal, we walk into Hotel Italia with great satisfaction. Here too, we are not disappointed and enjoy our pizza with cola while talking about a unique climb.
Route
Below is the classic route from Martigny. Although it is advisable to start from Sembrancher.
The routes from this story
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