French Alpine pass travel info

[maddog-uk]

Any one know of sites that carry information on road conditions in the french alps. Need to go down to the South of france in the trevor in early may, and figured a bit of Route Napoleon and some minor detours are on the cards.

[heebeegeetee]

maddog-uk said:

Any one know of sites that carry information on road conditions in the french alps. Need to go down to the South of france in the trevor in early may, and figured a bit of Route Napoleon and some minor detours are on the cards.

You'll have no probs in May. I've done a couple of french alps trips over the past 2 years in my humble MX5, once in march, then in april the following year.

My experience was that only the minor roads were closed due to snow. The main ones, esp like the route napolean, were kept clear.

Brill fun though. I'll post some pics if I get chance (which I might not though).

The very high roads were closed, I reckon over 2000 metres it starts to get iffy, but if you look at a good map (like the big yellow michelin one) you're still left with a boat load of roads. I'm having another week down there in my MG RV8 leaving 21st this month.

[maddog-uk]

My plan was to take rn91 from grenoble to Briancon then hook up with rn85 (route napoleon) at gap. It goes up to 2051m hence my concern plus i seam to recall the road surface is a wreck!

Still if the main route Napoleon is open that works for me.

[bad_roo]

Col du Lautaret will definitely be open (between Gr and Br). Only a freak storm will close it at that time of year.

[stu harris]

Try www.alpineroads.com , use it to plan all our twisty pass roads plus latest 'it it open' info.

Stu

[maddog-uk]

bad_roo said:

Col du Lautaret will definitely be open (between Gr and Br). Only a freak storm will close it at that time of year.

is the surface likely to be broken up and the road completely clear, or will it still have snow on it?

[bad_roo]

It should be clear. The surface isn't actually too bad (they ride the Tour de France up there).

Worth a stop in the village of La Grave to take the gondola lift up to the Col des Ruillans (3200m) for a pizza at the restaurant overlooking the glaciers.

[heebeegeetee]

This months EVO shows them testing hot hatches around Dignes-les-bains last month, and the only snow to be seen is right on the top of the mountains.