To La Clusaz: Col des Saisies / Col des Aravis

June 20, 2015

Today's ride to La Clusaz was everything that yesterday's loop ride was not - quiet and safe roads, many wonderful things to see, totally great.

The day began with breakfast at the hotel, accompanied by Szolt again. We were really pleased that he stayed over another day as well. He is very agreeable company and we enjoyed getting to visit longer with him. We tagged up with him during today's ride at both of the passes, but that will be it our paths diverged - his is arcing eastward toward Chamonix, the upper Rhone valley, and eventually to his mother's home in Hungary.

Today's ride is another short, two pass affair. The first climb, to Col,des Saiseis, begins right from Beaufort.. It gain nearly 3000' in about eleven kilometers, but is never very difficult. The countryside is great, rising up through dairy pastures and meadows most of the way. It is generally quite open and views are expansive. About halfway up, we passed through Hautecamp and paused to admire it's remarkable baroque church. It's unique exterior is painted in the trompe-l'oeil fashion. Further up the pass we crossed through a huge, dazzling display of wildflower so of every color. Not too bad - best wildflower display and most interesting church of the tour, both on a pass I'd never heard of befor planning this trip.

The summit wasn't much to get excited about though. It's been colonized by a small ski resort so there's not much to see - basically just biking through a small resort town. We pause at the summit long enough to layer up and take a summit photo, and then drop off the other side.

A last look at Beaufort and the mountains above Roselend

Hauteluce, a perched village halfway up to Col des Saisies

The facade of the XVI century church St Jacques, Hauteluce

The clock on the Saint Jacques Church, Hauteluce

The interior of the Saint Jacques Church, Hauteluce

Climbing above Hauteluce toward Col des Saisies

The meadows below Col des Saisies won the best wildflower display of the tour award

At the top, a short breather before dropping and starting all over again

Dropping off the north side, we're quickly out of town and coasting rapidly down to the Arly River, the same one we dropped to yesterday - we're really only about a mile from the northern end of yesterday's loop at one point. At the bottom is the interesting little community of Flumet, perched atop cliffs dropping down to the river. We access it by crossing an impressive old arched bridge spanning the river - completed in 1878, it was the first engineering project in the valley and contributed to opening up the valley by joining communities on opposite sides of the river.

Then, it's up again, climbing toward Col des Aravis. This one is fairly easy also, but has a much different feel. The lower part rises through a narrow canyon with high, flinty black cliffs looming above, a small tunnel, a few caves, and waterfalls dripping down. Almost gloomy. Rising above this though, we emerge to dramatic countryside - the mountains that surround the pass rise up like giant blocks sprouting from the meadows. The setting at the top is spectacular - Aravis Pass easily lands high on our list of favorites of the tour.

It's quite cold at the top, and a bit windy. We are overdue for lunch though, so we find a sunny spot out of the wind, bundle up a bit, and break out our provisions. Today we brought along a pair of delicious whole grain rolls from the bakery in Beaufort (and our favorite bakery of the tour - I'm sorry I didn't think to take a photo of it), a large block of Beaufort cheese that we thought might last but doesn't, and a great roll of sausage we've been toting for several days. It's a perfect meal in an idyllic spot, watching the sun and shadows playing on the face of the mountains before us. There's a large herd of dairy cows milling in the pasture a ways off - suddenly they're activated and start quickly exiting stage left, the clatter of their cowbells filling the air.

Finally, we roused ourselves and hopped back on the bikes, dropping down off the north end to La Clusaz, visible below at the base of four miles of switchbacks.

Here's the video of the descent to La Clusaz.

Dropping through the delightful set of switchbacks above Flumet

The Abymes Bridge spans the Arly at Flumet

Looking down on Gliettaz and the upper Arly valley. I think that must be Flumet in the distance.

Suiting up after the second summit of the day

On the move, Col des Aravis. The clatter of their cowbells echoed across the meadows.

The descent to La Clusaz from Col des Aravis

La Clusaz is a large ski resort, with a different atmosphere from any other place we'e stayed on the tour - it's all equipment shops, hotels, chair lifts and modern construction in an alpine style. There's a nice old baroque church at the center so it must have been a real community at some point, but now it's a destination resort. It's in an amazing setting though - all the peaks around the Col des Aravis rise up above the town.

Last supper in the mountains - pizza and tartaflette. The best was yet to come - myrtle tart and banana/chocolate tart.

Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 1,205 miles (1,939 km)

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