Top Etape Tip

If taking advantage of Ryanair's cheap flights to Pau to pre-ride
some of the climbs in l'etape, do bear in mind that it snows in the
Pyrenees at this time of year.

I'm not doing l'etape, but got dragged along by some fitter people
who are. We looked at the weather forecast for Pau and figured it
would be fine.... The snow was total a surprise.

Starting out from Pau we managed to get up to about 1100m on the
road from Laruns to the Col d'Aubisque before black ice stopped
play (and left me some nice bruises) a couple of km short of Gourette.

Snow line was about 800m so it was the coldest descent ever. Even
with thick gloves my hands were too numb to work the gears and I
could barely work the brakes by the bottom.... Got some pretty
funny looks from passing cagers, too.

Next day we also tackled the Col du Tourmalet up to the ice line...
I wussed out at a cafe after about 5km though and drank coffee
instead of all that strenuous cycling stuff.

Commuting through the London rain this morning felt positively warm
and cosy....

Some pics at http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Pyrenees/ if anyone's
interested (the mountains are rather pretty in the snow). And for
the record we made it as far as the leftmost loop of road visible
in http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Pyrenees.../59300003.html
(the pics were taken on other days when we were scouting by car and
could get higher)

Pete.

Pete Bentley wrote:

do bear in mind that it snows in the
Pyrenees at this time of year.

Snow? In the mountains? In winter? Thanks for the heads up!

;-)

Simonb Wrote:
Pete Bentley wrote:

do bear in mind that it snows in the
Pyrenees at this time of year.

Snow? In the mountains? In winter? Thanks for the heads up!

;-)
Nice pics though!

You could badge em up as christmas cards and make a bit of money to pay
for a trip back when it's a bit warmer again


--
darrenf

Simonb wrote:
Snow? In the mountains? In winter? Thanks for the heads up!

Pah, it's barely autumn... The skiing season doesn't start for *months*.

Well, weeks maybe.

Serves me right for letting a Kiwi oragnise the trip...

Pete.

Simonb Wrote:
Pete Bentley wrote:

do bear in mind that it snows in the
Pyrenees at this time of year.

Snow? In the mountains? In winter? Thanks for the heads up!

;-)
AFAIK winter doesn't officially start till the solstice.


--
KakenBetaal

Blimey

We were there at the end of september and it was hot most of the time.
You saw more of the Col d'aubisque than we did, visibility was about 10m
most of the way up. The 2nd half Tourmalet was glorious (the first half
was done the day before, over-nighting in Bareges (sp?))

nice pics

Steve D

Pete Bentley wrote:
If taking advantage of Ryanair's cheap flights to Pau to pre-ride
some of the climbs in l'etape, do bear in mind that it snows in the
Pyrenees at this time of year.

Pete.

On 18 Nov 2004 13:54:59 GMT, (Pete Bentley) wrote:

Simonb wrote:
Snow? In the mountains? In winter? Thanks for the heads up!

Pah, it's barely autumn... The skiing season doesn't start for *months*.

Well, weeks maybe.

Serves me right for letting a Kiwi oragnise the trip...

Quite right. Should have left it to the penguin.

Pete Bentley wrote:

Some pics at http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Pyrenees/ if anyone's
interested (the mountains are rather pretty in the snow). And for
the record we made it as far as the leftmost loop of road visible
in http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Pyrenees.../59300003.html
(the pics were taken on other days when we were scouting by car and
could get higher)

What really impressed me about these photographs is the fact that the sun
shines in the middle of the night out there. All those scenes taken at
12:53 am, and 10:35 pm and not even the merest hint of a flash.

:-)

--
Chris

You should have donr the E;tape in 2001, the tourmalet was the same
then. it took me longer to come down than what it did to go up. I was
taken out of the race 3KM from the finish in Luz Ardiden, Suffering with
exposure. I put up a valiant fight to carry on but the Gendamme
threatened to arrest me if i did not comply.
best wishes
Pete

Pete Bentley Wrote:
If taking advantage of Ryanair's cheap flights to Pau to pre-ride
some of the climbs in l'etape, do bear in mind that it snows in the
Pyrenees at this time of year.

I'm not doing l'etape, but got dragged along by some fitter people
who are. We looked at the weather forecast for Pau and figured it
would be fine.... The snow was total a surprise.

Starting out from Pau we managed to get up to about 1100m on the
road from Laruns to the Col d'Aubisque before black ice stopped
play (and left me some nice bruises) a couple of km short of Gourette.

Snow line was about 800m so it was the coldest descent ever. Even
with thick gloves my hands were too numb to work the gears and I
could barely work the brakes by the bottom.... Got some pretty
funny looks from passing cagers, too.

Next day we also tackled the Col du Tourmalet up to the ice line...
I wussed out at a cafe after about 5km though and drank coffee
instead of all that strenuous cycling stuff.

Commuting through the London rain this morning felt positively warm
and cosy....

Some pics at http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Pyrenees/ if anyone's
interested (the mountains are rather pretty in the snow). And for
the record we made it as far as the leftmost loop of road visible
in http://www.sorted.org/~pete/Pyrenees.../59300003.html
(the pics were taken on other days when we were scouting by car and
could get higher)

Pete.


--
pete1863

pete1863 wrote:

: You should have donr the E;tape in 2001, the tourmalet was the same
: then. it took me longer to come down than what it did to go up. I was
: taken out of the race 3KM from the finish in Luz Ardiden, Suffering with
: exposure. I put up a valiant fight to carry on but the Gendamme
: threatened to arrest me if i did not comply.

I did it that year as well. Fun.

I got over the Tourmalet before the weather hit so had a 50mph descent,
and only really hit the bad weather 3km from the finish. It was one
of those days were once you got into the bad weather it just all went
from bad to worse.

There were people in states of advanced hypothermia trying to ride
down from the finish to the valley even when I finished.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Remember, there's no such thing as a nice pasta salad" -
Nigel Slater.