Massif du Hautacam

Some mountain roads wiggle their way up. Ramps connect to a switchback where the road is almost level. Not so on Hautacam. It goes up straight from the river plain. It gets steep quickly, then it gets even steeper. The second half is steeper still. The red bits on the graph make your pulse beat so hard it feels like your helmet might crack open. On the scale of difficulty of the big Euro climbs, Hautacam is 4 out of 5.
The Hataucam is not much to look at but the views out to the surrounding peaks are fabulous. When we approached the summit the cloud cover closed in so there was not much to see in any direction.
Then there is the descent. It fast! And cold. Very, very cold.Read more