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The Galibier pass

Toponymy

According to Wikipediathe etymology oforonymous Galibier is debated. Galibier is thought to derive from a radical of pre-Indo-European origin, gal variant of kalstone, with lupthe height. The name Galibier refers to a stony hill.

Geographical location

Massifs

Le Galibier pass FR-05-2642a - is located between the Arves massif  with the Pic des Trois Evéchés (3,116 m) to the west of the pass and the Cerces massif, with the Grand Galibier summit (3228 m) to the east of the pass.

Geology

The Briançonnais nappes de charriage (nappes of thrusting) are well known and have the particularity of having allowed recent geological layers to be covered by older geological layers. This stacking of nappes, displaced by between 20km and 30km, contemporaneous with the Alpine uplift (30 Ma), was facilitated by the presence of a layer of gypsum acting as a "tectonic lubricant".

The pass conceals a geological curiosity. Gypsum outcrops above the tunnel and below the north portal of the pass. This gypsum is riddled with decametric depressions reminiscent of karstic forms. Some tourists have even mistaken them for shell holes, but they are actually funnels in which water has dissolved the gypsum.

Readers interested in this subject should refer to the comprehensive article by geol-alp.com Col du Galibier 

Hydrography

It lies on the watershed between the Isère basin to the north (Valloirette valley, tributary of the Arc and then the Isère) and the Durance basin to the south (Guisane valley, tributary of the Durance).

Access

The Galibier road (now the D902 - formerly the RN202 - in both Savoie and the Hautes-Alpes) was built from 1874 onwards, and was completed with the boring of the tunnel in 1891. The (summit) road was completed at least by 1884.

It links :

Modification of access

This road has subsequently undergone numerous works, and the route has been modified several times.

Southern slope route

The original route of the road on the southern slope was completely different before the inauguration of a new road leading off at Col du Lautaret and the gradual abandonment of the old one.

• According to the TCF magazine of September 1936 This major section of the Alpine Route was due to be inaugurated last year, in August, but an exceptional delay in the melting of the snow meant that the work could not be completed on schedule, and it was not until last July that the inauguration was held. (1936so) that it could be opened to traffic". That same summer, President Albert Lebrun (on holiday in Vizille) was seen strolling along it, out of protocol.
• According to Wikipedia  (referring to an article in Dauphiné Libéré 2011 and the Cycling Memory) the new road would not have been inaugurated until 1938 whereas period documents give the date as 1936.

In his story It was 1937... My first BRA  (BRA archives), Paul Maillet indicated that he had climbed the Galibier by the new route, which would confirm the date proposed by the TCF magazine (and invalidate the date according to Wikipedia).

The old route, to the east of the current one, joined the D1091 below the Col du Lautaret, just above Sestrières, and had a much steeper average gradient than the current route (the last six kilometres at almost 10 %), with a shorter route but a greater difference in altitude.

A "vague" track follows the route of the old road, and is now used by downhill mountain bikers.

The old and new routes merge at the Henri Desgrange monument and do not meet again.
cross only once, at a point slightly below this monument.

For more details, see Lucien Chevalier's article: A history of the Col du Galibier road.

North slope route

The Bonnenuit ramp, between Valloire and Plan Lachat, which had a gradient of 14 %, has been softened by the creation of a long loop around the hamlet, along the river, considerably reducing the difficulty of the section before Plan Lachat. (date ???? - downstream from
Bonnenuit, a triple arrow and the indication 14% on the 1980 Michelin map 77 and a single arrow on the 2002 map 333).

Tunnel and geographical pass

The tunnel was bored in 1891, at an altitude of 2,556 m on the north side and 2,555 m on the south side.

The original road passed over the geographical pass as early as 1876 on the south side, and on both sides by 1884 at the latest. The summit road was restored in the 1920s.

Due to its age, the tunnel was closed in 1976. The route over the topographic pass (2,642 m) was reopened for the 3^th times, adding 1 km of road on each slope with an average gradient of almost 10 %.

Since 2002the renovated tunnel is reopened to car traffic (the structure is 370 metres long and 4 metres wide, which only allows alternating traffic using traffic lights), but still closed to bicyclesThey have to get over the real pass and can't avoid the last kilometre, the hardest part of the climb.

In the last km

What to see - tourism 

North side

Shortly before hamlet of Bonnenuitat Roche Bernard, on the left-hand side of the road (in
The remains of the "Barricade des pestiférés" (plague barricade). (When the plague arrived in Valloire in the 17th century, there was no vaccine, so plague sufferers were quarantined. The quarantine site was Bonnenuit, because it was located at the bottom of the valley - the road to the Col du Galibier did not exist).
La Fromagerie Coopérative de la Vallée des Arves opens - from mid-June to mid-September - a shop at Les Granges du Galibier (altitude 2300 m). Beaufort cheese!
In June 2011, the Granges du Galibier was the site of the inauguration of the "Galibier" stele. Pantani Forever "in tribute to Italian climber Marco Pantani (who died in 2004).

South side

On the flat area before the tunnel entrance is the monument (built in 1949) in the form of a large column with the inscription in relief in the centre: A LA GLOIRE DE HENRI-DESGRANGE (1865-1940), ANCIEN DIRECTEUR DU JOURNAL L'AUTO, CREATEUR DU TOUR DE FRANCE CYCLISTE.

Above the collar

"In 1988, the Parc des Écrins erected this beautiful orientation table, which shows the various surrounding peaks. We recommend you climb it, it's 5 minutes above the Col du Galibier summit: you'll have a 360° view of the Hautes-Alpes and Savoie. Source: https://www.envie-de-
brianconnais.com/guide/table-orientation-galibier

Administrative status

Currently

The Col du Galibier marks the boundary between the departments of Hautes-Alpes (commune of  Monêtier-les-Bains) and Savoie (commune of Valloire).

History

Until 1349, both sides of the pass were part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Next,

 North side :

• Savoy was part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1720, when the Kingdom of Sardinia was created;
• From 1720 to 1792: Duchy of Savoy part of the Kingdom of Sardinia;
• Mont Blanc Department in 1792 with the annexation of Savoie to France, due to the invasion of Savoy (via the Marches and Apremont)) on the night of 21 to 22 September 1792, by the French Armée des Alpes, some 15,000 men including the Legion of Allobroges.
• Return to the Duchy of Savoy (Kingdom of Sardinia) with the Treaties of Paris (1814 and 1815)
• Department of Savoie after the annexation of Savoie to France (Treaty of Turin 1860).

 South side

• Le Dauphiné de Viennois was a state, under the authority of the counts of Albonwho took the title of dolphins. This entity appears in ancient Provence, and was a subdivision of the Holy Roman Empire Germanic, from its origins admitted in the xi^e Century until it became part of the Kingdom of France in 1349.
• From 1349 to 1790: Province of Dauphiné (Republic of Escartons of Briançon with special status resulting from a Delphine charter of 29 May 1343, until 1789).
• Since 1790: department of Hautes-Alpes.

Cycling and cycle tourism

Tour de France

The Tour de France first climbed the Col du Galibier on 10 July 1911. in a 366-kilometre stage from Chamonix to Grenoble.

Emile Georget, Paul Duboc and Gustave Garrigou led the way over the pass. They were the only riders never to set foot on the climb. Emile Georget admitted that year that he had "never seen anything harder".

Wikipedia lists the riders who have taken the lead since 1911

A monument dedicated to Henri Desgrange was built in 1949 on the southern slope just before the tunnel entrance.

BRA

The ARO has been crossing the Col du Galibier since its creation in 1936.

• On the south side (Bourg d'Oisans and the Col du Lautaret) from 1936 to 1945
• Alternating southern and northern slopes (Col du Télégraphe and Valloire) after 1945
• From the north since 2017

The 2015 BRA did not use the Col du Galibier because of the landslide. the Chambon tunnel.

Marmot

Every year since 1982, the Marmotte cyclosportive has taken in the Col du Galibier after the Glandon and Télégraphe passes before finishing with the 21 laces of Alpe d'Huez.

Profile

There are many profiles of the Col du Galibier on the internet. The percentages given are quite... variable.

The best thing to do is to plot your route on Openrunner and click on "see the altimeter profile" ... as here between St-Michel-de-Maurienne and Briançon :

And finally, some pictures about the Galibier

An article by Gérard Galland
(and Bernard Giraudeau for the geology section)