Rode up to the Col du Petit St Bernard today for the first time ever. Freaking awesome! A little challenging as in some places there were still high 'walls' of snow either side of the narrow road; sharing with pedestrians, cyclists, bikers and cars on a curvy road that is only wide enough for two big cars!!! Very interesting! LOL But that was only for a few bends, mostly there was enough visibility to ride comfortably, although I wasn't riding anywhere near as fast as some of the tourists!! LOL
This is a really shit video of the view on the way down. There's a parapente/paragliding competition this week but if you put the video onto big screen, the detail is completely lost!! Same for the birds of prey - I know they are there, but the video doesn't show them
Probably not the last ski of the season for some, but -
And I'm pretty sure this guy climbed up to find a ski he lost - since there is a third ski on his back!! LOL
The view from my coffee stop this morning - the Italian side of the Col du Petit St Bernard -
A little bit back into France, looking back up the road!
Looking down,
Not sure what the monument is, but from the road it looks like there's a teeny tiny jail under it!!
Parked by the biggest wall of snow I could find en route!!
Stopped on the way down because there was a MASSIVE bird of prey flying around - there were a few other bikes and cars stopped too! Sadly I couldn't get a photo of it but it turns out there were about half a dozen or more!! LOL Freaking awesome. Also saw that the parapente competition had started!! This pic isn't 'too' bad!
The view down from that spot - the town you can sort of see is Bourg St Maurice
Stopped again partway down to take this shot, looking along the valley towards (I think) Val d'Isere/Tignes -
A mate back in the UK says this is the best shot, just the road down from the last pic!!
Not a long ride, but worth every second! (Apart from the tourists when I was riding down - I've worked really hard to ride on MY side of the white line, it was interesting to have to move right over on a 'wiggly' road cos some people coming up cut the corner!! On one of the hairpins I had to actually stop and wait while three bikers took the hairpin on the wrong side of the road!!

)