Col du Petit St Bernard to open Friday
One of the most beautiful mountain passes in the Savoie, the Petit St Bernard, is due to open for the season on Friday. Teams have been hard at work in recent weeks clearing the remaining snow from the pass which is still as deep as 4m in places!
The Petit St Bernard links the Aosta Valley in Italy with Bourg St Maurice in the Tarentaise and it has been one of the main routes crossing the Alps around Mont Blanc for over 1000 years (the Grand St Bernard from Aosta to Martigny in Switzerland being the other). From Morgex on the Italian side, the road winds up steeply to the pretty village of La Thuile (which is worth a coffee stop!) before continuing up to the French/Italian border and the St Bernard's Hospice. There is a statue here commemorating St Bernard himself, a large hairy man with a taste for brandy...... no, actually he was an Augustinian monk immortalised for rescuing countless travellers from the snow with the help of his dogs. It is also possible to stop and see some of these beautiful St Bernard dogs (and often their puppies too) as you arrive into La Rosière, approx 10 minutes after the border on the French side.
Reaching an altitude of 2188m at its highest point, the pass is a hugely popular route for road cyclists, bikers and camper vans alike, so a degree of patience is required to drive it. But with stunning views its entire length, it is not a road to be rushed. This year the Tour de France will be passing the foot of the pass on July 15th as part of the Grand Bornand/Tignes stage.
For the latest information on other mountain passes in the area, check out the website below:
