ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...
in southeastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, in the
Belledonne
Belledonne (french: link=no, La chaine de Belledonne, ) is a mountain range (french: link=no, massif) in the Dauphiné Alps (part of the French Alps) in southeast France. The southern end of the range forms the eastern wall of the mountains th ...
mountain range near
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
in the
Isère
Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.department. It is located in a commune of the same name and is situated on the Recoin at and the Roche Béranger at . The ski-lifts reach the ''Cross of Chamrousse'' at .
Population
Olympics
Chamrousse hosted the six
alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...
events of the
1968 Winter Olympics
The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
won three gold medals in the men's events. All women's events took place at Recoin de Chamrousse, located away.
Skiing at Chamrousse
There are more than of downhill runs at Chamrousse and 24 ski lifts. There are also of trails for cross-country skiing. Cross-country skiing can be practised from the opening of the resort to early or mid-April.
Cycle racing
Details of the climb
The road to the ski station starts at Uriage-les-Bains from where the climb is long, gaining in elevation, at an average gradient of 6.5%. There are several sections in excess off 11% in the early stages of the climb. For the Tour de France, the summit is at an elevation of .
The ski station can also be reached by a more northerly route, from Uriage-les-Bains via Saint-Martin-d'Uriage. This climb is gaining in elevation, at an average gradient of 7.2%.
Tour de France
The climb of Chamrousse was used in the mountain time-trial in the
2001 Tour de France
The 2001 Tour de France was a multiple-stage bicycle race held from 7 to 29 July, and the 88th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti- ...
.
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...
won the stage (#11) on 18 July 2001, when he took just over an hour to complete the
hors categorie
Khors, Хорсъ is a Slavic god of uncertain functions mentioned since the 12th century. Generally interpreted as a sun god, sometimes as a moon god. The meaning of the theonym is also unknown: most often his name has been combined with th ...
climb from Grenoble to the ski resort. In 2012, Armstrong was disqualified from winning this stage, following the
Lance Armstrong doping case
The Lance Armstrong doping case was a major doping investigation that led to retired American road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven consecutive Tour de France titles, along with one Olympic medal, and his eventual admis ...
.
The ski station was re-visited by the race on 18 July 2014. The winner of the
stage 13
''Stage 13'' is a 30-minute American anthology television series produced and directed and hosted by Wyllis Cooper
Wyllis Oswald Cooper (January 26, 1899 – June 22, 1955) was an American writer and producer.
He is best remembered for cre ...
from
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Saint-Étienne is the ...
who increased his lead over his nearest rivals, with
Richie Porte
Richard Julian Porte (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His successes include wins at 8 World Tour stage races: Paris–Nice in 2013 and 2015, the Volta a Catalunya ...
, who began the day second overall, losing nine minutes on the climb.