Chamrousse () is a

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 North Am ...

in Southeastern France, in the Belledonne mountain range near

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

in the

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (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 Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

events of the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. The 1968 Winter Games marked the first time ...

, where Jean-Claude Killy of France 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.

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...

won the stage (#11) on 18 July 2001, when he took just over an hour to complete the

hors catégorie ''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass. The HC climb is th ...

climb from Grenoble to the ski resort. In 2012, Armstrong was disqualified from winning this stage, following the

Lance Armstrong doping case ''United States Anti-Doping Agency v. Lance Armstrong'', 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 t ...

. The ski station was re-visited by the race on 18 July 2014. The winner of the stage 13 from

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

was the Italian

Vincenzo Nibali Vincenzo Nibali (; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who have won all three of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours i ...

who increased his lead over his nearest rivals, with

Richie Porte Richard Julian Porte (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian former professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2022. His successes include wins at 8 UCI World Tour, World Tour stage races: Pa ...

, who began the day second overall, losing nine minutes on the climb.

Climate

On average, Chamrousse experiences 135.8 days per year with a minimum temperature below , 15.3 days per year with a minimum temperature below , 44.8 days per year with a maximum temperature below , and no days per year with a maximum temperature above . The record high temperature was on 18 July 2023, while the record low temperature was on 5 February 2012.

References

External links

* '
guide web touristique
' {{authority control Ski resorts in France Venues of the 1968 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiing venues Communes of Isère Sports venues in Isère