Col de la Colombière (elevation 1613 m) is a

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 migration, human a ...

in the Alps in the department of Haute-Savoie in France. It connects Cluses in the Arve valley with Le Grand-Bornand in the

Bourne Bourne may refer to: Places UK * Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town ** Bourne Abbey ** Bourne railway station * Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex * Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset * Bourne ...

valley. The road then leads further to

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

or over Col des Aravis to the Arly valley and is situated between the

Massif des Bornes The Bornes Massif (French: ''Massif des Bornes'') is a mountainous massif in the north French Prealps in the ''département'' of Haute-Savoie. It has 20 peaks higher than 2000 m and is a popular destination for winter sports. The Massif is the ...

to the north-west and the

Chaîne des Aravis The Aravis (french: Chaîne des Aravis) is a mountain range in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, eastern France. It is part of the French Prealps, a lower chain of mountain ranges west of the main chain of the Alps. Its highest summit is the Pointe P ...

to the south-east. The pass is not an important traffic route because there are better roads that parallel it, particularly the

A40 autoroute The Autoroute A40 is a motorway in France that extends from Mâcon on the west to Passy on the east, terminating not far from Chamonix and the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The road runs through Bresse, the high southern Jura Mountains, northern Prealps a ...

Details of climb

Although the pass is not very high, it is technically difficult for cyclists. Starting from

Scionzier Scionzier () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Savoie department The following is a list of the 279 Communes of France, commun ...

, the climb is 16.3 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 1108 m (an average percentage of 6.8%). The steepest section is 10.2% near the summit. From Le Grand-Bornand, the Col de la Colombière is 11.7 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 690 m (an average percentage of 5.9%). On 31 May 2015, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg near the start of the climb in Scionzier.

Appearances in Tour de France

The pass was first included in the Tour de France in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

and has since featured 23 times, most recently in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Notes

References

External links

Cycling both sides with map, video, profiles, photosProfile on climbbybike.comCol de la Colombière on Google Maps (Tour de France classic climbs)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colombiere Mountain passes of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain passes of the Alps Landforms of Savoie Transport in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Climbs in cycle racing in France