Col de la Cayolle (el. 2,326 m) is a high

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migr ...

in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

at the border between the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, ...

and

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the w ...

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 ...

. It connects

Barcelonnette Barcelonnette (; oc, Barciloneta de Provença, also ; obsolete it, Barcellonetta) is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located in the souther ...

in the

Ubaye Valley The Ubaye Valley is an area in the Alpes de Haute-Provence ''département'', in the French Alps, having approximately 7,700 residents. Its residents are called ''Ubayens''. Its principal town is the ''sous-préfecture'' of Barcelonnette. 350px, ...

and Saint-Martin-d'Entraunes. It lies parallel to the Col d'Allos and Col de la Bonette in the Parc National du Mercantour. The Var River has its source near the pass. The road leads to the red-rock

Gorges de Daluis The Gorges de Daluis is a six-kilometer-long canyon formed by the river Var in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. It runs south from Guillaumes to Daluis. Geography The canyon starts off at Guillaumes, running north to south, w ...

Details of the climb

The northern side, from Barcelonette, is 29.15 km long, climbing at an average of 4.1%. On this side

mountain pass cycling milestones Mountain pass cycling milestones are signposts that provide cyclists with information about their current position with regard to the summit of the mountain pass. They always provide information for cyclists going uphill. Sometimes the signs are two ...

are placed every kilometer. They indicate the current height, the distance to the summit, the average slope in the following passage, as well as the number of the street (D902). Starting from Saint-Martin-d'Entraunes, the climb is 20.5 km gaining , resulting in an average of 6.3%. No signposts for cyclists are placed on this side. However, every kilometer a sign indicates the altitude, as well as the distance to the summit (uphill) or the next villages (uphill and downhill).

Bicycle tourism

Together with the Col des Champs and the Col d'Allos it forms part of a popular round trip for cyclists (see for example ).

References

Cayolle Cayolle Landforms of Alpes-Maritimes Landforms of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Transport in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur {{Provence-geo-stub

Details of the climb

Bicycle tourism

See also

References