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Top Etape Tip

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01 / Original postTop Etape TipPete Bentley · 18 Nov 2004 02 / This pagePosts 1–10Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #10Arthur Clune · 19 Nov 2004

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UK and Europe
Published
18 November 2004
Last activity
19 November 2004
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Pete Bentley
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  1. Original post
    Pete Bentley
    Archived post
    #1

    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/Film%20Cam/slides/59300003.html
    (the pics were taken on other days when we were scouting by car and
    could get higher)

    Pete.

    Report
  2. Simonb
    Archived post
    #2
    Pete Bentley said:

    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!

    ;-)

    Report
  3. darrenf
    Archived post
    #3
    quote='Simonb'Pete Bentley said:

    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!

    ;-)[/QUOTE]
    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 🙂

    Report
  4. Pete Bentley
    Archived post
    #4
    Simonb said:

    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.

    Report
  5. KakenBetaal
    Archived post
    #5
    quote='Simonb'Pete Bentley said:

    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!

    ;-)[/QUOTE]
    AFAIK winter doesn't officially start till the solstice.

    Report
  6. Steve Dorrity
    Archived post
    #6

    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 said:

    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.

    Report
  7. Al C-F
    Archived post
    #7
    (Pete Bentley) said:
    Simonb said:

    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.

    Report
  8. Monkey Hanger
    Archived post
    #8
    Pete Bentley said:

    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/Film%20Cam/slides/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

    Report
  9. pete1863
    Archived post
    #9

    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 said:

    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 sorted.orgPyrenees 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 sorted.org59300003.html
    (the pics were taken on other days when we were scouting by car and
    could get higher)

    Pete.

    Report
  10. Arthur Clune
    Archived post
    #10

    pete1863 <[email hidden]> 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.

    Report

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