Photos of cols

Preliminary remarks :

There are numerous cols left to be documented.

The photos of cols, as well as the routes of access, are of the greatest interest for members as they give information as to the road or trail conditions, the difficult and dangerous road sections … or the environment (field, forest, scree…) adding to the information given by maps and catalogues.

Concerning the already documented cols, the photos you send must bring new useful information compared to the information you’ll find online, to avoid duplicates. Their number is limited to a total 6 photos per col.

A file by country or French department can be sent on request. With this file, you’ll be able to check visually if the cols are documented or not.

All the photos are welcome. But, taking into account the restrictions as explained above, any photo with a lower quality (low-light conditions, road signs difficult to read, or bad weather conditons, etc) could be replaced by the member responsible for the publication online.

The photos or any requests should be sent to the following address :

General criteria

• • The size of the photos should be 800X600, JPEG format and not more than 1 MO. You’ll find free and easy-to-use tools to re-size your photos, like bulkresizephotos.com
  • For each photo, indicate the code, name of the col and what it represents, as for example : FR-04-1242a Col de Charamel – col sign.jpg

    or,

    FR-04-1242a Col de Charamel – East view from the col.jpg

  Particular critieria :

  • The photos of the col signs showing a justification for the col validation must be perfectly readable
  • The photos of the directional road signs – very useful signs as they point to a preferred route which is very often marked – must show the name of the location of the road sign to make it possible to locate its place on a map for the preparation of the itinerary
  • The legend of the photo must be short and explicit, as for example :
    • ‘South view of the col’ ( or access to col– or col in the distance from south side)
    • ‘departure of trail from X path’ (or any element on the access conditions, often necessary for mule tracks : difficult trail conditions, scree final access on north side, …)
    • ‘the col’ (photo of the col)
    • ‘South view from the col’ (or the valley, or a precise place on the map)
    • ‘Cross at the col’ (or any element on culture, history or tourist interest…)
  • If possible, think of indicating, with an arrow or short text, the position of the concerned col on the photo of a mountain ridge (See the examples : FR-04-2222  and FR-04-2680).
  • The photos should be neutral : the important point is to privilege the landscape. The bike should remain in a discreet corner and nobody should be able to identify the people, if any, on the photo.