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Region: French Alps
Climbing effort: 805 cep
Elevation meters: 1067
Steepest kilometer: 9.8%

Steepest 250 m: 11%
Foot: 522 m    Top: 1533 m
Mean slope: 6.4%
Length: 15.7 km

From: Hermillon
Road conditions (2025): average
Other race bikers: 1-5 per hour
Motor vehicles: <10 per hour
Scenery and road: (3/5)
Restaurant or bar near top: yes

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Other climbs French Alps

The Col du Chaussy is one of those small passes, typical for France, that connect only a few villages on either side of the pass. As a result, there is hardly any traffic on the road, which makes the climb a real pleasure for cyclists. As an additional plus, there is a terrace at the pass. When cycling up from the south, there are two options, whose roads merge in the village of Montvernier after about 275 metres of elevation gain. From there, the road winds further up towards the pass, mostly with a gradient between 6 and 9%, and often through the forest. Only in the last kilometre and a half (from Montpascal onwards) does the landscape open up while the previously rather wide road become narrower.

If you choose Hermillon as the starting point for the first part of the ascent (the so-called southeast approach), the route to Montvernier is clearly less spectacular than the alternative from Pontamafrey with its famous “lacets”. The first three kilometres are quite steep (7–8%), followed by another three kilometres of ups and downs until Montvernier is reached.