Italian Alps 2014

[mettisse]

Hi, back now from a few days froading in the Italian Alps, well, so close to France they could have been the French Alps. The place? Bardoneccio near the Frejus tunnel very west Italy, just 10 mins in from Briancon, France.
200 miles in 3 days of superb scenery, diff locks not required but very good brakes are. The local tourist office gave out routes to be traveled and we drove right up to a glacier. Well known on the continent and well known here for skiing and mountain biking. We stayed at a hotel with an all in tariff but camping was available, I don't think they like you roughing it up the mountains, but a little more research wouldn't hurt. We did it as a prelude to our holiday to Spain.
What a refreshing change where 4x4 is encouraged, they see it as another form of tourism! And that is what it is, in our party there were two women new to 4x4, ( mature shall we say) they loved it, although timid at first they were enthused by the second day,gonna try and add a few piccies but I'm a technofobe ( not very good at stuff) here we go...........I may have to remove these pics as they are not actually mine, i said I'm no good at this... Sorry if I knew how to delete them I would

 

[AndyCook]

Excellent, great spot. Been in that area the last 2 years. So recognise the location of the photos. Love that camping spot by the old fort show in last photo, by amazing cliffs. Is the tunnel still closed ? We drove through it last July, but I believe it was closed shortly afterwards.

I see you drove up trail towards fort jafferau an amazing spot, had they dug a trench through the snowfield at col on way up?

Assume you also drove strada assesita and how about. Col du sommelier ? Both nice senic trails

Look forward to more piccies



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[mussy]

What maps did you use for these trails?

 

[AndyCook]

I used open street map


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[mettisse]

What maps did you use for these trails?

The tourist office in Bardeneccia supplied maps, they were also pinned up in the town, for tourists to explore themselves, they obviously rely on walkers, cyclists bikers and 4x4 tourists, and we were welcomed at the hotel and Restaurants that we used, skiers in the winter, us in the summer, makes sense to me. We by no means did all the routes there are hundreds of miles still to do, we did over 200 miles in 3 days, too much really, I'd do it again but less, we had very nice weather which always helps, and I would really have camped out but the hotel etc was already booked, ( not by me) stunning scenery, challenging trails although not tough, side drop offs to make your heart skip tho'
best regards, have fun, BillyWestley

 

[Garfieldus]

I did a lot of those trails on my bike (BMW 650 GSD) in the early naughties. My friend, Bernd Bauer, put some road books together that helped me find the routes and they're still there on his homepage 14 years later here...