After an hour drive we parked at the base of the mountain, just below the quaint town of La Chambre. Here's a picture of the mountain from our parking spot. The pass is in the distance, just to the right of the snow.
For perspective, here's a picture looking back towards La Chambre from the last switchback before the summit. The Col du Glandon can be seen in the distance.
After two hours of climbing we arrived at the summit, which was quite beautiful. Here are Bryan and I at the Col sign, as well as some pictures of the view from the summit.
After a long fast descent I decided to call it a day, but Bryan continued on to climb the Col du Glandon, descend the other side, and finish by climbing Alpe d'Huez (while I drove to meet him). I'll post additional pictures in a later post.
In total I rode a whopping 26 miles but climbed 5,100 vertical feet.
Au revoir for now.
Jonathan