The idea of the Confrérie des Cent Cols was born on a magnificent autumn day in 1970, during the ascent of the beautiful and rather difficult Col du Luitel, near Grenoble in the Alps. In fact, this place was the innocent witness to the dream of a mountain-loving cyclist.
Near the poetic Lac Luitel and the peat bogs that border the summit, Jean Perdoux suggested to Daniel Legat (Cent Cols no. 6), Georges Ducatillon (Cent Cols no. 434), Pierre Fructus (Cent Cols no. 69) and Henri Voiron, his hiking companions for the day, that they celebrate a small event.
In Chamrousse, he announced with emotion and pride that he had just climbed his 100e col (différent) ! Daniel, l’un de ses copains de route renchérit en annonçant qu’il avait fait mieux, car il comptabilisait déjà au moins 150 ascensions !
Ce fut une belle matinée : l’idée du Club des “Cent Cols” venait de naître !
At the time, Jean Perdoux was a member of the Executive Committee of the French Cycling Federation. In 1971, he placed a small advertisement in the federal magazine asking whether other cyclotourists were interested in climbing mountain passes. He received almost 200 replies.
Surprised by this enthusiasm, accompanied by encouragement and suggestions, all he had to do was to write in 1972 a set of rules (always the same for over 40 years).
Simplicity, friendship, sharing a common passion and exchanging information were all part of the Club's spirit from the outset. These are the ideas that we all defend and nurture today.
Les premiers inscrits à la Confrérie furent d’abord des montagnards : quelques Pyrénéens, mais surtout des Savoyards. Jacques Faizant, de Paris, (n° 7) était très fier d’être dans les 10 premiers inscrits, il dessina les premières couvertures de notre revue annuelle.
1973The club's first official newsletter appeared, edited by Jean Perdoux. Marcel Bioud presented the members of the "Cent Cols" Club with an initial list of road and mule passes in the Northern Alps, followed in 1974 by Francis Marty's list of passes in the Pyrenees.
In the autumn of 1974, the first national meeting was held above Lake Annecy, at the top of the magnificent, steep Col de la Forclaz de Montmin. Eighty of the 150 members of the Confrérie took part. Marcel Bioud, a primary school teacher from Voiron, was a rare phenomenon at the time, arousing admiration and envy. Did you know that he had just completed his 842e col différent ? Ce fut notre premier Grand Maître. Lui succéda un autre grand cyclo : Elie Bordat.
Savez-vous que c’est notre Confrérie qui inventa, dès 1974, les coordonnées millimétrées situant les cols sur les cartes ? Cette idée fut d’ailleurs récupérée par les cartes Michelin et IGN.
1975On 7 August, the port (pass) of Balès, dear to Pierre Roques, welcomed the 2e concentration sur les pâturages du sommet de cet exceptionnel paradis pour cycliste. La journée fut très appréciée. Lisez plutôt ce que l’on pouvait découvrir le lendemain dans la presse locale : “…rarement il nous a été donné de grimper dans un décor aussi grandiose, aussi majestueux. C’était un véritable tord-boyaux. Cela tenait parfois de l’impossible, du vrai col dur ! Tellement dur qu’il y avait sur la cime les responsables de la Confrérie des “Cent Cols”. Comme on peut comprendre, toutes sortes de gens qui font tomber dans leurs filets nombre de cyclistes condamnés par la suite à persévérer dans des ascensions sans fin… “.
Michel Verhaeghe joined the club in 1975. He has now climbed 10,000 different mountain passes.
1976Michel Perrodin was the author of the first published list of Alpine passes outside France, and Claude Carle had the first 100 embroidered badges woven.
1977, TF1 broadcast an excellent report on the Confrérie. Many of the Club's pioneers were present that day for the filming on the slopes of the Col de l'Arpettaz: Jo Routens, Robert Chauvot, Daniel Legat, Georges Ducatillon, Henri Bouchez, Elie Bordat and many, many others. A programme that surprised and provoked a lot of questions from the general public.
That same year, thanks to information gathered from specialists in the Confrérie, Jean Perdoux drew up the first list of road passes in France (1,368 passes). His annual bulletin became a magazine and grew to 70 pages.
1978The first list of Swiss mountain passes, compiled by Jean-Pierre Mérot, was published.
1979Publication of the list of 101 Algerian passes.
1980When the club reached the 1,000 member mark, Robert Chauvot, with the help of his wife Monique, invented the Bible, a complete directory of all the passes in France and a marvellous work that became a reference, served as such and still does. Until 1987, François Rieu was in charge of updating it.
It was also in 1980 that Jean Perdoux, who still prepared and produced the magazine (which had grown to 80 pages), handed over the secretarial duties to Henri Bouchez for one year. Henri Dusseau took over in 1981.
1982At 10 years old, the club now has more than 1,231 members, including 94 women and 40 foreigners from 8 nations.
1983The 1471 centcolists are now managed by Henri Dusseau, who has left the presidency of the V.C.A. and become "General Secretary" of the brotherhood. However, the association remains under the legal responsibility of the Vélo-Club d'Annecy.
1984At the end of the 1980s, the Fellowship had 2,000 members and the first regional meeting was organised in the Adour-Pyrénées region. Regional managers are set up in each region of France and abroad. First magazine with a black and white photo.
Since 1987, René Poty has been updating the "Chauvot", producing guidebooks (some in collaboration with M. de Brébisson), itineraries and lists of passes in many countries.
1988By the end of the 1980s, the club had 3000 members, and the first foreign meetings (in Belgium and Switzerland) were organised.
1989no national concentration. The rules of the brotherhood became the "Rules of the Game".
1990Michel Verhaeghe has announced a list of over 3000 passes.
1991the brotherhood officially became part of the FFCT's heritage.
Publication de la nouvelle édition corrigée du catalogue des cols routiers de France (+ Andorre, Belgique et Suisse). Mise à la disposition des adhérents des listes de cols des pays suivants : Ecosse, Pays de Galles, Irlande, Norvège, Allemagne, Espagne, Autriche, Roumanie, Bulgarie, Albanie, Yougoslavie.
Régis Paraz joins the brotherhood and is elected President in 2009.
1992the brotherhood is 20 years old, a national meeting at the Col du Luitel and the original cover of the magazine drawn by Jacques Faizant.
1993The Roll of Honour appeared in the middle of the magazine for the first time.
1994The Cent Cols brand, pins and T-shirts.
Creation of the Tour de France des Cent Cols by Henri Gomez and organisation of 2 permanent tours ("Cent Cols en Alpes", drawn up by René Poty, and "Cent Cols en Pyrénées", drawn up by Alain Gillodes).
In the Pyrenees, setting up of the Cent Cols - Ordre des Cols Durs joint concentration (Alain Gillodes).
1995The brotherhood has 4024 members.
First colour photos in issue no. 23 and organisation of the first Cent Cols holiday in Buis-les-Baronnies.
1996Marc Liaudon offers Cent Cols his computerised notebook of French collars. New edition of the Bible and creation of the Cent Cols clothing line.
De nombreux adhérents du monde entier portent la tenue du Club. Le maillot emblématique est maintenant reconnu et apprécié !
1997For administrative reasons, we had to set up an association to enable us to be independent of the Vélo club d'Annecy, which had provided administrative support for over 25 years. Since then, our association has been affiliated to the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme and issues licences. The president is Jean Perdoux, the secretary Henri Dusseau, the assistant secretary René Poty and the treasurer Nicole Faverot.
1998creation of the 1000 collars medal. The magazine has 80 colour pages and includes 75 articles written by members.
Cycling champion Eddy Merckx was admitted to the brotherhood and presented with his diploma in Belgium by Jean Perdoux and Henri Dusseau.
1999, première concentration italienne à Montefiorino, organisée par Gianni Solenni. Première publication d’une liste alphabétique des adhérents. Publication de la liste des cols routiers et muletiers de plus de 2000 m en Europe. La cotisation annuelle passe de 50 francs à 8 euros.
En 1999 est inauguré notre premier site Internet : https://centcols.orgdesigned, produced and managed by Philippe Carrez, with René Poty as editorial director.
2001The magazine expands to 96 colour pages and 100 articles. Creation of the first CERP (Commission for Ethics, Reflection and Proposals).
2002On 12 January, the company will hold an Ordinary General Meeting, at which every member will have the right to vote at the AGM.
Changement de l’équipe dirigeante, en Assemblée générale extraordinaire le 9 mars. La nouvelle équipe est composée comme suit : président – Claude Bénistrand, secrétaire – René Poty, trésorier – Michel Mathieu, vice-Président – Bernard Vieillard, secrétaire-adjoint – Philippe Carrez.
The CERP was renewed, with Guy Bodoin becoming its moderator.
The first network of national and foreign Territorial Delegates is set up. IGN-France layers go online (Mario Labelle).
2003Jean Perdoux was proclaimed Founder Chairman and Honorary Chairman, and Henri Dusseau was proclaimed Chairman "Honoris Causa".
The club has 5721 registered members.
Claude Bénistrand (assisted by his wife Cathie) is in charge of the annual review.
2004, création de nouvelles Randonnées permanentes (Corse, Drôme, Alpes, Pyrénées, LPE Atlantique-Méditerranée) ; Changement de fournisseur des vêtements, le nouveau étant Bernard Thévenet.
Nouveaux catalogues : Catalogne, Ligurie, USA.
2005Creation of new permanent hikes (Haut-Languedoc and Ardèche). Publication of catalogues of French road passes and British Isles passes.
Creation of @ctualités Cent Cols and modernisation of the website.
At the elective AGM, the same team was re-elected. The CERP was renewed, with Guy Bodoin continuing as moderator.
2006, parution de nouveaux catalogues : Autriche, Allemagne, Sardaigne, Roumanie, Navarre, Italie Nord-Est et Italie Nord-Ouest.
Création d’une nouvelle Randonnée permanente : Cent cols en pays d’Azur.
2007, création de 3 nouvelles Randonnées permanentes : l’Arc en Cimes, la ligne de partage des eaux en Espagne et 100 cols en Forêt-Noire.
First General Meeting outside the Rhône-Alpes region, in Fontbonne, near Montauban.
2008, first Cent Cols spring break in Agay.
Création de nouvelles Randonnées permanentes : Cent cols en Triveneto (Gianni Solenni) et Cent Cols en Pays de Savoie (qui deviendra Cent Cols en Savoie Mont-Blanc) (Régis Paraz).
Publication of catalogues for Poland, Hungary and Turkey.
Roland Grimaud succeeds Jean-Marc Lefèvre as head of Randonnées Permanentes.
2009, The Chauvot has been "revisited", with the passes repositioned in GPS coordinates and Géoportail links enabling the passes to be viewed online on 1:25,000 scale maps (René Poty and Mario Labelle).
Publication of the catalogue of Spanish road passes.
Elective General Meeting in Yenne, organised by Roger Colombo and CT Yenne.
Un nouveau Conseil d’administration est élu avec Régis Paraz comme président, Gérard Birelli (vice-président), Thierry Labour (secrétaire général), Michel Mathieu (trésorier), Philippe Carrez (secrétaire-adjoint) ; Chantal Sala est nommée rédactrice en chef de la revue.
Establishment of a partnership with the Savoie and Haute-Savoie General Councils for the permanent "Cent cols en Savoie Mont-Blanc" trail.
2010, distribution of departments to a new network of regional coordinators who organise regional meetings.
Birth of a new permanent route, the Divisoria (100 passes on the Atlantic-Mediterranean watershed in Spain).
Parution d’un nouveau catalogue des cols routiers européens de plus de 2000 m et d’un premier catalogue des cols français interdits réalisé par Jean-Paul Zuanon.
Deux décès affectent particulièrement la confrérie : au printemps celui du délégué national pour la Belgique, Germain Geenens et, durant l’été, celui de Roland Grimaud, responsable des Randonnées permanentes. Rudy Pede vient remplacer Germain Geenens et Roger Colombo succède à Roland Grimaud.
2011, Alain Gillodes and Chantal Sala organised their first spring trip abroad, to Ripoll in Spanish Catalonia.
Introduction of Info Cent Cols online and online voting on statutory reports at General Meetings.
Creation of a working group to draw up a catalogue of Moroccan passes (Bernard Giraudeau, Guy Harlé, Jean-Paul Zuanon and Bernard Pommel).
2012, the Brotherhood is 40 years old.
The anniversary was celebrated with a festive meal at the end of the trip to Lescheraines, organised by Régis Paraz, and a General Meeting in Annecy, organised by Jean Perdoux, Henri Dusseau and the VC Annecy.
Il est marqué également par la parution du livre de Jean Perdoux et Henri Dusseau, “1972 – 2012, 40 ans d’histoire !”.
Alain Brault joins the Board of Directors.
After thousands of hours of work, the Spain working group has produced a catalogue of over 15,000 Spanish mountain passes.
The Chauvot, with over 10500 French passes, is published in the form of a binder. A 2-day seminar is held in Turin to set up an Italian working group to produce a unified catalogue of all the passes in Italy.
7000 registratione member, blind.
2013, establishment of the CoVal (Comity of Validation des cols), which replaces CERP (Commission dEtheatrical, Rand Proposal), with a smaller number of Board members and members with expertise in pass analysis (Claude Bénistrand, Jean-Michel Clausse, Régis Paraz, Philippe Carrez, Michel Mathieu).
Assemblée générale élective avec mise en place d’un nouveau Conseil d’administration. Président : Régis Paraz, secrétaire général : Guy Harlé, trésorier : Michel Mathieu, secrétaire-adjointe : Nathalie Mauret, vice-président : Mario Labelle (poste devenu vacant deux mois après, suite à sa démission).
Chantal Sala has been reappointed editor-in-chief of the magazine.
2014, setting up of the GT Info (IT Working Group, made up of Patrick Schleppi, Daniel Bossard, Gérard Birelli, Philippe Carrez, Jean-Michel Clausse, Graham Cutting, Régis Paraz, Guy Ruffié and Chantal Sala) and a new direction for IT policy, both in the allocation of responsibilities and in day-to-day management and implementation of projects. The principle of collaborative working ensures the sustainability of applications by preventing the system from relying on a single person.
2015, creation and implementation of a new website, following the work of analysing and expressing the needs of the GT Info.
Start of a unified database of mountain passes in all countries.
Establishment of a partnership with Openrunner, boosting the club's visibility on the Internet.
Robert Chauvot died in July, and the club sadly lost the author of the Bible (Catalogue des cols de France).
En 2015 nous comptabilisons plus de 7372 inscrits, originaires d’une vingtaine de nations différentes : Allemagne, Australie, Autriche, Belgique, Brésil, Canada, Danemark, Ecosse, Espagne, Etats-Unis, France, Grande-Bretagne, Hongrie, Irlande, Italie, Jamaïque, Luxembourg, Norvège, Pays-Bas, Pologne, Slovénie, Suède, Suisse…
The Swiss, Belgians and Italians represent the largest contingent of foreign members who have joined our Confrérie.
726 of our active members have climbed more than 1,000 different mountain passes.
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022 - The Brotherhood turns 50.
In March, Michel Verhaeghe, the Top, passed away. He was the first member to reach 10,000 mountain passes.
2024 - Death of Jean Perdoux
Jean Perdoux, founding president of the Club des Cent Cols, died on 13 March at the age of 87. This marks the end of a long chapter in the history of the Club des Cent Cols. We have lost our guide, but not his ideas.
This history is based in part on the book by Jean PERDOUX and Henri DUSSEAU, "40 years of history"by Chantal Sala and Régis Paraz, subsequently updated by Bernard Giraudeau and Enrico Alberini.
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