France—Over the Spine of the Alps
My wife Liz and I have based ourselves in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, about 12 miles south of the famous Mont Blanc in the French Alps. This delightful ski resort town is a perfect summer starting point for motorcycle tours to several of the spectacular mountain passes in the area. This morning, we are heading out to explore the Little St. Bernard Pass, which starts here in Bourg-Saint-Maurice and climbs to 7,178 feet as it crosses the France-Italy border before descending to Morgex on the Italian side.
The name of the pass comes from the Petit St. Bernard Hospice just to the southwest, which was founded in the 11th century by St. Bernard of Aosta. The famous St. Bernard dog was originally bred for rescue work by monks at a different hospice at the Great St. Bernard Pass, cutting through the mountains on the other side of the Aosta Valley into Switzerland.
It’s a lovely August morning, and we are having a delicious breakfast on a little table in the street outside the Aux Délices de Tarentaise bakery in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. All around us, festivities are under way as runners on an annual 92-mile-long, two-day running event, called the Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS), are passing through the town. We finish our quiche Lorraine and Chausson aux Pommes, swig the last dregs of coffee, and mount up for our ride into Italy.
The Curious Case of the Pink Climb
We leave town heading north on D1090 and are almost immediately on the pass road itself. The hairpins start straight away. The first few are relatively gentle and take us through little homesteads and along avenues lined with silver birch as we climb toward a more heavily wooded area.
Motorcycles & Gear
2022 Kawasaki Versys 1000
2022 Yamaha Tracer 9
Helmet: Shoei Neotec
Jacket: Held Cool System Leather, Helite airbag vest
Pants: ProBiker Textile
Boots: Alpinestars New Land Gore-Tex
Gloves: Vanucci Viscolab
Luggage: SW Motech tankbag
Comm system: Sena 50S
Soon, the twisties tighten and the signs now point to Col du St. Bernard and La Rosière station. We have now left most habitation behind and a series of long zig-zags takes us through occasional fields. However, the forest is getting denser and denser the higher we rise. After going back and forth eight times on the mountainside, we pass the biker-friendly Hôtel Belvédère, plastered with motorcycle-related advertising. Another short climb later, a narrow road breaks away to the right and descends steeply to Montvalezan. The road surface is painted bright pink!
Even though this road is a diversion from the route, we decide to ride it up and down just for the bizarre vista it provides. The pink paint commemorates the 2018 Tour de France, which used this road. The road still retains its color, making this final steep climb a special one for cyclists. Yet, the road is just one of many pink-themed promotions for the town of La Rosière, whose name stems from the French word rose, meaning “pink” in English. Back on the pass road, a few more hairpins bring us to the town, its buildings constructed in the traditional Savoyard style, with wood, stone, and slate features. In 1985, thanks to an agreement between Montvalezan, Séez, and La Thuile, La Rosière became one of the first French ski resorts where you could freely ski across the border into Italy.
As we ride slowly through this stretched-out one-street town, the influence of ski tourism money is clear. It’s a very well appointed, up-market place, indeed. The pink theme persists throughout, from the pink road sign at the town entrance, through the large pink elephant statue, to the giant pink flower pots lining the main road.