Sergio Servadio wrote:

... and descended through Isola2000 the ugliest of ski damage to
the alps. Those are in ride reports that were lost before modern
wrec.bike.rides got going.

Although I have never seen Isola2000, I have no pleasant memory of the
nearby region along my ride up from Nice to Briancon.

It's up the hill from Isola and to make sure the skiers can drive
their luxury cars up to 2000m elevation, an autoroute like highway was
built up both sides of the canyon, the south side being more stable
but holding more snow while the north side has avalanches with heavy
snow.

Gotta get there at all costs! As I have often mentioned to my riding
companion, "I smell ski" when a road in the mountains becomes
unusually wide and well cared for in spite of no traffic. We have
such roads here in California, where for instance west-east Hwy4 is
unusually wide but just up to Mount Reba JCT where, of all things, a
short Interstate Hwy I207 makes the connection to the ski area while
Hwy4 (Ebbetts Pass) returns to the forested mountain road that it
formerly was.

Talking about ugly places, is Isola2000 even uglier than Col des
Saisies?

Similar but "no cigar" (no prize). There was a town Saisies there but
ISOLA200 is completely artificial and dead except in ski season. It
has huge almost black steel tall hotels clustered around parking lots.

Jobst Brandt