Col de la Bonette
Departement Alpes Maritimes, France
September 17, 2005

Description

The Col de la Bonette is an Alpine pass at ~2700 m altitude in the northwest corner of the departement Alpes Maritimes (same as Nice), not far from the border of France and Italy. Since that wasn't considered high enough, a loop road was built from the Col that rounds one of the neighboring peaks and reaches an altitude of 2802 m, making it the highest paved road in Europe. That point is called the Cime de la Bonette. The loop road up to the Cime is super-steep, the last thing one wants for the final kilometer of a long climb!

I started from a town called St. Etienne de Tinee, about 25 km from the Col at an altitude of ~1150 m. From there, the road was constantly uphill with an average gradient of 6% (reaching 12-14% at points) until I hit the top (see the altitude profile here). There was very little traffic--just a few cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and sheep. Towards the top, there was also very little oxygen, which made for a pretty tough climb. The ride down was awesome, but at high speed I was freezing (even with extra layers) and had to stop a number of times to warm up. Enjoy the photos!

Photos

	Medium Large	St. Etienne de Tinee, my starting point
	Medium Large	Looking up the valley that heads out of town towards the Col
	Medium Large	That's right, baby--The highest road in Europe!
	Medium Large	The valley, again
	Medium Large	Random little waterfall along the way
	Medium Large	Looking back towards where I came from
	Medium Large	View to the side of the road
	Medium Large	View towards where I'm heading
	Medium Large	Eventually, there's no trees anymore
	Medium Large	The road is pretty precarious at points. You don't want to screw up, especially during a fast descent!
	Medium Large	More mountains
	Medium Large	Field of sheep (and a few goats)
	Medium Large	View from the Col to the road heading up to the Cime de la Bonette, the true highest point. It's possibly the steepest section on the whole ride, and is conveniently located where there's the least oxygen and the riders are most tired.
	Medium Large	After struggling up the last section and uttering a lot of words that are probably illegal even to put on the web, I finally reached the highest point || || \/
	Medium Large
	Medium Large	Close-up of the plaque
	Medium Large	Views from the top || || \/
	Medium Large
	Medium Large
	Medium Large	I encountered a bit of traffic on the way down || || \/
	Medium Large
	Medium Large	Small little uninhabited village along the road
	Medium Large	View of the mountains and the road winding down
	Medium Large	Main Street
	Medium Large	The trees have reappeared! View back towards the starting point.
	Medium Large	View back towards the top
	Medium Large	Bar/Cafe conveniently located right near where I parked, so I was able to drink enough espresso to keep me awake for the drive back to Nice (it took a lot!)