Col de la Lombarde

A relentlessly twisting border climb above the Isola 2000 ski resort, famous for its near-continuous ladder of hairpins.

Starting from the Isola 2000 resort the M97 corkscrews upward through bare high alpine terrain to the 2,351m frontier saddle, then descends into Italy as the SP255 down the wild Stura di Demonte valley toward Vinadio. The route is celebrated for an almost unbroken chain of hairpins, roughly 75 across the full ascent and descent, with a generally good but narrow surface. It is the sixth-highest road pass in France and featured in the 2008 Tour de France. The upper sections are exposed and treeless. Mind the very tight narrow hairpins with limited passing room, late-lying snow that can keep it shut into June, and the long remote Italian descent with little in the way of services.